The Last Christians

Knapp, a German priest who works with Christian refugees, writes despairingly about the plight of Assyrian Christians currently being forced from their homes in northern Iraq and Syria as a result of religious persecution. The rise of ISIS and the heightened violence between Islamic sects has made the survival of these Christian sects, some of whom still speak Aramaic dialects that date back to the time of Jesus, a tenuous proposition. Knapp is most effective when providing historical context for the eyewitness accounts he shares from the refugee community he serves. His background material on the Armenian and Assyrian genocides by the Ottoman Empire, aided and abetted by the Germans for tactical reasons during World War I, is most fascinating. Unfortunately, his discussion of modern Western interference often reads like a polemic. Also, his attempts to differentiate the Eastern Church’s pacifism from wars waged in the name of Christianity in the West may be accurate, but his argument for an equivalency between Christianity and Islam tends to paint the former with broader brush strokes. Knapp is sincere in his beliefs, and his passionate book will provide much-needed anecdotal testimony for readers interested in the plight of Christians throughout Iraq and Syria. (Sept.)