The Last Christians: Stories of Persecution, Flight, and Resilience in the Middle East

Written by Andreas Knapp

Narrated by Brett A. Barry

A Westerner’s travels among the persecuted and displaced Christian remnant in Iraq and Syria teach him much about faith under fire.

Gold Medal Winner, 2018 IPPY Book of the Year Award
Silver Medal Winner, 2018 Benjamin Franklin Award
Finalist, 2018 ECPA Christian Book Award

Inside Syria and Iraq, and even along the refugee trail, they’re a religious minority persecuted for their Christian faith. Outside the Middle East, they’re suspect because of their nationality. A small remnant of Christians is on the run from the Islamic State. If they are wiped out, or scattered to the corners of the earth, the language that Jesus spoke may be lost forever – along with the witness of a church that has modeled Jesus’ way of nonviolence and enemy-love for two millennia.

The kidnapping, enslavement, torture, and murder of Christians by the Islamic State, or ISIS, have been detailed by journalists, as have the jihadists' deliberate efforts to destroy the cultural heritage of a region that is the cradle of Christianity. But some stories run deep, and without a better understanding of the religious and historical roots of the present conflict, history will keep repeating itself century after century.

Andreas Knapp, a priest who works with refugees in Germany, travelled to camps for displaced people in the Kurdish region of northern Iraq to collect stories of survivors – and to seek answers to troubling questions about the link between religion and violence. He found Christians who today still speak Syriac, a dialect of Aramaic, the language of Jesus. The uprooted remnant of ancient churches, they doggedly continue to practice their faith despite the odds. Their devastating eyewitness reports make it clear why millions are fleeing the Middle East. Yet, remarkably, though these last Christians hold little hope of ever returning to their homes, they also harbor no thirst for revenge. Could it be that they – along with the Christians of the West, whose interest will determine their fate – hold the key to breaking the cycle of violence in the region?

Includes sixteen pages of color photographs.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Plough Publishing House
• Release date: Sep 1, 2017
• ISBN: 9781636080246

Andreas Knapp

A poet, priest, and popular author in Germany, Andreas Knapp left a secure position as head of Freiburg Seminary to live and work among the poor as a member of the Little Brothers of the Gospel, a religious order inspired by Charles de Foucauld. Today he shares an apartment with three brothers in Leipzig’s largest housing project, and ministers to prisoners and refugees. His latest book, The Last Christians, recounts the stories of refugees in his neighborhood and of displaced people in camps in Kurdistan, northern Iraq.

Reviews for The Last Christians

[mfvetter-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This was a difficult book to read, but I believe it is important for every Christian to see how fellow believers are persecuted in the Middle East simply because they are followers of Jesus Christ. I had to read it one chapter at a time and then think about what I'd read. Some parts of it brought me to tears.

[suzanne81 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The author, a German priest, goes to Iraq and gives us a personal look into the struggles and sufferings of Middle Eastern Christians. Written with clarity, honesty and compassion, with historical sidebars that give additional context, The Last Christians is an important book that sheds light on a people whose plight is often overlooked by the media.

[musicformovies · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This is a LibraryThing Early Review for the paperback “The Last Christians” by Andreas Knapp. Gut-wrenching is an understatement regarding the first-person accounts shared within the pages of this book. The light to be found, amid the darkness of persecution, shines in the small personal acts of humanity and love that take place amongst those enduring such earthly hell. The final chapter of the book, Chapter 19 – Giving of Our Best, and the following Epilogue, provide a glimmer of hope and a cautious, but optimistic, way forward. Reading this book from start to finish was an emotional punch like I have rarely encountered, even compared to similar atrocities read about that took place at a time further removed from us; perhaps this is due to the chronological nearness of the events related; i.e. even as recent as 2016. A way to help someone through such an emotional book might be to start with Chapter 19 and the Epilogue and then read the book from the beginning to the end. This is a book that demands to be, and must be, read by all that are alive today; especially for those of us that live in the West; without question for those that call themselves Christian.

[bradkautz · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Andreas Knapp's The Last Christians is the story of what appears to be the accelerated extinction of Christianity in the places where it first put down deep roots, the northern Middle East, the places we know today as Iraq, Syria and parts of Turkey. Though Christianity survived, even thrived, in these regions for many centuries Knapp reports the relentless oppression it faces with the rise of Islamic nationalism, generally, and ISIS, specifically.Knapp tells the story in two parts. He is a German priest who has befriended immigrants in the city where he lives, and in the first part he travels with a friend to the Middle East for the funeral of his friend's father. He gets to meet many people who are displaced and experiencing persecution solely because of their Christian faith. In the second part he is back in Germany, and he has increasing involvement with the immigrant community. In both parts he goes back into history to bring in relevant earlier times in history when there was severe persecution, such as the Armenian genocide in 1915.The book's strength lies in Knapp's ability to listen and relay the many stories and eye-witness accounts he has received. Without exception, the things he reports are absolutely horrible, and sadly, pass largely unnoticed in the Western world.The weakness in the overall narrative is in Knapp's theology, which appears to consider Jesus to be primarily a worker of social justice. No doubt Knapp considers Jesus the social justice worker par excellence, but what emerges is a story that is largely man-centered and lacks the perspective of God's point-of-view.The fact that God is both holy and sovereign are missing, meaning that as he tells the stories there appears to be no thought given to the fact that God may be at work, and powerfully so, in the face of tragedy. As he tells stories of suffering he does so without seeing the suffering as representative of the suffering Jesus said would come to His followers. Knapp reports people being driven from the place where their families have called home for centuries, and a concurrent destruction of many cultural artifacts, but what is lacking is any sense of understanding of the temporary nature of the things of this world, or the fact that for Christians, our true home is elsewhere.I don't want to beat up on Knapp. He has compassion for those people who have emigrated to his city and he does what he can to help them. Unfortunately he is unable to take their story and connect it to the larger storyline of the Bible, which ends in the new Jerusalem, with all Christ's children being with Him, and all their tears wiped away.

[nirrad_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A very eye opening book, for us here in the US. we don't realize what is happening in other parts of the world. If you are a Christian, to see what is happening to Christians in the Mid east is a real shocker. Plus the History we don't know is facinating and scary. A must read.

[vangogan · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

At first, I thought, because of the subtitle, that this would be just various stories of persecuted Christians in the different chapters. But, fortunately, the book followed a narrative of the author's encounters with Christian refugees in Germany and so there was a thread between the chapters, as the author related his relationships with these refugees. We learn about these "last Christians" who speak the same language that Jesus spoke (Aramaic) and how they are dying out because of persecutions. Knapp points out how this persecution is not new but has been going on throughout history. At the end of the book, he points out a way for us to mend relations between Muslims and Christians, although I'm not sure if he takes ecumenicism too far. I do agree that forced religion is no religion, but allowing anyone to believe what they want without calling someone else an "unbeliever" might mean that Christ is not the only way to salvation. He also points out how these Middle Eastern Christians are pacifists and do not believe in engaging in war at all, but only in forgiveness, which is amazing, considering the horrible atrocities that they have witnessed. And the confidence of their belief amidst all their suffering is also truly amazing.

[liz_moore-9495 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I received this book from Library Thing in exchange for an honest review.This is one of the saddest books I have read in recent years. Christians in the Middle East have existed since the dawn of Christianity and Andreas Knapp makes clear that we may be looking at the last generation of Christians due to Islamic persecution. The descriptions of what they have been thorough are chilling and make me appreciate the fact that I can go to church without worrying about my safety. All in all a definite must read!