Eastern University Books

This lucid little book draws on the Pali canon to retell the life of the Buddha and to recast his philosophy as a strategy for moral and psychological transformation. It succeeds in making Buddhism palatable to modern Western readers at the cost of playing down religious doctrines such as karma and rebirth. Given these omissions, I'm not sure whether it is faithful to the teachings of the historical Buddha or to Buddhism as practiced by the vast majority of Buddhists in Asia. However, I would strongly recommend the book to anyone who is curious about Buddhism but who would be put off by a "religious" book.

This work is in essence a reprint of the earlier Past Masters work 'The Buddha'. It provides a succinct, clear overviews of the historic Buddha, his teachings and the development and spread of these up to the present day.

Written by a British Anthropologist from an academic perspective - but accessible to general readers, this work is stripped of the enigmatic and ethereal detritus that presents a barrier to understanding in some Buddhist writing, especially for those of an empirical and sceptical bent. Despite the detached, academic style, it is nevertheless clear that Carrithers is deeply impressed with Buddhism.....as will many readers be after finishing this book.

This work is very short, only around 100 pages, and this adds to its power. I recommend it unreservedly as a concise introduction to Buddhism. Certainly the most succinct, lucid yet thougrough overview of Buddhism that I've yet read.

One major claim of this book is that in Buddha's case it is impossible to understand the thought without understanding the life. Thus Michael Carrithers tells us the story of Buddha's life, of his coming to meet with a sick person, an aged man and a corpse, his renunciation of the world and his wandering until he meditating calmly under a Bo tree comes to the enlightentment that is his liberation.For forty- five years afterwards he wanders and teaches but when he leaves the world the seed has been planted , there are followers who will spread his teachings throughout the world.
I write these words without understanding what ' enlightentment' means and without knowing why I should seek for it, and without having any sense of why it is right to be liberated from the pains and difficulties of our most intimate human connections. I write these words without knowing why it is better to be ' enlightened and kind' rather than to be ' just kind'. And I write too without really understanding how one can have detachment and peace without faith in a personal God.
It is not enough to read a book, and take in the meanings intellectually to truly understand it.
I do not understand the way of the Buddha, but my sense is that this work is a fine introduction to beginning to know it.

This is a recycled version of the same book by the same publisher in the Past Masters series. It is a pity there have been no changes if any made to the original work done in 1983 as a few things have changed in Buddhist studies since then. At least the pictures are better and the book looks shorter than the original transmission.

A sharp, highly critical approach with the most important elements highlighted. A coherent essay of depth and rigour. A joy to read and appreciate.

This is the 2nd book on Buddhism in the A Very Short Introduction series (VSI) by OUP. The book "Buddhism a VSI" by D. Keown is also excellent. In fact most of the books on the VSI series seem to be brilliant. To be recommended to anyone, cheap to buy, cheaper to read and the taste is very expensive.

This book, perhaps better than any other I've read, brings to light the unique philosophical position of the Buddha. Carrithers clearly explains how the Buddha stood out from the intellectual background of his time and helps one understand how and why the Buddha arrived at his views. A brilliant account of the Buddha's life and teachings not only for its scholarship but also for its refreshing lucidity.

The emotion that produces Vishniac's work,in the Eastern Europe Jewish comunnities a few years before the II World War is hard to put in words, because it's really a world that vanished not because of progress but because someone, with hatred, erased it from earth.
I feel grateful to Vishniac cause he allows us not to forget.

This book moved me a great deal. The black and white images convey such innocence in the children. The simplicity of the beautifully produced photographs juxtaposed with children's songs and rhymes (in Hebrew, Yiddish, and English) gives the impression of viewing the images in a gallery. The photographs, the narrative, and the publication itself are of very fine quality. And the message is unforgettable.

This is a powerful book. In its pages we find starkly beautiful black and white photographs of children laughing, crying, playing, studying, working, in the course of their daily life... unaware of the horrific nightmare that will overtake them soon and destroy their world.

The children's eyes look at you with all the innocent curiousity and wonder of eternal, universal childhood. You look again and apprehension grips you: in a few short years after being photographed, the future of many of these children will be brutally terminated in an unmarked mass grave or a crematorium. The poignancy of this harsh reality is driven home when you read editor Mara Vishniac Kohn's dramatic description of her father's desperate, futile efforts to use his photographs as a means of arousing the conscience of the world and inspiring action to save these children and their families. We learn that Roman Vishniac sent these photos to the White House, only to recieve a perfunctory note thanking him for "the excellent pictures you sent the President."

