Hamilton-Wenham Public Library

American apostles, when evangelicals entered the world of Islam, Christine Leigh Heyrman

eng

Includes bibliographical references and index

contains biographical information

illustrationsplates

index present

non fiction

American apostles

bibliography

903361871

Christine Leigh Heyrman

when evangelicals entered the world of Islam

In "American Apostles, " the Bancroft Prize-winning historian Christine Leigh Heyrman brilliantly chronicles the first fateful collision between American missionaries and the diverse religious cultures of the Levant. Pliny Fisk, Levi Parsons, and Jonas King became the founding members of the Palestine mission and ventured to Ottoman Turkey, Egypt, and Syria, where they sought to expose the falsity of Muhammad's creed and to restore these bastions of Islam to true Christianity. Not only among the first Americans to travel throughout the Middle East, the Palestine missionaries also played a crucial role in shaping their compatriots' understanding of the Muslim world. "American Apostles" brings to life evangelicals' first encounters with the Middle East and uncovers their complicated legacy. The Palestine mission held the promise of acquainting Americans with a fuller and more accurate understanding of Islam, but ultimately it bolstered a more militant Christianity, one that became the unofficial creed of the United States over the course of the nineteenth century. The political and religious consequences of that outcome endure to this day

Part one: American Orients -- The age of wonders -- "By the beard of Mahomet!" -- "A perfect romance" -- Part two: Jihad -- British connections -- "Our great weapon" -- Part three: Hegira -- Turning Turk -- An American Muslim -- Part four: The hidden man -- Epiphanies -- At the gates of Damascus