دین‌های جاده‌ی ابریشم

by Richard C. Foltz, ع. پاشایی (Translator)

جاده‌ی ابریشم در واقع شبکه‌ای از جاده‌های عموما شرقی-غربی بود اما شاخه‌هایی از آن نیز به درون ایران جنوبی و استپ‌های شمال اوراسیا و به جنوب هندوکش تا شبه‌قاره‌ی هند کشیده می‌شد. گویا "ریشتوفن" اولین کسی بود که این راه‌های بری یا کاروان‌رو را "جاده‌ی ابریشم" نامید.
هزار سال پیش اندیشه‌ها و اعمال دینی عبرانی و ایرانی از راه جاده ابریشم به شرق سفر كردند و قرن‌ها بعد سنت‌های بزرگی چون آیین بودا، مسیحیت، مانویت و اسلام نیز آن را دنبال كردند. جاده‌ی ابریشم نه فقط مسیری برای انتقال دین‌ها به شرق، بلکه شکل‌دهنده و دگرگون‌کننده‌ای نیز بود جوری که هیچ دینی در پایان این سفر دست نخورده باقی نمی‌ماند. به عنوان مثال مانویت که در غرب (آسیا و روم) زیرزمینی شده بود، در قرن ۸ میلادی به شکل یک نیروی سیاسی قوی در ترکستان شرقی ظاهر می‌شود. سپس به تدریج با توده‌ی بی‌شکل دین عامیانه‌ی چینی می‌آمیزد. مسیحت نستوری که به عنوان بدعت و رفض از قلمرو بیزانس رانده شده بود به شرق می‌رود و صدهاهزار تن از اقوام استپ ارواسیایی را زیر نفوذ خود می‌گیرد؛ و قرن‌ها بعد به شکل کابوس اولین داعیان کاتولیک چین ظاهر می‌شود. اسلام که به نیروی توفیق نظامی اعراب پیش برده شده بود، در قرن هشتم میلادی در جاده‌ی ابریشم ظاهر می‌شود و به صورت مستقیم و غیر مستقیم مثل ادیان گذشته از طریق تجارت به سمت شرق پیش می‌رود. آیین "تنتره" در آغاز در حدود قرن پنجم یا ششم میلادی به شکل جنبشی در هند شرقی آغاز می‌شود و قرن هشتم میلادی رهروان هندی مثل "سیهه" و "وجره بودی" این آیین را به چین می‌برند۰

Genres: History, Religion, Nonfiction, Medieval, World History, Ancient History, Ancient

242 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1999

Reviews

[J]

How does Foltz manage in so few pages to describe so much!? A rare gift. He sweeps through two millennia and more, without pretension or unnecessary grandness, collecting together all sorts of sources primary and secondary to weave a fascinating story. Of course there are "too many" threads and not everything is followed up as one would have liked, but this book is close to essential reading. By the by it demonstrates that political centres and large polities or geopolitical ideas ("China", "Europe") are by no means more interesting or important than the networks and lubricants - in this case, in particular, the Sogdians, a now-vanished mysterious people of Iranian heritage who mastered many languages, adopted many religious beliefs and practices, and trekked tirelessly across Asia for centuries carrying goods and ideas back and forth.

Of course this book is about so much more than the Sogdians, fascinating though they were. We go from the ancient Persian influences on Judaism to the multi-ethnic governmental apparatus of the greatest Chinese empires, from the fire-worshipping Zoroastrians to the ascetic (and quite frankly bizarre) Manichaeans, competing schools of Buddhism, competing traditions of Christianity, Arab military expansion, the pragmatic genius of the Mongol hordes, the movements of Turkic peoples and their gradual adoption of Islam at different times and places... you name it, Foltz has got a handle on it.

When Foltz discusses in a couple of brilliant pages (19-20) the methodological problems of writing religious history he is so sensible one wonders why so many scholars fail to take these things into account and persist in writing as if all "Buddhists" or "Christians" or "Chinese" or whoever are the same through time and space (yes, it sounds silly, but perhaps you haven't read the nonsense I have...)