I must express my heartfelt compliments and appreciation to the editors, Mara Vishniac Kohn and Miriam Hartman Flacks, for the way in which they have presented these precious images-- accompanying them with the lyrics of appropriate Yiddish children's songs, in the original Yiddish and English transliteration and translation, rather than the standard dry caption text. I am especially grateful to the editors for including the music and annotation for these wonderful songs.

This book belongs in every home and library.

In a haunting collection of black-and-white photographs, Roman Vishniac records the lives of Jewish children in Eastern Europe in the early part of the century, before the start of the Holocaust. The text is a series of children's songs (in Hebrew with English translation), which are touching and show how much children are alike whether they're from one side of the world or another. But the shadow of the Holocaust, while never shown, shades readers' appreciation of the images. This is a book I will not soon forget.

I am an amateur photographer. 90% of good photography is in finding the right subject. These photos are stirring.

This well-written book gives keen insight to events surrounding the dissolution of Yugoslavia while providing a view into the collective mind of former Yugoslavians. This book also makes one wonder about how nationalism is used, for better or worse, in other countries as a political vehicle to motivate its people to support specific ideals. While I agree with Ugresic's criticism of nationalism and the role it plays in post-Yugoslavian times, I also wonder if it is just a collective defense-mechanism, a means for survival when collective identity is being shattered. It is a fascinating read, well-written, and illuminating on many different levels.

Ms Ugresic makes a real case when she exposes the nationalisms that permeate our world. How do things that are similar become different? Why do people not approach themselves but are being "held apart"? Much of the reasons are political policies, money and power struggles. At the end of the day, everyone of us is victim of national brainwashing. This is why we ought to be critical and never forget how we have something essential in common: we are all human.

Although it has taken the English translation of this collection of essays a few years to come into print (it was first published in Dutch),this is a highly relevant, illuminating, and moving book. Most of the essays were written between '92 and '94, with more recent postscripts. With rare clarity and complexity of thought, gift of articulation, emotional courage and absence of pretence or squeamishness, Ugresic has carried out a highly accessible investigation into the Yugoslav war, the demise of communist Europe, the East-West polarity, the ambiguities of exile. With references to other East European writers and thinkers (Milan Kundera, Miroslav Krleja, Danilo Kis, Josiph Brodsky), she explores the tyranny of the new constructs of national identity in the Balkan states, the enforced collective amnesia of the former Yugoslavs, the many traumas of their history, as well as the common psycho-cultural lanscape of the 'Eastern block'. There are many deeply moving episodes and revealing insights here, delivered in the familiar 'Central European' style of ironic, melancholic, bitter humanism. Vaguely reminiscent of Milan Kundera, only better because of the lack of smugness and the final doubting humility of someone who has felt intense pain and articulated the nature of this pain.

Dubravka Ugresic is perhaps less well-known in the English-speaking world than the other Croatian "dissident" writer Slavenka Drakulic, which is unfortunate. Both Ugresic's essays and especially fiction are far superior to that of Drakulic. "Culture of Lies" includes the author's observations of Croatian society and politics of the last ten years, both of which have been none too kind to her (indeed, while achieving great acclaim in other European countries, she was branded a "traitor" and worse by Croatian politicians and the pro-regime press for her uncompromising criticism of Croatian nationalism, etc.). In this book, Ugresic shows the many ways in which nationalism imbued all levels of society in Croatia, making people increasingly hostile to different views and people who were/are "different." Her particular area of interest is the way this was reflected in the behavior of intellectuals, who-at least one would like to think-are not supposed to be as susceptible to the appeal of God-and-country patriotism and nationalistic kitsch. Her description of an incident in a Zagreb tram, in which a young man accosts and beats an old destitute drunken man, is particularly vivid and sadly indicative. In fact, this whole section of the book, called "Souvenirs from Paradise" is an excellent collection of impressions and observations of the underside of Croatian life. Despite the recent sweeping political changes in Croatia, many of the negative aspects of society in this country as described by Ugresic are still here, and they will haunt this country for some time to come.

It tells truth of thousends of people manipulated with mass media on Balkans. If you want an expert book on how wars started in ex-yugoslavia you should read this one.

