The welfare and total number of Christians is declining at alarming rates in these countries, almost always due to state sanctioned or tolerated harassment, discrimination, and in some cases outright terror. U.S. foreign policy and public opinion typically pays no attention to anti-Christian policies on the part of these governments, even in such countries as Turkey and Israel with whom the West has considerable influence. Dalrymple s book is not a political tract. Nor does it fail to be critical of the failures and sins of the Middle Eastern churches. It is the gripping story of a fascinating journey mixed with history and spiritual reflections.
Every page has something to teach.
One reader has termed this book, an elegy to the slowly dying civilization of Eastern Christianity. No one can read it without concluding that we Christians are losing a precious part of our worldwide family of faith. L.D. is the minister at First Church of Christ in Burlington, Ky., where he and his wife, Joyce, reside. Curt and his family are serving with CityTeam ministries in San Jose, Calif., where they reside. Sarajevo in Bosnia until October 2000.