Articles - Book Reviews - William Dalrymple

"From the Holy Mountain" by William Dalrymple.

Published by Flamingo, ISBN 0-00-654774-5.

Moslem Cosmonauts sacrificing sheep in a Syrian Orthodox shrine to an icon of the Virgin Mary is just one of the strange tales you will encounter in this book by travel writer William Dalrymple. This is a tale that examines the complex inter-relationships of faith and culture that centuries ago shaped the faith we understand today as Christianity, and that continue to shape the lives of the many millions of Christians who continue to live in the predominantly Islamic Middle East today.

This tale unravels as Dalrymple traces the steps of John Moschos, a sixth century monk and writer, from the fortress monasteries of Mount Athos in modern Greece, through Turkey, Syria, Lebanon and Israel to the desert monasteries of Egypt. On his journey he encounters not just the archaeological remains of an extinct faith, but rich and diverse Christian communities that have lived for thirteen centuries under Moslem rule. That these communities have survived so long is a testimony to the tolerance shown by Moslems - a tolerance that puts many "Christian" nations to shame. Much of that tolerance has disappeared this century however, and many of these living communities now face extinction in the face of militant Islam and Zionism. It may be that in just a generation or two the only Christians in these lands where our faith was born and moulded will be tourists.

Dalrymple writes with humour and insight, making the people he meets come alive of the page. I never enjoyed putting this book down, and was always looking for an excuse to pick it up again. It helped me to understand the roots of our faith, as well as giving me an insight into the complex world of the Middle East today. Well worth a read.

{revision date}