I am not surprised that this book has unanimous 5 star reviews. John Treadway is a legendary figure in Balkan studies, and is quite rightly regarded as the world authority on the Montenegrin history of this period. He is uniquely able to make the study of Montenegro in the run up to World War One both scholarly and accessible, an all too rare feat in historical writing these days. Buy 10 copies of this book and give them to any historians you know to teach them how to write history properly. Christopher Catherwood, author of THE BALKANS IN WORLD WAR TWO (Palgrave, 2003)

John Treadway has been the most authoratative, brilliant and generally outstanding scholar of Balkan history in recent years, and this is the wonderful book that made his well deserved reputation. You simply cannot understand the Balkans without reading this magnificent book.

Brilliant study about Montenegro and its relationship with Austria-Hungary but also with Russia and Balkan countries, especially Serbia. This excelent book is based on critically confirmed facts and scientific knowledge. Professor Treadway stresses eternal wish of Montenegrins and their king Nicholas I Petrovic Njegos to restore medieval Serb Empire of Dusan Nemanjic: "Ambitious for his dynasty as well as his country and incited by the nationalism of his people, Nicholas dreamed of uniting all Serbs under his aegis and sitting upon Dusan's throne in Prizren" [page 201] I recommend this book to everybody who cares for knowledge.

Treadway has been extremely succesful in writing the dramatic history of Montenegro, its smart king and its brave people. After reading this fine historybook on the "black mountains" the reader will better understand the current trouble on the Balkans. Treadway describes in a detailed way why the two Balkan wars have taken place and what has been the political and geographical outcome of it. The Austrian-Hungarian influence on the European continent at that time as well as the Russian influence makes one see how history repeats itself today. For the current student on Balkan history, for the student on politics in the Balkan and for people who are interested in Montenegrin history this book is an absolute must! Highly recommended

I was lucky enough to have been a student of Dr. Treadway at the University of Richmond. This book was on the reading list for his class European Diplomacy from Bismarck to Hitler. Treadway's intense teaching style as well as his insightful sense of humor are seen in this work. The events leading up to World War I were both complicated, and filled with lots of "what if's..." Treadway concerns himself with the "Powder Keg" of Europe, the Balkans, and presents a unique and facinating overview of the events surrounding the Annexation Crisis, the Scutari Crisis, the two Balkan Wars, as well as the history of Montenegrin relations with Austria-Hungary, Russia, Turkey, and other Great Powers. How did this small country with virtually no resources come to play such a large role in European diplomacy and politics? Treadway answers this question, making his way to June 28th, 1914 and the assassination of Francis Ferdinand in Sarajevo at the hand of Mlada Bosnia. Anyone interested in the causes of World War I would be interested in this book, moreso because it is written from the perspective of "the mouse that roared," the small country of Montenegro.

Festive Ukrainian Cooking has easy to follow recipes. While all of our grandmothers had their own variations, this is a good starting point to get back to our beginnings.

If you enjoy Ukrainian food, this is the book to get. Most repipes use easy-to-get ingridients. The meals pleased many a Ukrainian homesick for native food.

Looking for a modern version of your grandmother's ethnic meals? This one will help you carry on the tradition of the meals she once made for you. A definite must have.

For any Ukrainian food/holiday tradition enthusiast tired of struggling through encoded recipes from "babtsia," this is the book for you!!! It provides simple recipes and introductions to the mysterious art of Ukrainian cooking -- "borshcht kvas," "pravdyviy hryby," et. al. -- as well as modern versions of the old traditions. Makes a traditional Ukrainian Christmas a reality.

Used to drive me crazy when my mother cooked Ukrainian foods and never had a recipe. Well, with this book all that has changed. I use it for those recipes where "a little of this and a little of that and then you mix it together" mean little to me. Also has excellent explanations of the different holidays and foods appropriate for the holiday.

For most presses, East European studies is a dying breed, consigned to the periphery by Europe's metamorphoses and other global challenges. However, Granville (history, Stanford Univ.) examines an event that retains stinging memories almost 50 years later--the 1956 Hungarian Revolution. The author explored archives accessible only after the Cold War, and had extraordinary cooperation from archivists in Moscow, Budapest, and elsewhere. Kadar, Nagy, Rakosi, Tito, Khrushchev, Eisenhower, Dulles, and other personalities, as well as arcane communist and democratic bureaucracies, are revealed through countless archival fragments. Granville is at her best telling the interwoven story of 1956. Ultimately, Granville's analysis leads to a no-fault conclusion, suggesting that misperceptions and misconceptions among all actors led to the disastrous outcome. Recommended for graduate students and above.-- D.N. Nelson, University of New Haven