The best part of the book, for me, was his introduction to the rise of Islam - not in the sense of explaining the background of the Arabian peninsula in late antiquity, which is what most historians do, but in providing an over-arching explanatory narrative for its early centuries of expansion and secular success. Once the Arabs had all been forced to accept Islam, or rather had all signed non-aggression pacts (same Arabic words, open to different interpretation in the light of centuries of Muslim historiography and subsequent "genuine" religious conversion) they simply had to start attacking their neighbours as a continuation of their raiding/trading economy. Conversion to Islam by non-Arabs was discouraged for decades largely because of the tax implications for the Arab rulers and their garrisons, but when especially Iranians did convert in larger numbers (for obvious material advantages) and children brought up in the faith exhibited more "piety" than the quickly decadent Umayyad rulers, the seeds of rebellion and the yet-more-glorious Abbasid empire were sown. There is more, of course, but Foltz tells it so much better than I could.

A few weaker moments do not fatally wound this superb work. (Read on if you are as picky as me, otherwise leave it there with hearty recommendation to get a copy and read it and reorient your sense of the world and its history!)



* I'm not sure he manages to be clear on the diophysite vs. Monophysite arguments in the 4th-5th century church (using "person" on both sides of his equation, rather than "nature" in a key summary sentence on p.63 shows that conciseness does have its downsides).

* There are anachronistic uses of "Byzantine" for the third century, well before the sack of Rome.

* Foltz simplifies to the extent of misdirection the identity and origins of "5 million ethnically Chinese Muslims, known as Hui" (1980s numbers, I guess, and, to be fair to Foltz the work of Dru Gladney and Elisabeth Allés was only just starting to appear as he was researching this book so the subtleties of ethnogenesis and slippery nomenclature escape him - what is "ethnically Chinese" about the descendants of Central Asians and how many generations of what degree of intermarriage is necessary for someone to be ethnically anything? Not to mention the fact that ethnic is in most usage actually a political word that tries to efface and naturalise its true colours. After all, on the PRC's definition, the Uighurs are "Chinese Muslims"...)

* [this one is less of a weak point, and more of an invitation to further conversation, though I think it does show up the weakness of some academic styles of argument, notably the slight-carelessness-about-terms habit and the prematurely-leaving-things-hanging habit...] Foltz pp.143-144:
"In terms of religious culture, sixteenth-century Central Asia was one of most thoroughly Islamicized areas of the Muslim world, more so than the Arab and Iranian heartlands of western Asia and Egypt, which retain significant non-Muslim minorities even to the present day. Only North Africa, also relatively peripheral to the heartland of Islamic civilisation, matched Central Asia's nearly total degree of Islamization.
[BUT, on p.97 he has already stated, intriguingly: "In some ways local religion in Central Asia, whether of the Iranian or Turkic variety, never really disappeared. Rather, it acquired Islamic meaning, interpretations, and appearances." So, when on p.143 Foltz says "thoroughly Islamicized" he really means that in this region we see the highest proportion of people nominally or otherwise professing to be Muslims, and no significant communities of non-Muslims remain. The extent or degree to which their religion conformed to whatever one might think was or ought to be considered Islamic orthodoxy/orthopraxy might not be all that "thorough"! He continues...]
"It has been suggested that this apparent paradox can be accounted for by the fact that Central Asia was removed from the centres of rival religions like Christianity, that preexisting religious institutions were weak, and that communication with central religious authority was nonexistent or weak. This explanation begs certain questions, however. Why, for example, did Christianity survive in southern India, and how did Manichaeism in Fu-chi'ien maintain for so long its identity within the sea of popular Chinese religion?
[Apples and oranges, surely? Christian and Manichaen minorities in India and Fujian did not have to contend with Islamic rulers: Foltz's rhetorical question assumes that the only important factor is difference from the ruler/majority, but surely the precise nature of the majority is important! Otherness is not a binary thing: there are many ways to be Other and it is no wonder they produce different results. But, we should let Foltz have the last word, as he goes on...]
"An alternative explanation, which does not preclude accommodation with the one preceding, is that the peoples of Central Asia were almost entirely dependent, either directly or indirectly, on trade which was dominated by Muslims. This is true even for the Kazakh and Kyrgyz nomads who were that last to be Islamicized. Islamization was likewise most complete in other areas of the world most directly plugged into the Muslim-controlled trade routes, such as the coasts of Africa and South-East Asia [Africa yes, but "South East Asia"? Really? Coasts of Burma, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam completely Islamic?! Would have been better to talk about coastal areas of Borneo, Sumatra, Java not in such general terms, but the overall argument seems compelling, if brief...] Conversely in India and Spain, which retained non-Muslim majorities, the dependence of local economies on long-distance trade was nowhere near as generalized."

