Heirs to Hated and Deliberately Overlooked Kingdoms

I don't know how anyone can look at the situation of Middle Eastern Christians today and not ricochet between rage and despair--rage at the ignorance of their plight, not least on the part of their co-religionists in the West, and despair over the inability and unwillingness of anyone to do anything of substance to help them. I have been talking about Christians in Syria and Egypt in my classes these past two weeks, and it is difficult not to weep and rail about what they have been undergoing for centuries, but especially what they have suffered in the last three years in particular.

A new book released in late October takes us inside these neglected and overlooked religious communities: Gerard Russell, Heirs to Forgotten Kingdoms: Journeys Into the Disappearing Religions of the Middle East (Basic Books, 2014), 352pp.

About this book the publisher tells us:

Despite its reputation for religious intolerance, the Middle East has long sheltered many distinctive and strange faiths: one regards the Greek prophets as incarnations of God, another reveres Lucifer in the form of a peacock, and yet another believes that their followers are reincarnated beings who have existed in various forms for thousands of years. These religions represent the last vestiges of the magnificent civilizations in ancient history: Persia, Babylon, Egypt in the time of the Pharaohs. Their followers have learned how to survive foreign attacks and the perils of assimilation. But today, with the Middle East in turmoil, they face greater challenges than ever before. 

Heirs to Forgotten Kingdoms, former diplomat Gerard Russell ventures to the distant, nearly impassable regions where these mysterious religions still cling to survival. He lives alongside the Mandaeans and Ezidis of Iraq, the Zoroastrians of Iran, the Copts of Egypt, and others. He learns their histories, participates in their rituals, and comes to understand the threats to their communities. Historically a tolerant faith, Islam has, since the early 20th century, witnessed the rise of militant, extremist sects. This development, along with the rippling effects of Western invasion, now pose existential threats to these minority faiths. And as more and more of their youth flee to the West in search of greater freedoms and job prospects, these religions face the dire possibility of extinction. Drawing on his extensive travels and archival research, Russell provides an essential record of the past, present, and perilous future of these remarkable religions.