Johanna Granville is one of the most industrious and talented of the scholars who have seized upon new archival opportunities to deepen our understanding of the Cold War. For _The First Domino_, the author has scoured archives in Europe and the United States in an effort to find out how the principal actors arrived at decisions regarding the Hungarian Revolution of 1956. Matters, as she writes, were not as simple as they once appeared. Nikita Khrushchev and other Soviet leaders bad difficulty, for example, deciding whether or not to suppress the uprising by force. In fact, they voted not to intervene one day (October 28)before they ordered decisive military action (October 31). Some of what she has uncovered is already known: that Imre Nagy denounced some of his countrymen during his years in Soviet Russia (1930-44) and that he did not invite the initial Soviet invasion of October 23-24. But thanks to Granville's linguistic abilities, she has shed new light on the seemingly inexplicable conduct of Poland's Wladyslaw Gomulka and Yugoslavia's Josip Broz Tito. Moreover, she has helped to clarify Janos Kadar's decision to betray Nagy and the revolution. In a particularly compelling chapter, Granville examines the role the United States played before and during the revolution. She concludes that the Eisenhower Administration's talk of "rollback" and "liberation," when combined with U.S. intelligence operations and psychological warfare, may have led Soviet leaders to fear a U.S. intervention and, thus, to opt for a harder line. Above all, however, Granville reminds us of historical contingency. Those who have studied the revolution have sometimes taken the view that Hungarians and Soviets acted out of necessity. Granville herself thinks that given Hungarians' historic detestation of Russia and communism, revolution was bound to erupt; and Nagy's "trial and probably ... execution were inevitable." She should have written "were very likely," because elsewhere she observes that if the Soviets had removed Stalinist dictator Matyas Rakosi sooner, there might not have been a revolution; and that had there been no Polish crisis of October 19-20, Budapest's students might not have demonstrated on October 23. "No event," she wisely concludes, "is ever predestined; individuals can make rational choices to change the course of history at any given moment." ---Lee Congdon, Professor of History, James Madison University._History: Review of New Books_ (Summer 2004),v 32, i4: p 147.

Dr. Granville's book is without question a first-rate, well-researched monograph. She uses Hungarian documents that even Hungarians have not read, sometimes presenting them in dialogue form (Chapter 3). The books reads like a novel in some places. (...)

This long-awaited review of archival records dealing with the Hungarian uprising of 1956 is destined to appear on numerous Cold War historians' bibliographies. It is a meticulously researched study, a grand example of erudite scholarship in its truest sense. Dr. Granville's examination of declassified documents is exhaustively and exhaustingly thorough.

Johanna Granville's The First Domino: International Decision Making during the Hungarian Crisis of 1956 (...), a pioneering work on East European Cold War history, confirms that when President Eisenhower had his chance to redeem the Republican campaign pledge to "roll back" the Soviet occupation of Hungary, he failed and thus perpetuated that occupation for three more decades.
This is a remarkable study of Cold War history because the author, at home in Russian and other languages, has availed herself of recently opened Soviet and other archives to describe how Hungary became the first "domino" in a process that "resulted ultimately in the Soviet Union's loss of hegemony over Eastern Europe in 1989."
The Hungarian revolt resulted in more than 2,000 deaths and the flight of over 200,000 refugees to the West. It is worth noting that a far smaller group of earlier Hungarian refugees, who fled to America from a Nazi-endangered Europe, helped build the first atomic bomb during World War II.
Chapter 6 of "The First Domino" is the most fascinating, since it explores U.S. psychological warfare and covert activities in Eastern Europe during the 1950s, including broadcasts by Radio Free Europe.---Washington Times, March 21, 2004 by Arnold Beichman, Research Fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University

This book presents an illuminating look at the nuclear testing and it's aftermath. The cavalier attitude towards radiation is pretty amazing. There are also many fine pictures of the wrecks underwater, including some shots of the world's only exisiting diveable aircraft carrier.

My Dad was there (USS Reclaimer) - swimming in the atoll the day after the blasts, cleaning refuged ships, etc. It's amazing he's still alive.

Nice photos; good summaries. This isn't a full-blown account of Operation CrossRoads but a nice summary of the ships. If you are interested in OC, this is a good book to have on your shelf.

I found this book to be most interesting, with a very accessible writing style.

