Sunday, December 05, 2010

Who are the Christians in the Middle East?

My non-academic purchase at SBL was Who are the Christians in the Middle East? by Betty Jane Bailey and J. Martin Bailey. Very informative read. I learned a lot about the Middle East Council of Churches and the Fellowship of Middle East Christian Churches. Christianity is a lot stronger in Egypt and Sudan than I thought at least in terms of numbers. Best quote of the book was from the Sudanese ambassador to Britain saying: "Our government's goal to produce an Islamic society has been a failure. At no time in history has the church grown so rapidly as it has in the 1990s". For those who don't know the differences between the Eastern Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox or know about the Reformed and Anglican presence in the Middle East, this book is a worthwhile read.

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