The Making of the Medieval Middle East – J. Tannous

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Here’s our take on Jack Tannous’s The Making of the Medieval Middle East.

Quick facts

• Full title: The Making of the Medieval Middle East. Religion, Society, and Simple Believers.
• Author: Jack Tannous, associate professor at Princeton.
• First published: 2018
• Publisher: Princeton UP
• Number of pages without notes: 504

Our review

We have to start this review with a pretty big disclaimer: if you’re a PhD student or otherwise interested in absolutely completely submerging yourself into Middle Eastern religion during the Early Middle Ages, this book is a 5/5 goldmine and you should buy it right away.

But, chances are you’re not. And that’s where things start to unravel.

The Making of the Medieval Middle East poses interesting questions. What did the common folk think of the religious disputes raging through the region? Did your average baker, weaver or soldier really get worked up over how many natures or energies or wills were in the Incarnate Christ – or how the Trinity ought to be explained? And did these people actually become devout muslims overnight when the caliph‘s armies stormed in?

In this book, Jack Tannous criticizes those who think so. He substantiates this by providing example after example of the fluidity of religious boundaries, as he calls it. Many priests, scholars and other holy men are called upon – and often name-dropped in your lap without introduction. In doing so, Tannous floods the pages with information, making this title a dense and hefty tome. Although the author fires a barrage of anecdotes your way, they don’t come together as a pleasantly readable narrative.

The Making of the Medieval Middle East does zoom in on a few extremely interesting points, such as the “uncomfortableness” of the early muslim conquerors expanding into a region that was steeped in the ways of much older other religions. The cultural prestige of the Persian and Byzantine empires and the greater Hellenic-Roman world looming over the fledgling yet frail Islam is a different perspective on the stale story of the Caliphate confidently overrunning the ancient realms of Antiquity. Tannous argues that historians have much too often neglected the hordes of christians that stayed behind after the muslim conquest of the Middle East. Most of them didn’t convert for centuries to come, despite Islamic learned men producing a body of source material that would suggest the opposite.

Whereas it’s refreshing to see a focus on the non-academic, Tannous’s title does remain rather dry. We also think more historians should put practice over doctrine, and the perspective of the poor over the prospects of the powerful. But as much as The Making of the Medieval Middle East tries to shove the common folk into the limelight, it ironically fails to reach the uninitiated reader of today by being overly academic. The author is obviously an erudite historian, but not the best of narrators.

In our opinion, this book is a typical example of: great idea, decent thesis, yet poor execution. Our judgment may be a bit harsh considering all the hard work Jack Tannous evidently put into this book. But if you’re looking to spend your hard-earned money on your next great medieval read: this isn’t it.

Our verdict

Where to buy

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