Religions of the Silk Road: Overland Trade and Cultural Exchange from Antiquity to the Fifteenth Century

Rating:
Summary: A fascinating introduction
Review: A fascinating book which proposes how the flow of religious ideas along the Silk Road can be viewed as a consequence of commerce along the same route (in perhaps the same way that insurance salesmen make it a practice of going to church on Sunday). While this central assertion is perhaps not compelling enough to justify a book, Prof. Foltz does deliver an interesting work as he mines the complex history of this region. He gives us heretics, syncretists, linguists and horse traders as well as a broad sampling of the history of this border land which is neither Middle East nor East, but a blend of the two. Occasionally Prof. Foltz drops down into term-paper-speak ("Human groups tend to hasten towards self-definition mainly when challenged by something they could conceivably be, but, for fear of losing their identity, must demonstrate they are not") but more often than not he is a capable story teller. I particularly enjoyed his account of Christians, Muslims and Buddhists vying for favor in the Mongol court.

Rating:
Summary: Wonderful introduction to important history and religions
Review: Photos and personalities might provide greater interest but, in fairness, this book is still one of the best introductions to thousands of years of history and many great world religions. Especially for Eurocentric or American readers it is well worth reading. If interested in the religions follow up with Huston Smith; to broaden the history (despite the title) McNeil's Rise of the West is still rewarding.

Rating:
Summary: Where Major Religions First Met
Review: The interesting thing about the Silk Road for someone interested in the history of religions, is that along its length is where Buddhism, Judaism, Christianity, Islam, and Chinese thought had a prolonged encounter. Where national borders tended to keep them apart elsewhere, here traders and soldiers carried these views back and forth across the spine of Asia. This is their story, though one told in crammed detail over too short a book. Foltz surveys the Jews and Zoroastrians at the Western end of the Road, then follows historically as the Buddhists, then Christians travel its length to China in the East, only to be finally submerged in the tide of an Islamic crusade. He traces the moves of each of the faiths, how it developed into a gigantic melting pot with verging and joined syncretism, and how it all came to an end. I only wish it had been a longer book, particularly since I paid so much for the hardcover! For those who feel the same, however, there is an extensive bibliography of other works covering this area of the world.

Rating:
Summary: Nice story, not well told
Review: This is a wonderful story of the religious and other cultual interchanges in central Asia a thousand years ago. Unfortunately, Mr. Foltz does not have the ability to tell that story in an engaging manner. Foltz, he admits this, digests a huge amount of information in order to tell this story. The result is that it is not enough for the academic specialist and not well enough told for the generalist. Thus the text suffers. Still, as a short text that introduces the whole realm of the religious history of central Asia, there is much to be learned. This text is only a small taste of the variagated history of the area.

Rating:
Summary: Nice story, not well told
Review: This is a wonderful story of the religious and other cultual interchanges in central Asia a thousand years ago. Unfortunately, Mr. Foltz does not have the ability to tell that story in an engaging manner. Foltz, he admits this, digests a huge amount of information in order to tell this story. The result is that it is not enough for the academic specialist and not well enough told for the generalist. Thus the text suffers. Still, as a short text that introduces the whole realm of the religious history of central Asia, there is much to be learned. This text is only a small taste of the variagated history of the area.