Five stars not just for its brilliance, but for its ambition and the questions it raises.

[Sam Krauss]

Excellent walk through of the complex ecosystem of the Silk Road. These routes connected the East and the West, not only through physical goods, but also the propagation of ideas, culture, and religion.

[Nazila]

این کتاب را به عنوان مقدمه‌ای بر درس‌های اسطوره‌های جهان انتخاب کردم، مسلما اسطوره‌ها ارتباط نزدیکی با ادیان دارند، و دنیای قدیم در جاده‌ی ابریشم در حال داد و ستد و بازرگانی باورها و آیینها را نیز جا به جا و رد و بدل میکردند. خواندن این کتاب را برای کسانی که علاقه‌مند به تبادل اندیشه در این جاده‌ی شاهی/ابریشم هستند سفارش میکنم.

[Mindy McAdams]

This is an excellent account, written for a general audience, of each of the religions that became popular/widespread along the Silk Road region, from the edge of the Mediterranean to Xi'an in China, across 2,000 years. Yet it's only 150 pages long (not counting end notes, index, etc.). Stunningly readable, well-organized, straightforward. It's organized around the religions themselves, rather than by a timeline or geography, which contributes to how easy it is to understand. A real pleasure!

I actually started with the fifth chapter, "The Islamization of the Silk Road," because another book I recently read did a very poor job of explaining the spread of Islam in the region and what it meant for the people and ruling empires of its time. Chapter 5 was just wonderful, better than I could have hoped for after my deep frustration with the other book's omissions.

This is the first edition of the book. The second edition (2010) is also in paperback, and it is said to be revised, but it is not any longer than this one. I examined it in Google Books, and one improvement is the maps; the maps in the first edition are awful. Another improvement is the use of the Pinyan system for Chinese people and place names. The first edition uses the older Wade-Giles system, which seems a stupid choice even back in 1999. The second edition has a new subtitle, "Premodern Patterns of Globalization," which is not really relevant. Other than those, I couldn't discern a lot of changes in the second edition.

The second edition also has a much better-looking cover design! The first edition looks so trashy, it really does this fine book a disservice.

I found one thing puzzling: other than a few references to Persia, the text uses Iran and Iranian to refer to the land, kingdom, empire, people, and language of ancient Persia. I tried to figure out (with a little fast research) whether this is preferred by scholars and by Iranians, and whether Iran is just the modern name. My results were inconclusive, but it looks like Persia was used by the ancient Greeks and Ērān was used by everyone farther east.

.

[Gavaevodata]

Interesting book, emphasizing the importance of trade (the silk road) in the spread of religion. Although, it's more like a melting pot. Considering the research on the silk road, the idea introduced here is new. However, considering Foltz's area of research, you can see that he tries to fit ideas mostly from his research area, in contrast to the much broader areas on the subject. For example, consider the significance of Iranian/Islamic influence in his work.

[Jennifer]

Definitely extended my understanding of how cultural, trade, military and religious influences were a dynamic mix across a wide area. This loosens the grip of the trite images that are evoked by the term 'Silk Road'and narrow concepts of any one particular countries history and culture. I will read this again. Not a light read and I looked up a lot of places/terms etc. on the internet as I read (this is the blessing of the internet!).

[Sarahandus]

Very interesting and informative about that time along the silk road. This is a keeper.

