The Inside Assyria Discussion Forum #5

=> another review of Dr Joseph's book "The Nestorians..."

another review of Dr Joseph's book "The Nestorians..."

Posted by pancho (Guest) - Monday, August 13 2007, 22:01:18 (CEST) from 71.116.101.196 - pool-71-116-101-196.snfcca.dsl-w.verizon.net Network - Windows XP - Internet Explorer Website: Website title:

...good lord! What a contrast between the way Dr Joseph and this reviewer express themselves and the barbarous mish mash and grunting of their critics..all of whom have barely read a book...and who find great satisfaction in bragging that they are amateurs...sometimes I think the only reason Magpie is getting a MA in Sociology is so she can say she has an "advanced degree"...not that she'd do anything in that field but, like the rest of our engineers and dentists, say that her "higher education" lends some credance to her preposterous claims to being a modern assyrian. She's merely using Sociology, like she does "assyrianism" as props for an underachieving person who seeks to blame others for her poor showing... John Joseph (2000). The Modern Assyrians of the Middle East: Encounters with Western Christian Missions, Archaeologists, and Colonial Powers. Leiden, Holland: Brill, 291 pages. Reviewed by Dr. John Pierre Ameer In 1957, while I was an undergraduate, I had just started looking into the modern history of the Assyrians. At that time, there was very little in the way of scholarly work in this area; most of the material was in the form of tracts, journals, missionary memoirs, and polemics. There was a great deal of primary documentation in foreign office archives, minutes from international organizations, and mission archives waiting to be researched and converted into a narrative. At that time, John Joseph was doing just that as he completed his doctoral dissertation at Princeton University, and we finally had the level of scholarship that was called for by this history. When he converted his thesis into a book in 1961 (The Nestorians and Their Muslim Neighbors), it arrived with the force of a thunderclap. Fortunately, for both scholars of the Middle East and for interested laity, John Joseph has recently published a revised version of this seminal work. Reading this newer iteration, with its additional materials on the events of the last seventy-five or so years, we are reminded of how prodigious a work of research and synthesis this is. To begin with, Dr. Joseph takes us through the difficult minefield of historical and linguistic versions of Assyrian origins and language. He negotiates this hazard in a balanced and erudite manner. That in itself is a significant achievementamong Aramaic, Neo-Aramaic, Syriac, Neo-Syriac, and Syrian as to language, and Nestorian, Assyrian, Chaldean, East Syrian, Aramaean, and more as to ethnic identification, there is ample opportunity for the historian to alienate one or more of the constituencies that comprise modern Assyrians. Inevitably, some will disagree with Dr. Joseph on one or more of his conclusions, but anyone who does so must come to the table having completed as much research as has the author. Following his presentation on ethnicity and language, including comprehensive explanations of the etymology of each of the terms, Dr. Joseph gives a brief survey of the history of the Assyrians from the origins of the Church of the East up to the 19th century. He does quite well with this given the constraints of space, enough so that the reader can trace the development of the Church and the Nestorian peoples from earliest conversion, through a magnificent expansion and missionary enterprise, to the debilitating conflicts following the 13th centurythe conquests that devastated the population and the internecine rivalries that led to splits in the Church, competing patriarchal parties, and defections to Roman Catholicism. There are so many competing factions and critical incidents that one needs the proverbial “scorecard” to be able to follow this story with an appropriate degree of understanding. The author meets that need. My only cavil with this section is that the change in these people’s status from the favorable position they occupied under Hulagu Khan to the devastation wrought by Tamerlane is covered in only a few sentences. This is an unfortunate gap in an otherwise satisfying survey. In relating the critical developments in the areas of politics, religion, and war from the 16th century through the present, Dr. Joseph is as thorough as anyone would wish him to be. And that is an enormous task given the complexity of the story that needs to be told. He carries us with him through the several religious changes with great care. Who was patriarch from which party? What role did the Roman church play? How did the central Ottoman government react to these religious migrationsunion with and then retreat >from Roman Catholicism; the defection of the Chaldean Uniates, and