“Middle Eastern immigrant congregations are transforming the face of the American church. ”
Transnational movement and intercultural encounters have transformed the world’s oldest churches – the historic churches of the Middle East – in a variety of ways. Middle Eastern Christianity in the Americas is the first monograph to document the histories and experiences of migration among Middle Eastern Christian immigrants in the Americas from a diversity of Orthodox, Catholic, and Protestant traditions. This research is transnational in scope and is focused on the millions of Middle Eastern Christians in both North and South America because the histories of these immigrant communities are interconnected. The first half of the book examines the modern movement of Christians within and from the Middle East since the eighteenth century, with particular attention to the growing Middle Eastern Christian diaspora in the United States, Canada, and Latin America. The second half of the book turns to contemporary Middle Eastern churches in the Americas. It uses oral history interviews and ethnographic site visits to understand how Middle Eastern immigrant churches maintain and spread the faith, the way church members build ecumenical and interreligious relationships, and the role of women in these congregations. In privileging the voices of Middle Eastern Christians telling their own stories and in challenging narratives about the death of Middle Eastern Christianity, this book project finds that Christian migrants from the Middle East have changed the face of American Christianity.