The Last Christians Stories of Persecution, Flight, and Resilience in the Middle East / Andreas Knapp

They were among the world’s first Christians. Now they’re vanishing.

The Islamic State’s genocide of Christians in the Middle East is well documented. Yet this modern atrocity is often judged less newsworthy than the jihadists’ destruction of the region’s cultural heritage. What are the roots and human realities of this unfolding tragedy in the birthplace of three great religions?

Andreas Knapp, a German priest, traveled to Iraq to collect stories of refugees and survivors. He found Christians who still speak Aramaic, the language of Jesus. This uprooted remnant of early Christianity has survived two millennia to the present day, while doggedly holding to Jesus’ teaching of nonviolence. 

The heartbreaking eyewitness accounts in this book tell why millions are fleeing the Middle East. Yet though these last Christians don’t expect to get back what they lost, remarkably they harbor no thirst for revenge. Could it be that they hold the key to breaking the cycle of violence in the region?

Includes sixteen pages of color photographs.