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BestsellerE-book
Author Godwin, R. Todd, author.

Title Persian Christians at the Chinese court : the Xi'an Stele and the Early Medieval Church of the East / R. Todd Godwin.

Publication Info. London : I.B. Tauris, 2018.
©2018

Item Status

Description 1 online resource (xii, 306 pages) : maps.
Physical Medium polychrome
Description text file
Series Library of medieval studies ; 4
Library of medieval studies ; 4.
Note From the author's thesis (Ph.D.)--University of London, School of Oriental and African Studies, 2015
Summary "The Xi'an Stele, erected in Tang China's capital in 781, describes in both Syriac and Chinese the existence of Christian communities in northern China. While scholars have so far considered the Stele exclusively in relation to the Chinese cultural and historical context, Todd Godwin here demonstrates that it can only be fully understood by reconstructing the complex connections that existed between the Church of the East, Sasanian aristocratic culture and the Tang Empire (617-907) between the fall of the Sasanian Persian Empire (225-651) and the birth of the Abbasid Caliphate (762-1258). Through close textual re-analysis of the Stele and by drawing on ancient sources in Syriac, Greek, Arabic and Chinese, Godwin demonstrates that Tang China (617-907) was a cosmopolitan milieu where multiple religious traditions, namely Buddhism, Zoroastrianism, Manichaeism and Christianity, formed zones of élite culture. Syriac Christianity in fact remained powerful in Persia throughout the period, and Christianity - not Zoroastrianism - was officially regarded by the Tang government as 'The Persian Religion'. Persian Christians at the Chinese Court uncovers the role played by Syriac Christianity in the economic and cultural integration of late Sasanian Iran and China, and is important reading for all scholars of the Church of the East, China and the Middle East in the medieval period."-- Provided by publisher
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references (pages 283-301) and index.
Contents The late Sasanian Court and divine economy -- 'Repairing the imperial net' before the An Lushan Rebellion -- The habitus of Patriarch Timothy I -- The court of Emperor Tang Dezong as 'imperial net', and the Church of the East's Persian Longue Durée
Local Note eBooks on EBSCOhost EBSCO eBook Subscription Academic Collection - North America
Language Includes the Xi'an Stele in Chinese characters in Appendix B.
Subject Church of the East -- History -- To 1500.
Church of the East.
History.
Chronological Term To 1500
Subject China -- Church history.
China.
Church history.
China -- Religion -- History -- To 1500.
Religion.
Stele (Archaeology) -- China -- Xi'an (Shaanxi Sheng)
Stele (Archaeology)
China -- History -- Tang dynasty, 618-907.
Genre/Form Electronic books.
Church history.
History.
Electronic books.
Other Form: Print version: Godwin, R. Todd. Persian Christians at the Chinese court. London : I.B. Tauris, 2018 1784538809 (DLC) 2019403405 (OCoLC)1028530662
ISBN 9781786723161 (electronic book)
1786723166 (electronic book)
9781786733160 (electronic book)
1786733161 (electronic book)
9781784538804 (hardcover)
1784538809 (hardcover)