Muslim-Christian Relations in Central Asia

215 Pages·2008·1.073 MB·English

by  Christian van Gorder

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.
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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