The Christian church was born in the Middle East and grew there for centuries. Its interaction with Islam turned Christianity in this once predominantly Christian region into a marginalized jewel, surviving at great peril within a difficult, even sometimes hostile, political and religious climate. Of course, the story of Christianity over the last 1,300 years is not solely one of conflict, marginalization, and persecution but is also about accommodation, interchange, and cooperation. This introductory book details the history of the church in its Middle Eastern birthplace through the past two thousand years. It is a story described as "a lost history" by Philip Jenkins, but it is here uncovered and placed on display. For those with eyes to see, the church of the Middle East is here revealed as a precious jewel, still catching the light.

Mitri Raheb is the president of Dar al-Kalima University College in Bethlehem, Palestine, and president of the Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land.



Mark A. Lamport has been a professor for thirty-five years at graduate theological schools in the United States and Europe.