A Dictionary of Asian Christianity

Rating:
Summary: Much Needed Resource
Review: Among professional historians, Byzantium is often viewed as a field of study for the specialist. Most primary sources are not translated and lack critical editions. Secondary literature is often difficult to obtain. Judith Herrin is a respected Byzantinist, who has worked in the field for a number of years. While some scholars may disagree with Herrin's historical interpretations, approaches to specific subjects, and citations of certain facts, her work on Byzantine imperial women should be regarded as an attempt to recreate and convey for the general reader the personal experience of women's life in the imperial courts of eighth- and ninth-century Byzantium.

The three main subjects of her study are the lives of the Byzantine empresses Irene, Euphrosyne, and Theodora. In each case, the book details their relationship to power and their influence on dynastic struggles, particularly emphasizing iconoclasm and the Empire's responses to foreign invasions. The author prefaces her discussion of these lives with an overview of early Byzantine history. At selected points in her study, she treats diverse topics to provide the reader with necessary background. These subjects include the place of eunuchs in imperial life, ecclesiastical organization, patronage, and family commemoration. The study includes a scholarly apparatus and annotated bibliography.

Herrin reaches conclusions about the ability of Irene, Euphrosyne, and Theodora to exercise power within a society in which constructed and assigned gender roles subordinated women to male domination. Herrin attributes this power to an availability of three main resources that allow these empresses to legitimate their exceptional behavior. She terms these resources collectively as the "imperial feminine" (241): the existence of female power figures and symbols, particularly the Virgin Mary, the divine protector of Constantinople; the essential role of women in constructing imperial dynasties through their fecundity within the context of a centralized court and restrictions on selections of spouses; and the tradition of female imperial patronage in establishing religious institutions and acquiring urban space in the capital. The author views the long-term influences of the three empresses as contributing to the protection of Western Europe from an Islamic conquest and the preservation of figurative art.

While based in scholarship, the work is not intended to be definitive or exhaustive. In general, Herrin synthesizes her immense study of the primary and secondary literature, projects an individual vision onto the past, and makes a personal statement regarding the experiences of Byzantine women. In this work, the reader gains an understanding of the empresses, ladies in waiting, nuns, and others, as well as the author herself, since much of Herrin's own experience as a woman appears incorporated into the writing.

Some may object to this methodology. For a criticism of various historical points and understandings, Warren Treadgold's recent review provides a list (American Historical Review, February 2003, 238-39). There are professional historians who write in a detached manner about Byzantine women and the three empresses in question. These writings, however, are often specialized and intended for scholars with a considerable background in the literature.

Unlike these studies, the value of a personal statement is its vitality and strength in communicating with a wide circle of readers. Despite certain scientific shortcomings, this is a book with the potential to ignite a genuine interest in Byzantine studies and the general field of women's history. The value of Herrin's work is its effectiveness in conveying the experience of women within an alien culture, completely detached from the present, to the contemporary general reader. It would be an excellent work for introductory classes in historiography, feminist history, and Byzantine studies. The study might also serve as a means for men to apprehend something about the life of women in general, even if the historical context is one that is completely foreign.

Rating:
Summary: Three Cheers for DAC!
Review: DAC is a welcome publication which will open new vistas for Asian and non-Asian readers.

Some 1260 articles cover the past story and present shape of Christianity from Pakistan east to the Pacific (with some material on west Asia in early centuries. A wide collection of contributors was assembled, with Asian writers supplying artiucles on areas of specifc interest as well as contributing, editorially, to the shape of the whole volume.

Articles cover significant features relating to Christianity as well as to its historical, political, econonomic, social and religious context. This scope makes DAC valuable beyond immediate interests of browsing or researching in the Christian story.

As might be expected in a first attempt at such a vast task, there are some problems. As a matter of definition,Protestant missionary societies, significant individual churches, theological colleges and other educational institutions are purposefully excluded. This produces some odd results - for example there is no separate article on the China Inland Mission (later to become OMF)which has been and remains, an important contributor to Protestant work in Asia. Some articles are of uneven quality - doubtless due to a paucity of sources and difficulty in finding contributors.

These are significant problems and affect the comprehesiveness and reliability of DAC. To some extent, they define the best use of this work as a tool for further reading and research rather than as a a normative standard.

Nevertheless, the significance of the publication and its value, should be noted. Put simply, there is nothing like it on the market and it opens up material that may otherwise remain hidden in local knowledge and lost over time.

DAC is a wonderful step in documenting the story of Asian Christianity and is a timely publication in what has been dubbed 'the Asian century'.