The Oriental Institute

Richard Payne, the Neubauer Family Assistant Professor at the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, presents "The Rise of #Christianity in Iran".

During the history of the Iranian Empire, 226 -- 636 CE, Christian institutions came to flourish in the #Iranian world, from Eastern Arabia to Bactria. Bishoprics multiplied, sophisticated Christian literatures developed in Syriac and Middle Persian, and monasteries were established at a dizzying pace. And yet the rulers of this empire were avowed Zoroastrians, adherents of a religion supposedly hostile to Christianity. The lecture will examine how #Christian institutions took shape, expanded, and accumulated social and economic capital within a #Zoroastrian political system.