Religions Of The Silk Road: Overland Trade And Cultural Exchange From Antiquity To The Fifteenth Century

Religions Of The Silk Road: Overland Trade And Cultural Exchange From Antiquity To The Fifteenth Century

Product Description Foltz, who holds a PhD in history from Harvard and has taught at Brown, Columbia, and Gettysburgh College, looks behind the romantic notions of the colonial era and tells the story of how cultural traditions, especially in the form of religious ideas, accompanied merchants and their goods along the overland Asian trade routes in pre-modern times. In telling how Hebraic and Iranian religious ideas and practices traveled eastward (to be followed later by the great missionary traditions of Buddhism, Christianity, Manichaeism, and Islam), he reveals how the silk Road was a formative and transformative rite of passage. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com) From the Publisher Foltz has done a very good job of putting together the various pieces of evidence for the different religions on the Silk Road...a fine synthesis, which up to now is the only one of its kind. For all interested in the present global relationship between religions, the history of that relationship in Central Asia is of the greatest interest. --Hans-J. Klimkeit, Director, Religionswissenschaftliches Seminar, Bonn U. ...an absolute gem...a really valuable contribution...well researched and well written, it brings together a huge amount of information in an attractive package. The attention to trade and cultural exchanges is most welcome. --Jerry H. Bentley, Editor, Journal of World History