Based on a connected, relational and multidisciplinary approach (history, ethnography, political science, and theology),
Mission and Preaching tackles the notion of mission through the analysis of preaching activities and religious dynamics across Christianity, Islam and Judaism, in the Middle East and North Africa, from the late 19th century until today. The 13 chapters reveal points of contact, exchange, and circulation, considering the MENA region as a central observatory. The volume offers a new chronology of the missionary phenomenon and calls for further cross-cutting approaches to decompartmentalise it, arguing that these approaches constitute useful entry points to shed new light on religious dynamics and social transformations in the MENA region.
Contributors Necati Alkan, Federico Alpi, Gabrielle Angey, Armand Aupiais, Katia Boissevain, Naima Bouras, Philippe Bourmaud, Gaetan du Roy, Séverine Gabry-Thienpont, Maria-Chiara Giorda, Bernard Heyberger, Emir Mahieddin, Michael Marten, Norig Neveu, Maria Chiara Rioli, Karène Sanchez Summerer, Heather Sharkey, Ester Sigillò, Sébastien Tank Storper, Emanuela Trevisan Semi, Annalaura Turiano and Vincent Vilmain.
Norig Neveu is a research fellow at CNRS (IREMAM), member of the research projects
Lajeh (ANR) and
MAGYC (H2020), and
MisSMO (EFR). Her research focuses on social dynamics around holy sites and religious politics in southern Jordan, a connected history of Christian and Muslim religious authorities in Jordan, Palestine and Irak (19th -21st c.).
Karène Sanchez Summerer is Associate Professor at Leiden University (Professor of Middle Eastern studies at Groningen University from Sept. 2022), and PI of the NWO project
CrossRoads (2017-2022) and
MisSMO (EFR). Her research considers interactions between European linguistic and cultural policies and Arab communities (1860-1960) in the Levant, missionaries’ modalities and impact, and Arab Catholic communities in Palestine.
Annalaura Turiano is a postdoctoral researcher, member of the research network
EGY-Class (CNRS),
MisSMO (EFR), and the coordinator of
Philanthropic action and development in the Middle East: actors, practices and expertise, 20th -21st c. (IFAO). Her research interests include missionary education, trans-Mediterranean migrations, and philanthropy in the Middle East.
Contributors Necati Alkan, Federico Alpi, Gabrielle Angey, Armand Aupiais, Katia Boissevain, Naima Bouras, Philippe Bourmaud, Gaetan du Roy, Séverine Gabry-Thienpont, Maria-Chiara Giorda, Bernard Heyberger, Emir Mahieddin, Michael Marten, Norig Neveu, Maria Chiara Rioli, Karène Sanchez Summerer, Heather Sharkey, Ester Sigillò, Sébastien Tank Storper, Emanuela Trevisan Semi, Annalaura Turiano and Vincent Vilmain.
Acknowledgements Notes on Transliteration List of Figures and Maps Notes on Contributors
Introduction Norig Neveu (), Karène Sanchez Summerer (), Annalaura Turiano (), Philippe Bourmaud () and Séverine Gabry-Thienpont ()
Part 1 Borders, Conversions and Migrations
Introduction: Mission and Conversion: A Long-Term Perspective Bernard Heyberger ()
1
Proselytism in ‘Jewish Worlds’? Sébastien Tank-Storper ()
2
Protestant Missions in Ethiopia: From Jewish Falashas (Beta Israel) to Christian Falashas and Falas Mura, and Back: A Blurred Status (1858–1960) Emanuela Trevisan ()
3
From Missionaries to Missionary Labour: Hypotheses on Evangelicalism in Contemporary Istanbul Armand Aupiais ()
Part 2 Preachers, Negotiations, and Interactions
Introduction: What Is Preaching and Who Is It for? Heather Sharkey ()
4
Reshaping the Preaching Spaces in Post-Revolutionary Egypt: Ansār al-Sunna al-Muhammadiyya Women Preachers and Religious Reform Naima Bouras ()
5
Being a Teacher in the Missionary Schools of the Gülen Movement in Sub-Saharan Africa: Interactions, Trajectories, and Differentiated Investments of the Role Gabrielle Angey ()
6
Shifting Missions: Languages, Texts, and Experiences between Jews and Roman Catholics in Israel (1940s–1970s) Maria-Chiara Rioli ()
7
Christian and Muslim Home Missions in Egypt in the Twentieth & Twenty-first Centuries: Between Preaching and Social Care Gaétan du Roy ()
Part 3 Missionary Strategies, between Political Power(s) and Everyday Practices
Introduction: Mapping in, Mapping out. Strategies and Dynamic(s) of Preaching and Mission(s) Mariachiara Giorda ()
8
The Late Ottoman Sunni Missionary Project Necati Alkan ()
9
Early Protestant Missionary Activity, Heresy and Church in Ottoman Armenia (1782–1909) Federico Alpi ()
10
A Jewish Mission in the ‘Orients’ (Nineteenth Century–1920)? Vincent Vilmain ()
11
Reconceptualising the Political Role of daʿwa in Civil Society: Associations and Islamic Activism in Tunisia Ester Sigilló ()
Conclusion: Thinking through Missionary Work. Moral Geographies, Regeneration from the Margins, Sincerity, and the Gift Economy Emir Mahieddin () and Katia Boissevain ()
Epilogue: Decolonising Missions and Preaching: The Implicated Self and the Reframing of the Missionary Phenomenon Michael Marten
Index
Those interested in the modern and contemporary history of the Middle East, religious studies, history and anthropology of missions, contacts between Christianity, Islam and Judaism. University students (history, social sciences, political science and theology) will easily read the book, all the chapters are very good cases for undergraduates.