so on. Then, he recounts the difficulties with the Kurds during the 19th century. In this section, his narrative of the role played by the American missionary, Dr. Asahel Grant, is especially compelling. Dr. Joseph is able to convey the juxtaposition of Grant’s innocence, indeed naiveté, with the awful >consequences that came in part from that unfortunate characteristic. Grant, in particular, and the Americans in general failed to grasp what impact their actions could have on the very delicate and complex balance in existence among competing interests in Kurdistan. Dr. Joseph successfully describes how there were in fact several precarious balances in placeKurds and Assyrians, Kurds and Turks, Turks and Assyrians, all of these and the Armenians and Russianswhich could and did totter upon contact with yet another development, the arrival of the Westerners. The only disagreement that I have with him in this part of the history has to do with determining cause and effect. Dr. Joseph’s enormous documentation and clearly articulated chronology of the events cannot be disputed. In this section, as in the rest of the book, the amount and the depth of his research is formidable. His interpretation of the events however leans toward overstating, I believe, the options that the Assyrians had. He is correct in articulating what the Assyrians did and the responses that these moves evoked from Kurds and Turks. Where I disagree is in the supposition that events might have gone differently for the Assyrians had their leaders, especially the patriarch, made different choices. He emphasizes this in his discussion of the patriarch’s participation in the rivalries and intrigues among Badr Khan, Nurullah Beg, and Ismail Pasha. We have come to a better understanding recently of the action that has been labeled ethnic cleansing. I sense its presence within Kurdish circles in the 19th century which, if true, means that there is very little the Assyrians could have done to divert this movement from its inevitable result. Obviously, we cannot know the answer to “What if?” but we are able to extrapolate from earlier and later actions by the Kurds that violent conflict between them and the Christian minorities in Kurdistan was unavoidable with only time and place being determined by Assyrian choices and Kurdish and Ottoman objectives and responses. My response: My immediate response is to thank Dr.John Ameer for his kind and positive commentary on my book. May I briefly comment on his major critical obervations by merely noting, verbatim, a few pertinent passages from the book, that he may have oveerlooked. AMEER: "[W]e must acknowledge the positive impact of this intercultural exchange... Where no schooling had existed, the Americans [missionaries] founded a village school system, fostered and supervised Sunday school programs for both children and adults, established a male college and the Fiske Seminary for girls, brought a modern medical presence into the area, and set up a printing press that published over 3 million pages of books, tracts, and Bibles in both classical and vernacular Syriac.... .Many of the post-secondary institutions that were thus established in the Middle East, notably the American Universities of Beirut and Cairo, continue to function today. ... I believe [Joseph] underestimates both the value and the positive impact of that enterprise..." JOSEPH: Perkins wrote that few as books were among the Nestorians, their readers were scarcely more numerous. ... A majority of the priesthood could merely chant their devotions, without knowing the meaning. Even some of the bishops among the mountaineers, reported Perkins, were in this predicament. ... [A]s a result of this spirited [missionary] program of religious and secular education, a considerable change was taking place in the social and intellectual condition of the Nestorians. They learned anew to cherish their language and historical tradition in spite of the fact that their small community was split into denominations often antagonistic to each other. Their acquaintance with Western ideas of political, social, and economic progress resulted in the development of an active discontent with their lot and an acute sense of superiority over their Muslim neighbors. The young men became restless and wanted to better themselves by studying and working abroad, especially in Russia and America. Many settled permanently in these countries, supporting their relatives back home through regular remittances. Others returned to Persia to engage in trade; they bought vineyards and orchards and built good homes. ... [T]he condition of the Nestorians just before the First World War was by far better than it had ever been.... Besides a good school system, "higher education was cared for in the Urumia College and Fiske Seminary, two of the best known and most fruitful institutions of modern missions." The mission hospital served