Books by Emma Loosley Leeming
This is the first book-length treatment in English to explore the links between Syria and Georgia... more This is the first book-length treatment in English to explore the links between Syria and Georgia in late antiquity. It takes an inter-disciplinary approach and examines the question from archaeological, art historical, historical, literary and theological viewpoints to try and explore the relationship as thoroughly as possible. Taking the Georgian belief that ‘Thirteen Syrian Fathers’ introduced monasticism to the country in the sixth century as a starting point, this volume explores the evidence for trade, cultural and religious relations between Syria and the Kingdom of Kartli (what is now eastern Georgia) between the fourth and seventh centuries CE. It considers whether there is any evidence to support the medieval texts and tries to place this posited relationship within a wider regional context.
The Middle East is the birthplace of Christianity and the home to a number of Eastern Churches wi... more The Middle East is the birthplace of Christianity and the home to a number of Eastern Churches with millions of followers. This book provides a comprehensive survey of the various denominations in the modern Middle East and will be of interest to a wide variety of scholars and students studying theology, history and politics.
"In sum, this is an excellent collection, and Loosley and O'Mahony are to be congratulated for gathering together so many fine contributors and producing such a smoothly edited, lucid, and useful collection that very much deserves a place in courses on Eastern Christianity and Middle Eastern history and culture." -- Dr. Adam DeVille, University of Saint Francis (http://easternchristianbooks.blogspot.com)
This publication explains the formation of the Safavid capital at Isfahan from a new angle by loo... more This publication explains the formation of the Safavid capital at Isfahan from a new angle by looking at Shah ‘Abbas I’s expansion of the city from the point of view of his Christian subjects, specifically the Armenians and Georgians transplanted from the Caucasus to the heart of the emerging Safavid Empire.
By blending field work in Isfahan with contemporary academic evaluations of the rule of ‘Abbas and his successors, it is hoped that this book will offer some insight into Christian-Shi‘a relations in seventeenth century Iran and offer new ways of interpreting the relationship between the Safavid court and the shah’s Christian subjects in the field of material culture.
The author contends that this interaction was far more complex and widespread than formerly supposed and hopes that the current volume will encourage further scholarly debate on the role of religious minorities at this crucial era in Iranian history.
In the aftermath of 9/11 there has been much talk of a need to engage on a meaningful level with ... more In the aftermath of 9/11 there has been much talk of a need to engage on a meaningful level with Islam, but where do we begin and what is the right approach? This book, available in paperback for the first time, looks at case studies from around the world in order to explore how Christian groups, sometimes as minorities and sometimes as the majority, engage with their Muslim neighbours in the search for a peaceful society. Some of the initiatives are politically motivated, others run by Church authorities and a number are community based, but all offer different approaches to a variety of situations that are encountered in Christian-Islamic dialogue.
This is the first time that global strategies for dialogue have been published in one book by a series of leading academics. Whilst previous publications have concentrated on a particular geographical area, usually the Middle East or Europe, this book casts a wider net and considers issues such as the rise of radical Islam in post-Soviet states, Indonesian immigration in Australia and the spread of Islam amongst the Black South Africans after the fall of apartheid.
Scholars and all those interested in politics, current affairs, religion or peace studies will find this book essential reading as a guidebook to the state of contemporary Christian-Islamic relations.
First published in 2003 this is a new edition of a work that remains the only study of the nave p... more First published in 2003 this is a new edition of a work that remains the only study of the nave platform known as the Syrian Bema to utilise an interdisciplinary approach. By combining archaeological and architectural research with a study of the Syriac Liturgy to explore how worship evolved on the Syrian Limestone Massif in Late Antiquity, this volume proposes a solution to the long debated question of why only approximately 50 of these bemata have been discovered amongst many thousands of late antique churches in Syria.
It charts the evolution of the early liturgy in Syria and seeks to explain how the location of the Limestone Massif in the hinterland of Antioch may have affected the development of worship in the region.
Papers by Emma Loosley Leeming
Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, 2019
The Architecture and Liturgy of the Bema in Fourth- to-Sixth-Century Syrian Churches, 2012
In fourth to sixth century Syria a nave-platform known as the Bema became popular in some regions... more In fourth to sixth century Syria a nave-platform known as the Bema became popular in some regions before mysteriously disappearing; this study seeks to explain how these bemata functioned and which elements led to their decline.
The Architecture and Liturgy of the Bema in Fourth- to-Sixth-Century Syrian Churches, 2012
Text of a talk given at a reception at the British Council in Damascus, September 2001 about the ... more Text of a talk given at a reception at the British Council in Damascus, September 2001 about the history of a bronze censer taken from Deir Mar Musa al-Habashi by Sir Richard Burton in the 1870s and subsequently sold to the British Museum. The reception was held to mark the arrival of a facsimile copy of the censer after finds were raised for a copy to be made for Deir Mar Musa.
Bulletin of The Royal institute For Inter-Faith Studies Volume 7 Number 2 Autumn/Winter 2005
One in Christ VOLUME 42 NUMBER 1 SUMMER 2OO8
Resena de: Armeniens et autres chretiens d’Orient sous la domination mongole: L’Ilkhanat de Ghâzâ... more Resena de: Armeniens et autres chretiens d’Orient sous la domination mongole: L’Ilkhanat de Ghâzân 1295-1304
Reseña de: El-Bagawat: Un cimiterio paleocristiano nell’alto Egitt
Case studies in archaeology and world …, 1999
Levant, 2005
Dayr Mar Elian al-Sharqi (the monastery of St Julian of the East) is located to the west of the v... more Dayr Mar Elian al-Sharqi (the monastery of St Julian of the East) is located to the west of the village of Qaryatayn in the Syrian desert between Homs and Tadmor (Fig. 1). An oasis settlement, Qaryatayn has been inhabited for many millennia, as is witnessed by the substantial multi-period tell ...
