The Mongols and the Church of the East

Recent scholarship has drawn renewed attention to the prominence of Nestorian Christians in the Mongol Empire (1206-1368). Drawing upon a broad range of primary sources in Syriac, Latin, Turkish and other languages, this lecture explores the role of the Ongut Turks of Inner Mongolia in the articulation of religious identity in the Mongol world.

Joel Walker is Jon Bridgman Endowed Associate Professor of History at the University of Washington. As a historian of late antiquity, he is interested in the diverse cultures of western Eurasia from prehistory to the early Islamic caliphate. His scholarship centers on the religious and cultural communities of the premodern Middle East, especially the Christian community known as the Church of the East or the “Nestorians.” His upcoming book, Jewel of the Palace and the Soul: Pearls in the Arts, Economy, and Imagination of the Late Antique World, uses a single type of material to illuminate patterns of interaction and exchange across the late antique world.

Co-sponsored by the IEAS Mongolia Initiative.

Also on Tuesday, March 8, Joel Walker will give a seminar on “Cleopatra’s Pearls” in 3401 Dwinelle Hall at 2 pm. Presented by Late Antique Religions et Societies (LARES). For more information, contact Christopher Blunda at cblunda@berkeley.edu.