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A Westerner’s travels among the persecuted and displaced Christian remnant in Iraq and Syria teach him much about faith under fire.
Gold Medal Winner, 2018 Independent Publisher Book Awards
Silver Medal Winner, 2018 Benjamin Franklin Award
Finalist, 2018 Christian Book Award
They were among the world’s first Christians. Now they’re vanishing.
The Islamic State’s genocide of Christians in the Middle East is well documented. Yet this modern atrocity is often judged less newsworthy than the jihadists’ destruction of the region’s cultural heritage. What are the roots and human realities of this unfolding tragedy in the birthplace of three great religions?
Andreas Knapp, a German priest, traveled to Iraq to collect stories of refugees and survivors. He found Christians who still speak Aramaic, the language of Jesus. This uprooted remnant of early Christianity has survived two millennia to the present day, while doggedly holding to Jesus’ teaching of nonviolence.
The heartbreaking eyewitness accounts in this book tell why millions are fleeing the Middle East. Yet though these last Christians don’t expect to get back what they lost, remarkably they harbor no thirst for revenge. Could it be that they hold the key to breaking the cycle of violence in the region?
Includes sixteen pages of color photographs.
The accounts in themselves are more than enough to make this book worth reading, but what elevates it to an amazing book is [Knapp’s] great scholarship and understanding of the history and culture of this area and his deep understanding of the history and theology of Islam. Knapp's compassion and love comes through on every page. Even more, his last few chapters give us practical ways we can help beyond our prayers and are a plea for understanding between people. This book is one we all must read.
I highly recommend this book. It will be shocking to those who have not paid attention to the persecution of Iraqi Christians, particularly those in Mosul. It will be enlightening to those who have opposed Syrian Christians entering the U.S. as refugees. It will bring to light the human tragedy that has caused those Christians to seek asylum… The first-hand accounts of such atrocities still happening today are difficult and shocking but they cannot be ignored. They are clear evidence of a Christian faith worth dying for.
Reading this book from start to finish was an emotional punch like I have rarely encountered. The Last Christians demands to be, and must be, read by all that are alive today; especially those of us that live in the West, and without question those that call themselves Christian.