This is a great mini-coffee table book (get the hardcover if you REALLY dig this stuff!) offering hours of information and photos of the famous atomic bomb tests on naval ships at Bikini Atoll. The 190 page book is broken into nine chapters and has excellent notes on sources. Background information covers the first half of the book while the second is focused on recent dives to many of the famous and lesser known ships that were sunk here. The writing is very informative and the photographs are absolutely haunting, particularly the ones of the aircraft carrier USS Saratoga! Several color photos are included in the center. The author pushes no agenda in this book. He merely reports the facts available both "good and bad".

James Delgado does a very good job of reviewing the sunken ships of Bikini Atoll and telling the story of the 1946 atomic bomb tests. I read this book after diving at Bikini Atoll and found it to be a good treatment of a topic that has received too little attention. As far as wreck diving goes, Bikini Atoll is the best in the world, and my only disappointment with this book is that it does not fill the need for a coffee-table-style photographic survey of the incredible shipwrecks at Bikini. That being said, Delgado's book is a nice compromise between such a coffee table book and the more comprehensive historical treatment in Jonathan Weisgall's superb book on Bikini Atoll.

ABC-CLIO's wonderful handbooks on world mythology offer in-depth explorations linking traditional cultural myths to insights on behavior and ideals, and Handbook Of Chinese Mythology is an essential reference for any high school to college-level collection with a Chinese studies program. From main sources of myths and their importance to Chinese society and psyche to a timeline of myths as they evolved through Chinese history and a survey of the myths and themes themselves, Handbook Of Chinese Mythology is a real winner.

ABC-CLIO's wonderful handbooks on world mythology offer in-depth explorations linking traditional cultural myths to insights on behavior and ideals, and Handbook Of Chinese Mythology is an essential reference for any high school to college-level collection with a Chinese studies program. From main sources of myths and their importance to Chinese society and psyche to a timeline of myths as they evolved through Chinese history and a survey of the myths and themes themselves, Handbook Of Chinese Mythology is a real winner.

ABC-CLIO's wonderful handbooks on world mythology offer in-depth explorations linking traditional cultural myths to insights on behavior and ideals, and Handbook Of Chinese Mythology is an essential reference for any high school to college-level collection with a Chinese studies program. From main sources of myths and their importance to Chinese society and psyche to a timeline of myths as they evolved through Chinese history and a survey of the myths and themes themselves, Handbook Of Chinese Mythology is a real winner.

ABC-CLIO's wonderful handbooks on world mythology offer in-depth explorations linking traditional cultural myths to insights on behavior and ideals, and Handbook Of Chinese Mythology is an essential reference for any high school to college-level collection with a Chinese studies program. From main sources of myths and their importance to Chinese society and psyche to a timeline of myths as they evolved through Chinese history and a survey of the myths and themes themselves, Handbook Of Chinese Mythology is a real winner.

ABC-CLIO's wonderful handbooks on world mythology offer in-depth explorations linking traditional cultural myths to insights on behavior and ideals, and Handbook Of Chinese Mythology is an essential reference for any high school to college-level collection with a Chinese studies program. From main sources of myths and their importance to Chinese society and psyche to a timeline of myths as they evolved through Chinese history and a survey of the myths and themes themselves, Handbook Of Chinese Mythology is a real winner.

The author paints a unique portrait of Taiwan's spiritual underworld; thus, it is a wonderful resource for foreigners who wish to understand Chinese, specifically Taiwanese, culture. I just reread the book, and it was more "haunting" the second time.

this book really opened my eyes to the strange beliefs of some Taiwanese women. This book was a fun read and I recommend it to anybody who wants to learn more about Taiwan and the people there.

Moscowitz has done an excellent job of taking an incredibly complicated subject and made it accessible to a wide range of audiences without sacrificing any of the content. The topic itself is fascinating and will most likely prove to be a seminal work in understanding how ancient cultures adapt to modern life. I can think of no topic better suited than abortion and the haunting fetus to highlight the conflicts and contradictions inherent in this process. I would recommend this book to anyone interested in understanding the metamorphosis of traditional Chinese culture as it moves into the new millenium.

In this highly readable yet intellectually engaging
work, Moskowitz delivers a remarkable account of the
practice of fetus worship in contemporary Taiwan.
Integral to this account is a compelling discussion
of the cultural and emotional struggles Taiwanese women
experience in their decision to undergo an abortion,
and in their consequent attempts at finding psychological
and spiritual resolution.