[Dean Summers]

Richard Foltz has written a very brief, but a very readable, very helpful introduction to a comparative study of the history of trade between Europe and Far-East Asia and the history of religion in Central Asia. In a mere 150 pages, he surveys a thousand years of history and seven religions: Judaism, Buddhism, Zoroastrianism, Nestorian Christianity, Manichaeism, Shamanism, and Islam. Foltz puts forward a plausible theory to account for the relative successes and failures of those religions as each passed through, and some thrived in, the caravan cities of Central Asia. However, the book is far too brief to prove the theory, and does not take into account the work of René Girard, which by now should be essential reading for any study of religion. Even so, Foltz makes a compelling case for why every American should know something about Sogdiana.

[Nick]

The Silk Road never really existed per se--more exactly, there were a number of roads, even seaborne routes, that carried traders and their cargoes between the East and West. The traders carried their religions with them, many of them finding refuges after being cast out of their homelands, such as Zoroastrianism (which survives among the Parsis of India), Nestorian Christianity, Manichaeism, and Central Asian Judiasm. Some of these religious ideas even managed to convert local kingdoms along the way. This true marketplace of religious ideas was eventually closed by the rise of Muslim Turkic and Mongol empires. It cannot have been easy to make this mix of ethnicities, many of them disappeared, and complex ideas readable, but somehow Foltz manages and with grace and occasional wit.

[Jean Dory]

I first read this book for a course on the History of the Silk Road, and have just re-read it for a course on Global Asia. The "premodern globalization networks" which spanned centuries, even BCE, are explored and explained, especially from the viewpoint of religions spreading and disappearing across Asia from the Nile to the Pacific. This is a very scholarly book, and therefore a slow read. But it IS fascinating. I'll never remember all the people, places, and dates, but just learning of the flows of goods and cultures is worthwhile. I certainly knew almost nothing of the historyof central Asia--we should all understand it better, especially the growth of Islam and the psychology of China as they impacts today's events.

[Matt]

A wealth of information about the interactions of Buddhists, Daoists, Muslims, Jews, Nestorians, Hindus, Christians, and Zoroastrians along the classical and medieval world’s central land-based trade route. The anecdotes and primary accounts are both rich and surprising. I had never even heard of some ideas addressed by the author, such as the widespread syncretic Manichaeist belief, even though it was apparently prominent and made a large impact on cultural interactions and political decisions in the region. Also this is the first book I’ve read which explains the history of the Sunni-Shi’a divide within Islam succinctly and sensibly (it is addressed completely in about two pages).

[Ryan Patrick]

A decent introduction to some of the lesser known religions that flourished in Central Asia in centuries past. More controversial may be Foltz's belief that the predominant force for conversion along the Silk Road was that it would be better for business. Thus, he can conclude that the lands of the Silk Road today are still dominated by religion: the Religion of the Marketplace. I'm not convinced, but I learned a few things about Nestorianism and Manichaeism, so there's that.

[Katelyn]

I had to read this book for my World Civilizations class this semester and I actually enjoyed it a lot! I usually love reading historical fiction, so me enjoying a book focused solely on history is no surprise. It's an interesting read about how many of the world religions came to be and how the Silk Road was a huge influence. I'd definitely recommend it even if you don't need to read it for a class like I did!

[Lora]

This book presents a very balanced account from what I have studied of the Silk Road. While the latter half of the book was outside my time frame for reference source material; I never the less read it all. It was fascinating, and the first half of the book should be quite a gold mine for my area of research.

[Ellen]

While the book provides a wealth of information about the route of religions along the Silk Road and its role in religions’ spread, it works to discredit the validity of some religions in general. This missed the point of the book and is a disappointing addition to an otherwise objective subject.

[Benjamin Plume]

Another gold mine resource on the Silk Road.

[Ian]

Spicy in spite of its numerous typographical errors. The epilogue, "The Religion of the Market", might even be the best part.

[Colin]

For a very short book, it is packed with very cool material. If you teach World History, or just have an interest in the Silk Road, this is a must have and a must read.

[Jessie]

I read this for a class. It was fairly interesting, but not exactly something I would pick up to read for fun.

[Claire]

[Read for History and Culture of the Silk Road]

[Dipa Sanatani]

Nice!