Report submitted the Council for British Research in the Levant (CBRL) on completion of the first... more Report submitted the Council for British Research in the Levant (CBRL) on completion of the first season of fieldwork at Dayr Mar Elian, 2002.
This book is the first full-length work concerning the restoration and excavations carried out at... more This book is the first full-length work concerning the restoration and excavations carried out at Qal'at Sim'ān in Syria in the twentieth century. It was written by the notable architect and archaeologist Georges Tchalenko based on his notes, plans, photographs and sketches as he undertook the work in the years before and during the Second World War. Left unpublished at the time of his death during the Lebanese Civil War, it is published here for the first time in the original French with an English translation. The text is richly illustrated throughout and accompanied by a biographical essay by John Tchalenko and an introduction to the historiography of Qal'at Sim'ān and Symeon Stylites by Emma Loosley Leeming.
Critical Perspectives on Cultural Memory and Heritage, 2020
Uploads
Books by Emma Loosley Leeming
"In sum, this is an excellent collection, and Loosley and O'Mahony are to be congratulated for gathering together so many fine contributors and producing such a smoothly edited, lucid, and useful collection that very much deserves a place in courses on Eastern Christianity and Middle Eastern history and culture." -- Dr. Adam DeVille, University of Saint Francis (http://easternchristianbooks.blogspot.com)
By blending field work in Isfahan with contemporary academic evaluations of the rule of ‘Abbas and his successors, it is hoped that this book will offer some insight into Christian-Shi‘a relations in seventeenth century Iran and offer new ways of interpreting the relationship between the Safavid court and the shah’s Christian subjects in the field of material culture.
The author contends that this interaction was far more complex and widespread than formerly supposed and hopes that the current volume will encourage further scholarly debate on the role of religious minorities at this crucial era in Iranian history.
This is the first time that global strategies for dialogue have been published in one book by a series of leading academics. Whilst previous publications have concentrated on a particular geographical area, usually the Middle East or Europe, this book casts a wider net and considers issues such as the rise of radical Islam in post-Soviet states, Indonesian immigration in Australia and the spread of Islam amongst the Black South Africans after the fall of apartheid.
Scholars and all those interested in politics, current affairs, religion or peace studies will find this book essential reading as a guidebook to the state of contemporary Christian-Islamic relations.
It charts the evolution of the early liturgy in Syria and seeks to explain how the location of the Limestone Massif in the hinterland of Antioch may have affected the development of worship in the region.
Papers by Emma Loosley Leeming
"In sum, this is an excellent collection, and Loosley and O'Mahony are to be congratulated for gathering together so many fine contributors and producing such a smoothly edited, lucid, and useful collection that very much deserves a place in courses on Eastern Christianity and Middle Eastern history and culture." -- Dr. Adam DeVille, University of Saint Francis (http://easternchristianbooks.blogspot.com)
By blending field work in Isfahan with contemporary academic evaluations of the rule of ‘Abbas and his successors, it is hoped that this book will offer some insight into Christian-Shi‘a relations in seventeenth century Iran and offer new ways of interpreting the relationship between the Safavid court and the shah’s Christian subjects in the field of material culture.
The author contends that this interaction was far more complex and widespread than formerly supposed and hopes that the current volume will encourage further scholarly debate on the role of religious minorities at this crucial era in Iranian history.
This is the first time that global strategies for dialogue have been published in one book by a series of leading academics. Whilst previous publications have concentrated on a particular geographical area, usually the Middle East or Europe, this book casts a wider net and considers issues such as the rise of radical Islam in post-Soviet states, Indonesian immigration in Australia and the spread of Islam amongst the Black South Africans after the fall of apartheid.
Scholars and all those interested in politics, current affairs, religion or peace studies will find this book essential reading as a guidebook to the state of contemporary Christian-Islamic relations.
It charts the evolution of the early liturgy in Syria and seeks to explain how the location of the Limestone Massif in the hinterland of Antioch may have affected the development of worship in the region.
In the case of the author’s site, the Byzantine/early Islamic citadel of Zalabiyeh across the river from the better known Romano-Byzantine town of Halabiyeh, there was an added complication due to the fact that Zalabiyeh stood beside the suspected nuclear site bombed by the Israelis in Operation Orchard in 2007 meaning that survey and field-walking were forbidden by the security services.
Work was suspended in 2011 when the DGAM said that there was too much ‘unrest’ for teams to return. Since then the archaeology of the region has been at risk of looting but the more existential threat, that of inundation, has been removed. At the same time the local population have been able to remain on their fertile lands in the valley, rather than forcibly removed to the arid plateau above.
All in all the whole process (involving possible nuclear research, dispossession of local people, Russian influence in the Syrian oil fields) was an ethical minefield and it is my suggestion that the war may surprisingly have eased some of these problems whilst at the same time raising a whole new set of difficulties…
Is this a rare case of a war offering a benefit to archaeology? Can we argue that in some cases conflict may yield accidental benefits?