Leads on the Persian religion question.

[kassia]

I'm trying to learn more about religious practice in Persia between 600 and 1200.
Some of the following books are more popular than scholarly, but I'm hoping they'll at least give me a list of terms to look up and maybe even the head of a reference trail. If you have any guidance toward or away from any of these, please let me know.

Religion in Iran: From Zoroaster to Baha'ullah
By Alessandro Bausani
http://books.google.com/books?id=fVMAAgAACAAJ

Our Own Religion in Ancient Persia: Being Lectures Delivered in Oxford Presenting the Zend Avesta as Collated with the Pre-Christian Exilic Pharisaism, Advancing the Persian Question to the Foremost Position in Our Biblical Research
By Lawrence Heyworth Mills
http://books.google.com/books?id=KbFZAAAAMAAJ
(maybe too early, but possibly helpful background)

No God But God
By Reza Aslan
http://books.google.com/books?id=FEfdoRL1rrgC

Theodore Abu Qurrah
Translated by John C. Lamoreaux
http://books.google.com/books?id=XO5IHgAACAAJ

Spirituality in the Land of the Noble: How Iran Shaped the World's Religions
By Richard C. Foltz
http://books.google.com/books?id=h5zvAAAACAAJ

Babai
http://www.peeters-leuven.be/boekoverz.asp?nr=743

Comments

[naamah.livejournal.com]

That book of Babai is basically just a detailed account of his Christology...and also I believe it's only in Syriac and Latin, and I don't know if it would be helpful to you or not.

Theodore Abu Qurrah? I love him, but he was in Syria and Turkey, and was also a Chalcedonian, as opposed to the mostly East Syriac Christians in Persia.

The Bausani and Foltz books are supposed to be fairly decent. I haven't read either. Foltz also has another book on Religions of the Silk Road, which might have potential. I'll be reading it later in the semester.

For Syriac Christianity, a lot older books are available as reprints from lulu.com, and it might be worth searching there.

Here are some suggestions, none of which are quite what you're looking for I don't think, but which might be helpful.

The Church of the East: An Illustrated History of Assyrian Christianity

Samuel Moffett, A Christory of Christianity in Asia, vol 1 (to 1500) (Persia is considered part of Asia)

Adam Becker, The Fear of God and the Beginning of Wisdom

The Monks of Kublai Khan

Susan Harvey and Sebastian Brock, Holy Women of the Syrian Orient (some Persia, some neighboring countries)

The Barbarian Plain: Saint Sergius Between Rome and Iran

[elbren]

Thank you!
The Babai is just noted for future reference - if this curiosity leads me deep enough in to be tracing ideas and the phrasing of those ideas, then my Syriac will be good enough at that point to be worth delving into him.
TAQ looked like he might be good for general contemporary Christian perspective into Islam, but I'll table him for now as well.
The other Foltz books looks interesting.
I hadn't seen lulu before.
I'd looked at Holy Women before, but didn't see too much that was helpful there. I'll check again
St. Sergius and the Monks look like good brackets to my period of interest, excellent context for before and after.
Moffett looks to be the best starting place.

I have a good solid reading list now! So exciting! Thanks so much.