Religions of the Silk Road: Overland Trade and Cultural Exchange from Antiquity to the Fifteenth Century [Paperback]

Dr. Richard Foltz (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0312233388 | ISBN-13: 978-0312233389 | Publication Date: September 2, 2000

Ever since the label was coined in the late 19th century, the idea of the Silk Road has captivated the Western imagination with images of fabled cities and exotic peoples. Religions of the Silk Road looks behind the romantic notions of the colonial era and tells the story of how cultural traditions, especially in the form of religious ideas, accompanied merchants and their goods along the overland Asian trade routes in pre-modern times. As early as three thousand years ago Hebraic and Iranian religious ideas and practices traveled eastwards in this way, to be followed centuries later by the great missionary traditions of Buddhism, Christianity, Manichaeism, and Islam. But the Silk Road was more than just a conduit along which these religions hitched rides East; it was a formative and transformative rite of passage, and no religion emerged unchanged at the end of the journey.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"This brief but tightly packed book is a wonderful counterweight to romanticized notions of the so-called Silk Road . . . Foltz masterfully deals with disparate histories from one point of the compass to its seeming opposite, while weaving a wonderfully lucid story of merchants, pilgrims, and missionaries."

--The Journal of Asian History

 

"Professor Foltz excels at concise explanations of the development of the many religions scattered throughout the central Asian area of the Silk Road . . . Throughout this excellent book Professor Foltz makes clear the importance of trade and cultural exchanges in the unfolding of history."

--Journal of World History

 

"Foltz takes us on an instructive journey through time and space, revealing the fluidity of barriers, geographical and otherwise, on the historical trail and bypaths of the 'Silk Road,' which stretches from China in the East and across Central Asia to the shores of the Mediterranean in the West."

--History: Reviews of New Books

 

". . . an absolute gem . . . well researched and well written, it brings together a huge amount of information in an attractive package."

--Jerry H. Bentley, Editor, Journal of World History

From the Publisher

"Foltz has done a very good job of putting together the various pieces of evidence for the different religions on the Silk Road...a fine synthesis, which up to now is the only one of its kind. For all interested in the present global relationship between religions, the history of that relationship in Central Asia is of the greatest interest." --Hans-J. Klimkeit, Director, Religionswissenschaftliches Seminar, Bonn U.

"...an absolute gem...a really valuable contribution...well researched and well written, it brings together a huge amount of information in an attractive package. The attention to trade and cultural exchanges is most welcome." --Jerry H. Bentley, Editor, Journal of World History --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 208 pages
• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan (September 2, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312233388
• ISBN-13: 978-0312233389
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.4 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #45,994 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #81 in Books > Religion & Spirituality > Religious Studies > History

More About the Author

Richard Foltz (b.1961) is a cultural historian specializing in the Iranian world. He has also worked as a musician, film critic, and travel writer. He holds a Ph.D. from Harvard University and has taught at Brown, Columbia, and the University of Florida. He is currently a professor in the Department of Religion at Concordia University in Montreal, Canada. His work has appeared in over a dozen languages.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

43 of 43 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A fascinating introduction, February 13, 2000

By 

William Devanney (San Jose, California) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Religions of the Silk Road: Overland Trade and Cultural Exchange from Antiquity to the Fiftenth Century (Hardcover)

A fascinating book which proposes how the flow of religious ideas along the Silk Road can be viewed as a consequence of commerce along the same route (in perhaps the same way that insurance salesmen make it a practice of going to church on Sunday). While this central assertion is perhaps not compelling enough to justify a book, Prof. Foltz does deliver an interesting work as he mines the complex history of this region. He gives us heretics, syncretists, linguists and horse traders as well as a broad sampling of the history of this border land which is neither Middle East nor East, but a blend of the two. Occasionally Prof. Foltz drops down into term-paper-speak ("Human groups tend to hasten towards self-definition mainly when challenged by something they could conceivably be, but, for fear of losing their identity, must demonstrate they are not") but more often than not he is a capable story teller. I particularly enjoyed his account of Christians, Muslims and Buddhists vying for favor in the Mongol court.

