A01=Richard E. Payne
ancient middle eastern religions
ancient persia
ancient political systems
ancient religions
Author_Richard E. Payne
Category=JPA
Category=NHC
Category=QRAF
Category=QRAX
Category=QRMB
Category=QRRF
christian inclusion in late antiquity
christian law
christianity
christianity and politics
christians in iran
comparative religion
early iranian civilization
eq_bestseller
eq_history
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
eq_society-politics
history of religion in iran
iranian political practice
monotheistic religions
religion
religion in the mediterranean
religion in the near east
religions of persia
zoroastrian empire
zoroastrianism
Product details
- ISBN 9780520286191
- Weight: 590g
- Dimensions: 152 x 229mm
- Publication Date: 01 Sep 2015
- Publisher: University of California Press
- Publication City/Country: US
- Product Form: Hardback
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Christian communities flourished during late antiquity in a Zoroastrian political system, known as the Iranian Empire, that integrated culturally and geographically disparate territories from Arabia to Afghanistan into its institutions and networks. Whereas previous studies have regarded Christians as marginal, insular, and often persecuted participants in this empire, Richard Payne demonstrates their integration into elite networks, adoption of Iranian political practices and imaginaries, and participation in imperial institutions. The rise of Christianity in Iran depended on the Zoroastrian theory and practice of hierarchical, differentiated inclusion, according to which Christians, Jews, and others occupied legitimate places in Iranian political culture in positions subordinate to the imperial religion. Christians, for their part, positioned themselves in a political culture not of their own making, with recourse to their own ideological and institutional resources, ranging from the writing of saints' lives to the judicial arbitration of bishops.
In placing the social history of East Syrian Christians at the center of the Iranian imperial story, A State of Mixture helps explain the endurance of a culturally diverse empire across four centuries.
Richard E. Payne is Neubauer Family Assistant Professor of Ancient Near Eastern History at the University of Chicago.
