The Second Established Religion of the Caliphate
When and Where
Friday, September 19, 2025 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm
Alumni Hall Room 400
St. Michael's College (121 St Joseph Street, Toronto)
Speakers
Philip Wood, Tejpar Professor of Inter-religious Studies, Institute for the Study of Muslim Civilisations, Aga Khan University (United Kingdom)
Description
The Second Established Religion of the Caliphate: The Church of the East in Ninth-Century Baghdad
In the ninth century, the Church of the East was the largest Christian confession in Iraq. Their missions reached the coast of south India and the great cities of Tang China. This lecture examines how the leaders of the Church of the East used their court connections to assert their supremacy over other Christian groups without overtly antagonising their Muslim rulers.
* This event is co-sponsored by St Michael's College, the Department of Near and Middle Eastern Civilations, and the Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky Institute for Eastern Christian Studies, University of St Michael's College.