and influenced the whole of western Persia and eastern Kurdistan. (pp. 92-93;133-138) AMEER: [JOSEPH] gets into some difficulty here in part because he seems to be somewhat uncertain as to the conditions of the Assyrians, especially those in Urmiyah, at the time of the American arrival in 1834. On page 62, he avers that the Urmizhnayi "lived comparatively well" and then on page 69 he repeats the Assyrians' hope that these missionaries "would deliver them from their oppression and insecurity" but returns on page 89 to the more positive assessment: "the Nestorians of Azerbayjan lived comparatively comfortably." I suppose that this disagreement might revolve around the definition of "comparatively." ... these Christians were in dire straits at the beginning of that century, with illiteracy, poverty, drunkenness, and political oppression at debilitating high levels."" JOSEPH: "Christians, in common with their Muslim neighbors, suffered from the shortcomings of a social system based on feudalism. In Persia the landlords and masters of the villages were principally, as today, members of the Turkish-speaking Afshar tribe. ...The landlord, who while himself oppressive to his people, did not allow any one else to harm them if possible. Indeed, he protected his serfs against all outsiders, whether the latter were right or wrong. Despite lawless extortions and oppression from their landlords, the Nestorians of Urmiyah, an agricultural people, seem to have lived comparatively well. Unlike the rugged mountains of Hakkari, the fertile plain of Urmiyah yielded abundantly. We read that the industrious among the people were "always" surrounded with liberal plenty. ... MISSIPONARY ENCOURAGEMENT: In 1836 Perkins had written the Nestorian primate of the "trials and sufferings...you and your people have so long endured in these lands of Mohammedan oppression" and spoke of the deep interest and sympathy which Christians in America felt for the patriarch's people....[Dr. Grant] reported that he had kindled "a new hope in their bosoms" as he had spoken in their councils of the possibility of their branches spreading "over all these lands." They "eagerly drank the encouragements I presented" to put forth untiring efforts and prayers for a return "of the golden days when their churches and schools would spread throughout Asia."... Unfortunately for the evangelists, they had arrived at a difficult time for their spiritual campaign. The Russo-Persian conflict had already intensified Christian-Muslim animosities. Gradually through the nineteenth century, these out-of-the-way places, where the Nestorians had found refuge for the last five centuries or more, were to become a hornets' nest, disturbed by the political and cultural imperialism of the "Christian" powers. ... The missionaries had a far more profound influence upon the Asians and Africans than the meager number of their converts in the Muslim world would indicate; the benefits conferred by them were of the most vital kind that one people ever could give to another. To them is due the widely acknowledged credit for opening hospitals, schools and colleges--for both men and women. They were also among the foremost in declaring principles of international justice and equality. These consecrated teachers, doctors, nurses, and evangelists brought with them the best elements of their own culture and transmitted them in an atmosphere of high ideals and unselfish service. Their exemplary service became an inspiration to thousands, and graduates of their schools became outstanding leaders and public servants; the American University of Beirut is a shining example of what the missions bequeathed. But the missionaries had themselves sown seeds of ill will. For a whole century they tried to demonstrate the superiority of their religion to the Muslims, urging them to recognize their errors and accept the Truth that had brought such manifold blessings to the Western world. ... "Never was so much opposed and destroyed in human history in the name of love," writes an American professor of religion, "and by none other than the only people from the West who had any expressions of love toward the Asian and the African." This insensitivity toward non-Christian religions was characteristic of a large segment of Protestantism especially until late in the nineteenth century, and as already noted, among a few it continued into the twentieth. (pp. 62-63, 69, 74, 229-230.) --------------------- - BACK TO INDEX - REPLY - QUOTE - EDIT - DELETE -

The full topic: another review of Dr Joseph's book "The Nestorians..." pancho - Monday, August 13 2007, 22:01:18 (CEST) missing segment... pancho - 08/14 20:13 Re: missing segment... pancho - 08/14 21:53 Re: another review of Dr Joseph's book "The Nestorians..." Qasrani - 08/15 09:02 Re: another review of Dr Joseph's book "The Nestorians..." pancho - 08/15 18:10

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