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Where Major Religions First Met, August 7, 2002

By 

James S. Taylor (Scarborough, Ontario Canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Religions of the Silk Road: Overland Trade and Cultural Exchange from Antiquity to the Fifteenth Century (Paperback)

The interesting thing about the Silk Road for someone interested in the history of religions, is that along its length is where Buddhism, Judaism, Christianity, Islam, and Chinese thought had a prolonged encounter. Where national borders tended to keep them apart elsewhere, here traders and soldiers carried these views back and forth across the spine of Asia. This is their story, though one told in crammed detail over too short a book. Foltz surveys the Jews and Zoroastrians at the Western end of the Road, then follows historically as the Buddhists, then Christians travel its length to China in the East, only to be finally submerged in the tide of an Islamic crusade. He traces the moves of each of the faiths, how it developed into a gigantic melting pot with verging and joined syncretism, and how it all came to an end. I only wish it had been a longer book, particularly since I paid so much for the hardcover! For those who feel the same, however, there is an extensive bibliography of other works covering this area of the world.

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Religion handbook for people interested in Central Asia, October 12, 2006

By 

Magalini Sabina "sabina" (Rome Italy) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Religions of the Silk Road: Overland Trade and Cultural Exchange from Antiquity to the Fifteenth Century (Paperback)

I came around this book because it is often cited in books on Central Asia, the Silk Road, Buddhism and also in the last book I read on Xuanzang. The Authors that use it as a citation do not want to explore more deeply some concepts they are treating at the moment so they indicate this text with such an encompassing title as the ultimate resource for omitted information. So when you finally see the book, the small dimensions dampen a little the enthusiasm.

Certainly, the subject is large and the chronological time interval extends from the first millenium BCE to the fifteenth centure CE, while the geographical boundaries go from China to Persia and from North India to Russia considering all the Silk Road extensions. Simplification of such a vast panorama is evidently necessary and this is precisely what the Author has done. He has succeeded in condensing the history of well known and less well known religions into a comprehensive didactic text.

The first chapter states the epistemiological guidelines utilized: the importance of trade for diffusion of religion, the supposed role of women in the transmission of faiths, the division between proselytizing and non proselytizing religions and the difference in acceptance of new beliefs from the center to the periphery, the consideration of the practicality and belonging to the dominant social class as the main drive to acceptance of new forms of faith.

In the following chapters Zoroastrism, Buddhism, Judaism, Nestorian Christianity and Islam are all described and a brief story of their expansion and fortunes is delineated. The book makes two really good points in these chapters one is on the syncretism of all these religions in time and space on the Silk Roads and the other is the concept of Central Asia as a refuge for heretics. Another interesting aspect for non accademics is the description of less well known sects such as the Radanites (merchant Jews from France that practically converted the Khazars)and the description of the Kushan reign that disappeared forever in the sands of history.

Finally there is a wide overview on the religious conquest by Islam of the entire Central Asia and the fading away of all other religious beliefs. The role of sufis is emphatized more than that of the sword. There is one chapter called "Ecumenical mischief" that seems like a small essay inserted in this otherwise schematic text, that dwells on the attempts of missionaries of all faiths to convert the Mongols and on the intestine quarrels between Nestorians and Muslims in the Il-Khan lands. The indepth outlook of these episodes makes one desire the whole book were written with such a research detail since the bird view approach is one of its defects.

Accademic reviewers affirm Prof. Folz makes a few mistakes in dates and historical interpretations and that he has utilized exclusively English sources. The general reader, naturally, does not capture these subtle details. However, since this book is really very cited and has the great advantage of covering such a wide time and space span, a new and revised edition would be welcomed.

The reading is fluent and sometimes it is necessary to reread in order to fully appreciate all the information. The Notes and the Bibliography are rich, so this text can be of help to students, entertain historical fans even if it does fall short of completeness and real satisfaction.