Moskowitz's analysis is also noteworthy in its ability
to situate the psychological implications of these practices
in a complex religious and historical context. The result is
a truly fascinating work and an important contribution toward the
understanding of sexuality and spirtual life in Taiwan.

I read this book in its unedited form, so it may have changed a bit since then, but I loved it. The picture it paints of life in Taiwan is moving and explicit, and the language and situations range from compassionate to humorous. The topic is academic but the langauge isn't, so it's appropriate for the general public as well as academians. I especially loved the section on the noodle vendor who ran an appeasement sideline. I recommend this book to anyone who has an interest, however passing, in Asian culture.

Being a western student learning about the Oriental (non-Chalcedonian) Churches, I often got fustrated reading church history books that still regard these Eastern churches as heretics, if they mention them at all. This book, written by a Copt, gives the rich history of these churches a loud voice to the English world. This book is absolutely indispensible to anybody who wants to know what the Armenian, Syrian, Nestorian, Coptic, and Ethiopic churches are all about, and what they still think about themselves, without the western bias.
The only drawbacks to the book is, because the author is a Copt, the chapters on the Nestorian and Ethiopic churches are slightly slanted, though not as slanted as say, a Greek. The Nestorians get a very short chapter, presumably because they were the first to be declared heretics by the Church and because they are diophysites, which Atiya believes to be nothing short of denying the Incarnation. Atiya also seems to imply that they allied themselves with the Muslims against the Miaphysite Syrians. The Ethiopic Church gets a biased look because Atiya wants to think that this Church is historically under the See of Alexandria, when in fact the sources show that the Ethiopic Church is Antiochene.
While biases do come to play, this book is much more unbiased and more comprehensive than any other book in English about the Oriental Orthodox churches, and I would highly recommend it to anyone studying or meeting with these churches.

"Though conscious of the controversial character of some of my arguments, I have decided to relinquish even the most provocative among them so long as they have any foundation in available source material." A. S. Atiya


Oriental Churches?
The late professor Atiya's treatise, "The History of Eastern Christianity," introduces the reader masterfully to the fascinating and neglected Oriental Churches, called apologetically non-Caledonian since they are not subscribers to what they consider, the schismatic Council of Chalcedon, and are critical of Leo's Tome, as a pseudo Nestorian confession.
While Church history books ignore them, some petrified Eastern Orthodox still regard them as schismatic if not heretics. Interest in patristic hermeneutics, and the spirituality of the Desert Fathers, renewed the search into their dividing Cyrilic Christological confession, with amazing results. Martin Luther to A. von Harnack, and especially Karl Barth, sided with their Miaphysite Christology of the hypostatic union and in the last half century the most prominent Catholic theologian led by Grillmeier and Cardinal Kasper condemned Chalcedon as static, and Leo's Tome, as a thorn in the flesh.

'A History of Eastern Christianity':
This book, is rather a History of 'Oriental' Christianity, that constitute the forty some millions mainly of the Great See of Saint Mark, including the Copts, and Eritrio/Ethiopians, and the Ancient Apostolic Churches of Antioch and Armenia. Written by an eminent historian, a scholar in the areas of Medieval, Coptic, and Islamic studies, and founder and director of the University of Utah's Middle East Center and Library is an American Copt (Editor of the 8 volumes Coptic Encyclopedia, 1991, mcmillan) exposes the rich history of these churches with a clear enlightening voice for the Anglophones.
"The author describes his work as; 'The Fulfillment of a lifelong vow, 'a vow of the teaching deacon that A. S. Atiya, delivered on 'the extensive and complex but highly interesting subject of the Oriental Christian Churches.' This is the history of the churches who led Orthodox Christianity, whose theology and dogma could be intellectually defined as the dialogue between Alexandria and Antioch." Didaskalex

