Pilgrims on the Silk Road: A Muslim-Christian Encounter in Khiva - Softcover

Ratliff, Walter R.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1606081330 ISBN 13: 9781606081334

Publisher: Wipf and Stock, 2010

Synopsis

They were seeking religious freedom and the Second Coming of Christ in Central Asia. They found themselves in the care of a Muslim king. During the 1880s, Mennonites from Russia made a treacherous journey to the Silk Road kingdom of Khiva. Both Uzbek and Mennonite history seemed to set the stage for ongoing religious and ethnic discord. Yet their story became an example of friendship and cooperation between Muslims and Christians. Pilgrims on the Silk Road challenges conventional wisdom about the trek to Central Asia and the settlement of Ak Metchet. It shows how the story, long associated with failed End Times prophecies, is being recast in light of new evidence. Pilgrims highlights the role of Ak Metchet as a refuge for those fleeing Soviet oppression, and the continuing influence of the episode more than twelve decades later.

About this title

From the Author:

In researching this book, I joined a team of scholars and descendants to retrace the steps of the Mennonite trek from Russia to Central Asia. What we found upturned many of our basic assumptions about an old story that focused on failed End Times prophecies.  We learned how the Mennonites built lasting friendships with their Muslim neighbors. We also learned of their modernizing impact. Uzbeks do not remember anything about the strange theologies of Claas Epp Jr. To them, the Mennonites were farmers, entrepreneurs, and valuable neighbors. The old narrative of the trek as a shameful episode in Mennonite history began to make room for a proud history of positive engagement between Muslim and Christian communities. 

About the Author:

Walter Ratliff is a religion editor and content manager at the Associated Press. He is also author of Christians and Muslims at the Epicenter: How the Sept.11th Attacks Shook and Transformed American Evangelicalism, and the producer/director of the Emmy Award-winning documentary Through the Desert Goes Our Journey: The Mennonite Trek to Central Asia. He holds degrees from the University of New Mexico, Wheaton College and Georgetown University.

About this edition

• Publisher: Wipf and Stock
• Publication date: 2010
• ISBN 10: 1606081330
• ISBN 13: 9781606081334
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 312