Religious Communities of the Middle East: Culture, Endangerment and Survival

Module title	Religious Communities of the Middle East: Culture, Endangerment and Survival
Module code	ARA1041
Academic year	2024/5
Credits	15
Module staff	Professor Siam Bhayro (Lecturer) Professor Emma Loosley Leeming ()

Duration: Term	1	2	3
Duration: Weeks		11

Number students taking module (anticipated)	50

Module description

This module takes you to the heart of the struggle for survival of some unique religious communities of the Middle East, many of which have existed for many hundreds of years but which may not live beyond our lifetime. You will not only learn about the rich traditions of Eastern Christianity but also about the much smaller groups who challenge our received ideas of what a ‘religion’ is and what it must consist of.

Over the term we will take you historically from Late Antiquity up until the last few years, when violence displaced many minorities from their homelands. You will read academic, media and faith sources and will be invited to consider what prejudices, colonial or otherwise, might underly all these sources. No knowledge of any of the local languages is required, nor is it necessary to have studied the ‘Introduction to Islam’ module – though if you have, you will find that the two modules complement each other.

Module aims - intentions of the module

You will develop knowledge of the cultural complexity of the Middle East and the environment in which this arose. You will develop your ability to evaluate sources, both for accuracy and for underlying prejudice and bias. You will learn to use the principle of religious literacy.

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)

ILO: Module-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

1. Demonstrate awareness of the religious minorities now living in the Middle East
2. Demonstrate understanding of the conditions under which many of the religious minorities developed and of the conditions which currently threaten the survival of some of them.
3. Demonstrate in-depth knowledge of at least one of the religions

ILO: Discipline-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

4. Evaluate sources critically, especially where the sources do not come from the religions themselves.
5. Demonstrate awareness of the variety of disciplinary approaches needed to understand religions which may differ considerably in structure and expression from religions more familiar to us.

ILO: Personal and key skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

6. Demonstrate written and verbal communication skills.
7. Demonstrate competency in handling different types of information that might require you to think outside the box
8. Work independently, retrieve, sift and integrate primary and secondary sources, construct coherent arguments, write lucidly, and apply research and bibliographic skills.

Syllabus plan

Whilst the module’s precise content may vary from year to year, it is envisaged that the syllabus will cover some or all of the following topics:

What is ‘Religious Literacy’?
Late Antiquity and the rise of new religions
The rise and spread of Islam
The Christian churches of the Middle East
Material Culture
Zoroastrianism
Other groups such as Jews,Yezidis, Yaresanis, Alevis, Druze, Mandaeans, Samaritans, Baha’i
Christian genocides (e.g. Armenian)
Diaspora Studies

Learning activities and teaching methods (given in hours of study time)

Scheduled Learning and Teaching Activities	Guided independent study	Placement / study abroad
22	128	0

Details of learning activities and teaching methods

Category	Hours of study time	Description
Scheduled learning and teaching activities	22	11 x 2-hour lectures
Guided independent study	128	Private study

Formative assessment

Form of assessment	Size of the assessment (eg length / duration)	ILOs assessed	Feedback method
Essay plan	500 words	6-8	Written

Summative assessment (% of credit)

Coursework	Written exams	Practical exams
100	0	0

Details of summative assessment

Form of assessment	% of credit	Size of the assessment (eg length / duration)	ILOs assessed	Feedback method
Encyclopeadia entry	40	1,000 words	1-8	Full written (verbal on request)
Essay	60	1,500 words	1-8	Full written (verbal on request)

Details of re-assessment (where required by referral or deferral)

Original form of assessment	Form of re-assessment	ILOs re-assessed	Timescale for re-assessment
Encyclopeadia entry	Encyclopeadia entry (1,000 words) (40%)	1-8	August/September reassessment period
Essay	Essay (1,500 words) (60%)	1-8	August/September reassessment period

Indicative learning resources - Basic reading

Buckley, J.J. The Mandaeans: Ancient Texts and Modern People. Oxford: OUP, 20012.

The Great Stem of Souls: Reconstructing Mandaean History. Piscataway: Gorgias, 2006.

Courbage, Y. and P. Fargues. Christians and Jews under Islam. London: I.B. Tauris, 1998.

Dalrymple, W. From the Holy Mountain: A Journey among the Christians of the Middle East. New York: Henry Holt & Company, Incorporated, 1999.

Drower, E.S. The Mandaeans of Iraq and Iran.

Ginkel, J. J. Van, and T. M. Van Lint. Redefining Christian Identity: Cultural Interaction in the Middle East since the Rise of Islam. Leuven: Peeters Publishing, 2006.

Griffith, S. H. The Church in the Shadow of the Mosque: Christians. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2007.

J. S. Guest, Survival Among the Kurds: A History of the Yezidis, 2d ed. London: Routledge, 1993.

Joseph, J. Muslim-Christian Relations and Intra-Christian Rivalries in the Middle East: The Case of the Jacobites in an Age of Transition. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1983.

Karabell, Z. Peace Be Upon You: Fourteen Centuries of Muslim, Christian, and Jewish Coexistence in the Middle East. New York: Knopf Publishing Group, 2007.

Kreyenbroek, P. G. Yezidism—Its Background, Observances and Textual Tradition. Lewiston, NY: Edwin Mellen, 1995.

Pacini, A. Christian Communities in the Arab Middle East: The Challenge of the Future. New York: Oxford University Press, 1999.

Rowe, P.S. Routledge Handbook of Middle Eastern Minorities. London: Routledge, 2019.

Waterfield, R. E. Christians in Persia. New York: Allen & Unwin, 1973.

Indicative learning resources - Web based and electronic resources

The Worlds of Mandaean Priests: mandaeanpriests.exeter.ac.uk

The Yezidi photo archive: Yezidiphotoarchive.com

Key words search

Middle East, Religious Minorities, Syrian Christians, Yezidis, Mandaeans, Druze, Yaresani

Credit value	15
Module ECTS	7.5
Module pre-requisites	None
Module co-requisites	None
NQF level (module)	4
Available as distance learning?	No
Origin date	30/04/2020
Last revision date	27/03/2024