Download PDF | Richard Foltz - Religions of the Silk Road_ Premodern Patterns of Globalization-Palgrave Macmillan (2010).
194 Pages
Preface
The decade since this book was first published has brought considerable feedback, much of it positive, some critical, but-significantly I think-it has not yet abated. The fact that the book continues to reach new readers is deeply gratifying, yet it also brings a sense of obligation. The intervening years have seen much new research on the history of cultural movement along the Silk Road, and anyone choosing to start off with an overview such as this one deserves an up-to-date introduction to the sources available should they wish to pursue their own studies further. I am therefore grateful to have been given the opportunity to prepare this revised, tenth anniversary edition.
As should be obvious from the broad sweep of the title, this book takes a generalist approach. It was and remains an attempt to weave some 2,000 years of Asian history around a particular thread-that of the movement and transformation of religious ideas-into a readable and informative account. It is more concerned with presenting a reasonably coherent overall pattern than with resolving disputes over fineries of detail in the design; these I have left to the specialists in the many fields which such a survey necessarily encompasses.
I have never claimed expertise in any of these fields, but rather begged those more knowledgeable than myself to indulge me for my trespasses into their various territories, much as the Silk Road traveler was bound to solicit the goodwill of the many authorities through whose lands he would pass. Although I continue to hope that specialists will find some interest and value in my effort to compose a meaningful "big picture," this book was written first and foremost with the student and general reader in mind. For this reason I tried to keep transliterations as simple as possible, simplifying diacritics. For Chinese I have used the pinyin system except where a more familiar English version exists. My original inspiration on the topic of religions in Central Asia followed a lecture by the late Hans-Joachim Klimkeit at the Harvard Center for World Religions, when I was beginning my graduate studies back in the early 1 990s.
I am grateful to his memory, first for sparking my interest nearly two decades ago and later for his encouraging comments as I came to complete the first edition of this book. Jerry Bentley, Richard Bulliet, and Nicola DiCosmo also read the typescript of the first edition and offered many useful suggestions. Richard Frye's remarks improved an early version of chapter Two, and Jan Nattier helped guide me through a much-needed overhaul of chapter Three. The criticisms of two anonymous reviewers for The Journal of Early Modern History helped me to strengthen my discussion of the Islamization of Inner Asia.
In updating the first edition I have attempted to address a number of points raised in published reviews by Thomas Allsen, Jason Neelis, Frantz Grenet, Jason BeDuhn, and Denis Sinor. For any remaining errors of fact or interpretation, I alone remain responsible. Some of the material in this book first appeared in the form of journal articles. These are: "When Was Central Asia Zoroastrian?" in The Mankind Quarterly 3 8/3 (1998), "Ecumenical Mischief under the Mongols," in the CentralAsiaticJournal43 /1 ( 1 999), and "Judaism and the Silk Route," in The History Teacher 3 211 (Nov. 1 998). I thank the editors of those journals for permission to incorporate this material into the present work. Susan Roach of interlibrary loan at Gettysburg College patiently and efficiently dealt with my unending requests throughout the academic year 1 997-1998. Michael Flamini, my original editor at St. Martin's Press, was instrumental in bringing the book's first edition to publication.
I am indebted to ibrahim Ozdemir and Aydm AsIan for making the book available to Turkish readers, and to Ali Ferdowsi and Askari Pasha'i for bringing it to the Persian audience. More recently, my thanks go to Chris Chappell at Palgrave for inviting me to undertake this revised second English edition. In my experience at least, no personal achievement is realized without a supportive network of family and friends. Among all those many individuals who have been a positive force in my life, I am especially grateful to my parents for being there since the beginning, to Shahrzad, Bijan, and Persia for giving me hope for the future, and to Manya for choosing to share this journey with me. Montreal 26 April 2009
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