Revival and Awakening: American Evangelical Missionaries in Iran and the Origins of Assyrian Nationalism Paperback – March 9, 2015

It’s refreshing to see an objective take on the history of the modern enthno-religious group identifying as descendants of Assyrians of antiquity.In an era where very motivated adherents to Assyrian Nationalism seem to be everywhere on social media (and mostly unchallenged in certain far fetched claims) it’s great to see a grounded take on the true, and relatively recent history of the Christians of the area.

Hard as it is to understand why an academic specializing in late antiquity religion and philosophy with an emphasis on Syriac and Greek would venture into publishing a book about the 19th century Middle Eastern Assyrians and their Western missionary advocates, it is even harder to figure out why a respected press (University of Chicago) would publish and distribute a manuscript flawed on so many fronts.First the flight into 19th century: Middle Eastern socio-political sequence of events, from European infringement on four centuries of Ottoman colonial expansion and the rise of native nationalism is a minutely examined and reexamined part of modern world history. The interaction among native economic and political elites with Russian, French, British, German and later American representatives set the turbulent stage for the rise of state entities prior to the emergence of Islamic theorists and clerics who have led mass movements that are toppling poorly conceived geographic nations. Thus to study any historical minutiae of the 19th century requires knowing the overall context: this author pays no heed to such forces. Instead he embarks on smatterings of nationalism development theory, some of it useful, but not contextualizing Assyrians within the Middle Eastern setting that parallels Armenian and Kurdish nationalism, nor the various education and print media forms of Christian-led Arab nationalism.The effective contextualizing takes place in his examination of the impetus for the world wide American missionary endeavor that, regrettably, he sees as set within an evangelical Christian movement alone, rather than a calling to improve world social, educational and medical conditions through efforts institutionalized within the missionary movement. From China to Africa and yes, to Urmia, American missionaries established printing facilities for indigenous languages, schools for men and women, and most effective in the long run, medical training schools. The spirit, if not the religious impulse that drove these 19th century American missionary efforts, by the late 20th century had transformed into the Ford Foundation, the American Peace Corps, and later still, into the mission of such entities as the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. In other words, the author is caught in minutiae without the necessary vision of 19th and 20th century history to understand the significance of his subject.Second, the factual front: We are to assume that this author knows classical Syriac, the now liturgical language of the four (and counting) Patriarchal Assyrian churches, and for centuries since at least the 3rd CE, the scholarly language of Christian Aramaic speakers. We are also to understand, from his various discussions of the evolving meaning of words like “millet,” that he understands neo-Aramaic as written and printed in Urmia. But does he?One of the most important figures in the rise of Assyrian nationalism, an emphasis of this book, is Freydoun Abraham, a.k.a. Aturaya (1891-1926), whose biography is sketched on page 328. Just where does the author assume that this well-known Russian educated physician studied in Kharput (se Turkey)? Does he not read the distinction in neo-Aramaic between Kharpov (Russia), and Kharput (Turkey)? Ok so he made a mistake in reading the neo-Aramaic. But why then conjecture that he must have known Ashur Yousef (1858-1915) who taught in Kharput? Asides like this are maddening to a historian. What can we rely on as fact?The shallowness of the author’s knowledge of modern Assyrians is most egregious in his regular disparagement of equating the terms Assyrian and Syrian. This book, printed in 2015, must have been accepted by 2014. So why then does the author not know that definitive proof of Herodotus’’ 5th c. BCE assertion that “Syrian” is the term used by Greeks for what in the east is “Assyrian,” an assertion supported by 19th century German scholarship, though contested, appeared widely in scholarly and popular media as early as 2000? The scholarly article about the Luwian/Phoenecian bilingual inscription at Cinekoy (outside Adana) appeared in JNES from the University of Chicago!I will stop without commenting on the many other glib sentences and usages such as “patriarch Shem’on”!!! etc. One begins to suspect that the author dislikes both American missionaries and their proteges, the modern Assyrians. He is entitled to his whims. But not to pass them off as insinuated history.The problem with publishing such a narrowly focused book is that there are few readers capable of critiquing the manuscript before it goes to press while at the same time, the manuscript follows all the conventions of a scholarly book with footnotes, bibliography, index and 357 pages of sometimes repetitious text. It draws on the significant periodical press published in Assyrian neo-Aramaic in Urmia from 1849-1918. It looks at works by Mar Toma Audo (murdered in 1915) and others. But how reliable is it? Maybe in parts, but reader be careful, scholar be wary.

