The Last Christians: Stories of Persecution, Flight, and Resilience in the Middle East (Gospel in Great Writers)

A Westerner’s travels among the persecuted and displaced Christian remnant in Iraq and Syria teach him much about faith under fire.

Gold Medal Winner, 2018 IPPY Book of the Year Award
Silver Medal Winner, 2018 Benjamin Franklin Award
Finalist, 2018 ECPA Christian Book Award

In Syria and Iraq, Christians have long been a religious minority. When the Islamic State took control of the region, many feared that these ancient faith communities would be wiped out forever, and with it the witness of a church that has modeled Jesus’ way of nonviolence and enemy-love for two millennia.

The kidnapping, enslavement, torture, and murder of Christians by the Islamic State, or ISIS, have been detailed by journalists, as have the jihadists' deliberate efforts to destroy the cultural heritage of a region that is the cradle of Christianity. This book provides insight into the religious and historical roots of the recent conflict.

Andreas Knapp, a priest who works with refugees in Germany, traveled to camps for displaced people in the Kurdish region of northern Iraq to collect stories of survivors – and to seek answers to troubling questions about the link between religion and violence. He found Christians who still speak Syriac, a dialect of Aramaic, the language of Jesus. The uprooted remnant of ancient churches, they doggedly continue to practice their faith despite the odds. Their devastating eyewitness reports make it clear why millions fled the Middle East. Yet, remarkably, though some of these Christians will likely never return to their homes, they also harbor no thirst for revenge. Could it be that they hold the key to breaking the cycle of violence in the region?

Includes sixteen pages of color photographs.

A poet, priest, and popular author in Germany, Andreas Knapp left a secure position as head of Freiburg Seminary to live and work among the poor as a member of the Little Brothers of the Gospel, a religious order inspired by Charles de Foucauld. Today he shares an apartment with three brothers in Leipzig’s largest housing project, and ministers to prisoners and refugees. His latest book, The Last Christians, recounts the stories of refugees in his neighborhood and of displaced people in camps in Kurdistan, northern Iraq.