A Tribute to the Author:
From 1935 to 1939, Atiya served as Docent and Honorary Professor of Medieval (including Oriental) History for Kahle's Orientalisches Seminar in Bonn, Germany. In 1939, however, he returned to Egypt and began a tenure as Professor of Medieval History at Cairo University. In 1942, he moved to Alexandria University, where he held a foundation chair in Medieval History until 1952, and as Chairman of the History Department (1952-1954). During this period in Egypt, Atiya married, and participated in many academic expeditions.
For the 1955-56 session, he served the University of Michigan as Medieval Academy Visiting Professor, and then Visiting Professor at Union Theological Seminary and Columbia University. In 1957, he became Patten Visiting Professor and Lecturer at Indiana University. That year's lectures became his two books Crusade, Commerce and Culture, and Crusade Historiography and Bibliography. He then spent two years at Princeton as Professor of Arabic and Islamic History (1957-1958) and then as a member of the Institute for Advanced Study (1958-1959).
In 1959, Atiya came to the University of Utah as a Professor of Languages and History to build a complete center for the study of Arabic and Middle East cultures. In 1967 he was designated Distinguished Professor of History, and was further granted the honorary degree of Doctor of Humane Letters. Brigham Young University at the same time made him an honorary Doctor of Laws (LL.D.), in recognition of some of his discoveries in the world of papyri. In 1968, he published The History of Eastern Christianity and in 1969, he organized the publication of Catalogue Raisonné of the Arabic Manuscripts of Mount Sinai. At the time of his death, Atiya was preparing to publish an eight volume Coptic Encyclopedia. Overall, Atiya published approximately twenty books.

An Ecclesiastic Student's View:
"This book is absolutely indispensable to anybody who wants to know what the Armenian, Syrian, Nestorian, Coptic, and Ethiopian churches are all about, and what they still think about themselves, without the western bias. ... and I would highly recommend it to anyone studying or meeting with these churches." Reviewer: Sarah Wgner (Jerusalem, Israel)

Aziz Atiya's work, The History of Eastern Christianity, masterfully introduces the reader to a fascinating and little known segment of the Christian World. The chapters are well-organized thematically, ranging from the origins and histories of the Coptic, Ethiopian, and Nestorian Churches (among others), to descriptions of Christian communities in far-off India. Atiya's flair for storytelling combines well with his scholarship, making this work an interesting read for both scholars and interested non-scholars alike.

A Hint on this Work
The author describes his work as;" The Fulfillment of a lifelong vow", a vow of the teaching deacon (Didaskalos) that A. S. Atiya, of blessed memory, delivered on "the essentials of the extensive and complex but highly interesting subject of the Eastern Christian Churches." This is the history of the churches who led Orthodox Christianity, whose theology and dogma could be intellectually defined as the dialogue between Alexandria and Antioch. Eric Jurgens precisely describes it as "masterfully introduces the reader to a fascinating and little known segment of the Christian world". (preceding review)

Summery of Contents
I. Alexandrine Christianity, the Copts, the Ethiopians and their Church
II. Antioch and the Jacobites
III. The Nestorian Church
IV. The Armenian Church
V. St. Thomas Christians of South India
VI. The Maronite Church
VII.The Vanished Churches; Carthage, Pentapolis, and Nubia

Beautiful Erudite Introduction
Looking at the front page, enjoy reading the Coptic icon (the Louvre): Christ with his right arm around the shoulder of St. Menas, an Egyptian martyr, theology of beauty. The preface is key to Atiya's philosophy of Church history, "Though conscious of the controversial character of some of my arguments, I have decided to relinquish even the most provocative among them so long as they have any foundation in available source material." Seven maps introduce you to the geography of the early Christian world, and the regional facts of the time.

Eastern Christianity at a glance:
Part I: Alexandrine Christianity:
The ancient patriarchate of Alexandria was one of the chief sees of the early church. The Copts, descendants of the ancient Egyptians, never assumed their Church ethnic identity untill after the Arab invasion of the Byzantine empire. Through a long period of persecution since Byzantine domination of the East, the Orthodox Church in Egypt tenaciously held fast to the "faith of the fathers", preserving the Coptic language in their liturgy. One of its main strengths was in continuing the ascetic and monastic traditions originated by the Egyptian deserts fathers. The church has initiated considerable missionary work early in its ministry in europe and British Isles, recently in other parts of the African continent, and has a significant diaspora in North America, Europe, Australia and the Middle East.
The Ethiopian church has a history going back to apostolic times. For long under the tutelage of the Church of Alexandria. In 1959, the Coptic patriarch consecrated the Ethiopian Abuna as Catholicos of the Church of Ethiopia, in Addis Ababa. The church uses both the ancient language of Geez and modern Amharic in its liturgy, and has produced considerable religious literature with its own iconographic tradition.
The Eritrean Orthodox Church is an autocephalous church, depending directly on the See of St. Mark , got its catholicos and Synod in recent years, after separation of Eritria from Ethiopia.