For starters: I did not waste my money on this ridiculously overpriced book (and read it for free via different sources) for two reasons:1) The price is actually ridiculous -- over $30.00 (or $90.00 if you want a hardcover) for a non-fiction literary piece published by a "scholar" writing in a field way out of his depth, scope, training and understanding? Unreasonable. There are works published which are far more valuable and credible (purely speaking on academic terms, as Becker, whose qualifications are religious studies, is writing on a subject clearly out of his scope) at much lower prices. What gives? I wonder ...2) For reasons that will be explained below, this is an incredibly Orientalist, racist work with hidden agenda. What that agenda is, I don't know. Only one can speculate, considering his previous works and background. Now, expanding:In an interview given in 2015 about this book (published on a blog), Becker gives the impression that he writes from what could be described as a "scientific" perspective: going where the evidence takes you, not selectively picking information and letting your pre-determined judgement land the conclusion. But does he actually do this? Forgoing his interest in Syriac theological scripts, one may wonder why an academic teaching religious studies has an interest in "modern" Assyrians and their historicity? What would cause an academic to pick-up interest in an unrelated field, particularly concerning an unfortunately understudied and academically neglected minority? Again, this is all speculation -- unless one knows the author personally, no one can say for sure. Yet his disdain for "modern" Assyrians (whom he somehow thinks he has authority to speak for, writing posts about their suffering under ISIS), is evident in works dating back to 2008, several years before the publication of this book. Glossing over the history of the same people he wrote an entry about in a book in a yet another unrelated field, Becker attacks the Assyrian identity and claims of continuity. Conveniently glossing over crucial facts that separate this community from their neighbors -- like the timing of the ancient Akitu festival (Kha B'Nisan, ie., First of April) which has always celebrated the same time the ancient Assyrians/Babylonians did (first of April) -- and evidence of attestation of an Assyrian identity prior to the excavation of Nineveh and extensive interaction with missionaries by Assyrian Orthodox in Kharput. Becker ridicules modern Assyrians, laughing at any evidence in favor of their ancient identity. With such a passage predating the publication of this book by several years, it is clear Becker's hateful anti-Assyrian bias he masquerades as genuine academic insight cannot be discounted from his work.Becker presents his work as pioneering and shattering, fool-proof and definitive against what he refers to as a "constructed" Assyrian identity (remember, the people he is writing about are really "East Syrian Christians", whatever that may be). Analyzation into Becker's work sheds light to such pathetic claims made to appear grandeur and special. Many of the work and viewpoints Becker is referencing and repeating have been recycled by other academics who agree with his viewpoint (self-hating John Joseph and Mark Levene -- who was influenced by the former -- among examples). There is nothing discoverable, groundbreaking, or original in what he says -- it has been said before, to a lesser extent by some authors, or regurgitated in academic circles because no one is willing to put in the hard work to do new research. A closer look into his footnotes and references is laughable -- when he is not referencing himself, theologians, or the same author numerous times, he cites anti-Assyrian propagandists like Johnny Meso. Academic work is dependable based on where the information is sourced. How can such work be trusted if the references themselves are poorly-equipped and/or laughing stocks (as is the case of Meso, who is not a credible academic source and cannot be taken seriously)?The argument underlying Becker's position is that this indigenous Christian group, speaking Akkadian-influenced Aramaic (which, by the way, was the second official language of the Neo-Assyrian Empire) in what was geographically ancient Assyria, with a cultural psyche and customs that define and distinguish them from their neighbors, is somehow a shady and unclearly defined ethnic group know as "Syriac/Syrian" is an old argument that has been ripped from him and his predecessors who share his thought. Contrary to ancient Greek references, early Arabic references, early self-identification of Christian authors from northern Mesopotamia writing in the Sassanid period and afterwards, ancient Mesopotamian Christian theology being rooted in the veneration of Saints who claimed lineage and linkage to Ancient Assyria, Vatican letters from the 1600's, the etymology of ancient Assyrian words, and the Cinekoy Inscription itself which indisputably proved the etymology of the word Syria (which, yes, comes from "Assyria"), Becker insists on separating "Syria" and "Assyria', again referencing the debunked works of John Joseph and et. all, which used Syria = / Assyria to argue against continuity. Contradicting all of this widely academically accepted information, Becker still proceeds with his viewpoint. Hardly scientific, and demonstrable of his clear cherry-picking and bias. Pathetic, pathetic, pathetic."Orientalism," as defined by Edward Said, is the Western attitude that views Eastern societies as exotic, primitive, and inferior. In the Western viewpoint, from early times until today, the people belonging to what was then the "Orient" and what is now the "Middle East" are still too primitive, inferior, and intellectually inept to ever write about their own history. Perpetuating this book is the central argument that these Assyrians were unable to form an organic national identity, instead fragmented into various churches that the author still views as defining ethnic markers, look into their past, and write about their own history. With Western gaze, these primitive East Syrians needed a false, disingenuous, and fabricated identity with no grounding.Unfortunately for this oppressed and extremely persecuted minority who suffer genocidal attacks by their "neighbors" multiple times a decade, never being able to heal and construct themselves, marginalization and racism is widespread in discussions in their identity across Syriac-centered academic circles dominated by privileged, ignorant white people who neither not care for the minority in which they write about nor wish to venture further and disable their bias against them by simply learning more. If one looks closer, certain authors repeatedly reference and thank another, working close together. Among them, an academic relationship is well-established between author Becker and another racist, orientalist academic Aaron Butts (yes, that is his real name). Well-known to many academics, particularly Assyrian academics, racism is rampant in certain circles. Intellectual inbreeding -- hiring from within and shunning minorities -- is extensively practiced to further perpetuate and ensure this cycle. Such practices and mentalities are permitted because the minority in question is unable, for the moment being, to defend itself or focus on promoting academia while it still reels from a genocide. By the way, Becker hunted down many Assyrian academics/priests/community members for resources, only to use it against them. Incredible.In short, the book is a disingenuous, distorted, fallacious, and exaggerative novel only able to get published as it's the first dealing with an understudied subject in academia. Becker is able to pass this off as credible by taking strands of truth and conflating them with major outright lies. Hopefully more academics can come out with the truth, laying to bed his anti-Assyrian hateful conspiracies.

this book is great. Although I'm not a native English speaker I could understand enough. Is this book in near future going to be translated into German? I'm sure there are a lot of German speaking guys who would read it.

Classic Orientalism. Selective use of references attempting to prove a British/missionary conspiracy theory without getting to really know the people this author is talking about. If this book was about medicine, the author would have lost his license for this 'publication'.

Für alle die sich für Religion und andere Einflüsse auf Nationalismus interessieren, in diesem Fall besonders die Entstehung einer neuen, aber falschen Identität der Assyrer.