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Muslim-Christian Relations in Central Asia PDF

215 Pages·2008·1.073 MB·English
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Muslim–Christian Relations in Central Asia This book explores issues of cultural tension that affect Muslim and Christian interaction within the Central Asian context. It looks at the ways that Christians have interacted with Central Asian Muslims in the past, and discusses what might need to be done to improve Muslim–Christian relations in the region in the present and future. Since the time that Nestorian Christian missionaries traveled eastward from Asia Minor along the Silk Road, and Islamic cultures came to the region in the seventh century, Christians and Muslims have shared a unique relationship in a fascinating cultural milieu. Under the reigns of various conquerors, czars, Soviets, and modern nationalist strongmen, the ever- changing political and economic situation of these former Soviet Republics has dramatically affected the ways that Muslims and Christians have practiced their faith. Today, as Muslims and Christians work to stabilize their interactions, they face new challenges because of the activities of Protestant Christian and Islamist missionaries who are flooding into Central Asia as never before. The book corrects common misunderstandings of Central Asia as a cultural backwater, and is a valuable introduction to Muslim and Christian interactions in one of the most quickly changing regions of the globe. It will appeal to readers interested in Muslim–Christian interaction, and for researchers in the field of world religions, Central Asian studies, and intercultural studies. A. Christian van Gorder is Associate Professor of Religion at Baylor University in Waco, Texas. He has also taught at Messiah College in Pennsylvania and the Yunnan University in Kunming, China. He is the author ofNo God but God: A Path to Muslim–Christian Dialogue on God’s Nature and co-author of Three-Fifth’s Theology: Challenging Racism in American Christianity. Central Asian studies series Mongolia Today Science, culture, environment and development Edited by Dendevin Badarch and Raymond A. Zilinskas Turkestan and the Fate of the Russian Empire Daniel Brower Church of the East A concise history Wilhelm Baum and Dietmar W. Winkler Pre-Tsarist and Tsarist Central Asia Communal commitment and political order in change Paul Georg Geiss Russia’s Protectorates in Central Asia Bukhara and Khiva, 1865–1924 Seymour Becker Russian Culture in Uzbekistan One language in the middle of nowhere David MacFadyen Everyday Islam in Post-Soviet Central Asia Maria Elisabeth Louw Kazakhstan Ethnicity, language and power Bhavna Dave Ethno-Nationalism, Islam, and the State in the Caucasus Post-Soviet disorder Edited by Moshe Gammer Humanitarian Aid in Post-Soviet Countries An anthropological perspective Laëtitia Atlani-Duault Muslim–Christian Relations in Central Asia A. Christian van Gorder Muslim–Christian Relations in Central Asia A. Christian van Gorder First published 2008 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada by Routledge 270 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016 Routledge is an imprint of theTaylor & Francis Group, an informa business This edition published in theTaylor & Francis e-Library,2008. “To purchaseyourown copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis orRoutledge’s collection of thousands of eBooks please go to www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk.” © 2008 A. Christian van Gorder All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprihnted or reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Muslim–Christian relations in central Asia / [edited by] A. Christian van Gorder. p. cm. – (Central Asian studies series) Includes bibliographical references and index. 1. Islam–Asia, Central–History. 2. Christianity–Asia, Central–History. 3. Islam–Relations–Christianity. 4. Christianity and other religions–Islam. I. Van Gorder, A. Christian. BP63.A34M86 2008 261.2’70958–dc22 2007047629 ISBN 0-203-92680-3 Mastere-bookISBN ISBN 10: 0-415-77608-2 (hbk) ISBN 10: 0-203-92680-3 (ebk) ISBN 13: 978-0-415-77608-0 (hbk) ISBN 13: 978-0-203-92680-2 (ebk) Do not think this is a fortress; it is a lofty mountain well beyond the reach of a person’s imagination. Its height reaches so far out to such extremes that the hands of imagination are too short for it. Bukharan Chronicle, 16th century The aim of a book may be to instruct, yet you can use it as a pillow; although the purpose is to give knowledge, direction, and profit. Jalaludin Rumi Contents Preface ix Acknowledgments xi Map xiii 1 The steppe is cruel and heaven is far 1 2 Central Asia: A great sea of land 6 3 Central Asia’s ethnic mosaic: An interreligious perspective 10 4 A history of triumphs and disasters 38 5 The history of Christianity in Central Asia 49 6 Russians and Central Asian Muslims: Eagle and sickle against the crescent 61 7 Islamic missionaries and the Islamicization of Central Asian society 73 8 Post-Soviet Protestant missionary efforts in Central Asia 91 9 Central Asia and the new geopolitical Great Game 112 10 Central Asia tomorrow: Earthquakes of transition 124 viii Contents Epilogue: The future of Central Asia’s Muslim– Christian relations 134 Appendices: A partial list of resources for the study of religion in Central Asia 142 Glossary 144 Notes 156 Bibliography 191 Index 199 Preface Ever since the collapse of the Soviet Union the attention of scholars has remained steadily focused on Russia, with a plethora of exemplary works dealing with political, economic, and geostrategic developments in that country. The perception for good reasons was, and to some degree this perception is still with us, that the most strategically important country in the whole of the enormous Eurasian landmass is Russia and the processes unfolding there invariably resonate in its near abroad, the political sphere in its most immediate neighborhood, and one better study Russia if one is to understand Central Asia. Although true to some degree, this line of thinking has had unforgivable adverse effects on the field of scholarship dealing with the political and historical developments in such regions as the Southern Caucasus and Central Asia, especially Central Asia. It appears that beside the usual interest by Western intelligence services, the US State Department, and occasional travelers, there is not much interest to be found anywhere else. Even when vast human rights abuses transpire in any or all of these republics (such as the mass killing of protesters in Andijon, Uzbekistan), journalists usually good at painting a general picture, albeit sometimes with the broadest of strokes, are at a loss to explain to their readers the historical and political background of the developments in the region, and the reader is left to wonder whether these processes are born out of a vacuum or perhaps on some level they are a result of the new Great Game. The terrorist attacks of September 11 occasioned a change, but change has been slow in coming. With the United States heavily involved in oil and gas projects in the region as well as continuing its war effort in the n eighborhood, the world’s attention, it seemed for a while, focused on the Central Asian republics, raising hopes of speedy democratic changes from authoritarian forms of government that have replicated themselves and are continuing as it were in perpetuity to democracy. The deployment of US military personnel to bases in Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan of the former Soviet Union to support the war effort in Afghanistan was one sign of the

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