Part II; Antioch and the Jacobites
The Syrian Orthodox Church traces its history to the early traditions of St Peter's work, Christians were first called by their name in Antioch. The church suffered severe persecution during the struggle against Byzantine domination after the council of Chalcedon, and later through invasions and Islamic rule. The patriarchate had to be moved several times until it was established in Damascus during this century. Syrian liturgical and theological life flourished until the 13th century, and became an inspiration to the Coptic Church which was in desolation, but steadily declined afterwards. The monastic movement produced many universally acknowledged saints and contributed enormously to the creation of a rich liturgical tradition.
In the seventeenth century, the Antiochian church came into contact with the ancient church of St Thomas Christians in India, and W. Syrian liturgy was thus introduced to the Christians in South India. Though the Syrian church is vastly reduced in number, it has a considerable diaspora in the US, Australia and Europe.

Part IV; The Armenian Church
The Armenian Apostolic Church: Armenia is the first nation to accept Christianity as the official religion traditionally Orthodox Christianity is linked with the preaching of St Thaddeus and St Bartholomew. Armenian Christians heroically preserved their apostolic faith, and were victims of terrible persecution through the centuries. There are three ecclesiastical centres within the church apart from Armenia: the catholicate of Cilicia (Antelias, Lebanon), the patriarchate of Jerusalem and the patriarchate of Constantinople. The Armenian church has a very significant diaspora spread out in all the continents. The Armenian national aspirations and the Armenian Orthodox faith are integrally interconnected.

The Malankara (Indian) Orthodox Church has always cherished the tradition of St Thomas as the founding father of Christianity in India. The Indian church, has suffered from Western colonial missions. The church came into contact with the west Syrian patriarchate of Antioch in 1665 and thus inherited the Syrian liturgical and spiritual tradition. The Orthodox church in India declared itself autocephalous in 1912, though conflicts with the Syrian patriarchate continue. With a well- equipped theological college, a mission training centre and many educational and charitable institutions, the church is fully involved in the life of the country. With the catholicos residing in Kerala. It has a diaspora in North America, Malaysia, Singapore and the Gulf countries.

The Late A. S. Atiya
the author, Distinguished Professor of History, University of Utah, is one of the greatest Coptologists, and Editor in Chief of the 8 volume, Coptic Encyclopedia. He was a member of the Mount Sinai expeditions of U. of Alexandria with The Library of Congress, and with U's of Princeton and Michigan, he then discovered the Codex Georgianus. While tenure in Alexandria, he was the Henry Luce visiting professor of world Christianity, at Union Theological Seminary New York. In conclusion, he says about his book: "In sum, if this book proves to be a modest counterweight to the Galaxy of standard manuals of the History of Western Christianity, I shall be more than rewarded."

For further reading
1. Imperial Unity and Christian Divisions, john Meyendorff, SVS, 1989
2. The First Seven Ecumenical Councils, Leo D. Davis, M. Glazier, 1987
3. The Rise of the Monophysite Movement, WHC Frend, Cambridge U. P., 1972
4. Christ in Christian Tradition, Vol. 2, Part Four, The Church of Alexandria with Nubia and Ethiopia,
Aloys grillmeier, theresia hainthaler, Nowbray & W j Knox, 1996.

Atiya performs a real service to ecumenical Christianity with this history of ancient church traditions from North Africa, Egypt, Ethiopia, Syria, Byzantium, Mesopotamia, Armenia and Central Asia. These are churches which once held the large majority of Christians in the world, but have been largely ignored in the West for many centuries. Atiya shows how the old Armenian Church (which was the first state-backed Christian church in the world) retained a tradition of leadership chosen by "the people". And therefore the Armenians drifted away from Rome's imperial church, with its constant demands for obedience and attempts to appoint superiors over the locally elected leaders. In similar defense against centralized administrative tyranny, the Egyptian Coptic, Syrian Jacobite, and Nestorian churches all declared independence from the state church of Rome. Later, of course, the Greek and Latin churches also slowly split, mainly over the issue of who should obey whom. In a Western Europe-centric view, all these churches "went astray" and were excommunicated from the real church. Atiya shows that all these churches were real, and the excommunications were mutual. The call for unity through obedience to one supreme authority was just what drove the international movement of Christianity apart.

Concerning the next 1500 or more years, Atiya follows the evolution of Eastern churches, explaining the moral, political and theological choices they made. He pays respect to their unique blends of Jewish, Christian, and local ethnic traditions, patiently sharing their gifts with other Christians around the world.

--author of "Different Visions of Love"