The Church of the East in Central Asia and China
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Book Series
China and the Mediterranean World, vol. 2
- Pages: approx. 240 p.
- Size:210 x 297 mm
- Illustrations:20 b/w, 10 col., 2 tables b/w., 2 maps b/w
- Language(s):English
- Publication Year:2026
- € 90,00 EXCL. VAT RETAIL PRICE
- ISBN: 978-2-503-61710-7
- Hardback
- Forthcoming (Feb/26)
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This book explores the little known but significant presence and impact of Sogdian Christians and the Sogdian language in Christian networks along the trade routes of medieval Eurasia.
Subject(s)
- Christianity & Church outside Europe
- Book History, Manuscript Studies & Palaeography
- Commerce and trade
- Indo-Iranian and Indo-Aryan langs & lits (Iranian, Persian, Sanskrit, Indic, Tocharian etc)
- Cultural & intellectual history (c. 500-1500)
- Religious history (c. 500-1500)
- Central Asia (c. 500-1500)
BIO
Daniel J Sheridan was awarded an MA in Iranian studies (Distinction) from SOAS, University of London in 2017 and a PhD (2023) from the University of Cambridge.
Summary
After centuries of obscurity, the Sogdian people have once again been recognized as the premier long-distance traders of the famed Eurasian trade routes of late antique and early medieval Eurasia, popularly referred to as the “Silk Roads.” Similarily, a previous Christian association with Sogdians and their language had also been all but forgotten until the archeological finds at the turn of the twentieth century. Drawing on a wide range of evidence, this study explores some of the results of Sogdian Christians having once moved within a confluence of networks, with connections to the wider Christian world and the transcontinental trading networks of the Sogdians. Furthermore, extant evidence shows the once wide-spread currency of the Sogdian language among Christians throughout Central Asia. Through the case studies of book culture, knowledge transmission, and the healing arts, the prominence of the “Sogdian element” in Christian activities outside of the Roman world becomes readily apparent not just for the history of Christianity but also the histories of Central Asia, China, and others.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction
Previous Scholarship
Terminology
Chapter Format
Chapter One, Early Contacts and Later Networks
Multiple roads from Jerusalem to Sogdiana?
The Syriac World and Intertwining Networks
The Western Sogdian Trade Routes
Christians and the Eastern Sogdian Trade Routes
The Christian Turco-Sogdian Milieu
Conclusion
Chapter Two, “Persian” Monks Bearing Christian Book Culture
The Early Christian Book
The Memorialized Arrival of “Persian” Monks with jing 經
Sogdians and Christian Book Culture at Turfan
Bosi jingjiao 波斯經教: What’s in a name?
Localization of a Book Culture
The Fate of a Book Culture
Conclusion
Chapter Three, The Transmission of Christian Knowledge
Christian Knowledge at Turfan
Pelliot chinois 3847 and Christian Knowledge Translated into Chinese
A Shared source for a Gospel quotation in Sogdian and Chinese?
Other Means of Knowledge Transmission
Conclusion
Chapter Four, The Medicine of Life
The Dynamic Milieu of Central Asian Medicine
A Sogdian Christian Pharmacopeia and Other Unearthed Evidence
A Sogdian Christian View of Wellbeing?
Conclusion
Conclusion
Figures
Bibliography