Thomas Carlson

author of "Christianity in Fifteenth-Century Iraq"

December 11, 2018

Thomas A. Carlson researches the religious and ethnic diversity of medieval Middle Eastern society. The confessionalization of the historical study of the Middle Eastern region, typically framed as Islamic history, excludes the Byzantine Empire and the Crusader States from consideration while including successor states who ruled the same terrain and largely the same society. His first book, “Christianity in Fifteenth-Century Iraq” highlights the cultural continuities, social contacts and conflicts, and strategies of differentiation among Christians, Muslims, and Jews in 15th century Iraq and Jazīra.

“Christianity in Fifteenth-Century Iraq” challenges the normative Eurocentrism of studies of non-European Christianity, as well as the Islamic exceptionalism which still characterizes much Middle Eastern history. His articles have synthesized geographical texts to sketch the trajectory and multi-faceted character of Islamization in Syria and Iraq, and analyzed the Safaviyya Sufi order before its conquest of Iran in 1501.

Carlson formerly served as co-editor, with David A. Michelson of Vanderbilt University, of an online geographical reference work for Syriac culture from its earliest period to the present, The Syriac Gazetteer. He is developing a new digital history project, The Historical Index of the Medieval Middle East.

“Christianity in Fifteenth-Century Iraq” discusses how Christians in 15th century Iraq and al-Jazīra were socially and culturally home in the Middle East, practicing their distinctive religion despite political instability. This insightful book challenges the normative Eurocentrism of scholarship on Christianity and the Islamic exceptionalism of much Middle Eastern history to reveal the often unexpected ways in which inter-religious interactions were peaceful or violent in this region.

The multifaceted communal self-concept of the Church of the East, so-called Nestorians, reveals cultural integration, with certain distinctive features. The process of patriarchal succession clearly borrowed ideas from surrounding Christian and Muslim groups, while public rituals and communal history reveal specifically Christian responses to concerns shared with Muslim neighbors. Drawing on sources from various languages, including Arabic, Armenian, Persian, and Syriac, this book opens new possibilities for understanding the rich, diverse, and fascinating society and culture that existed in Iraq during this time.

URL: https://library-dep.okstate.edu/news/celebratingbooks/2019-honorees/thomas-carlson

Last Updated: 11 December 2018