3rd International Conference on the Church of the East in China and Central Asia 2009
The term “Church of the East” was used in antiquity to designate the Christian Church that developed beyond the eastern frontiers of the Roman Empire. By the 7th century, this so-called “Nestorian” (more precisely: East Syriac) Christianity had already spread along the Silk Roads to Central Asia, India, and even to the imperial court of the Tang dynasty in China. In the medieval period, especially under Mongol rule, the Church of the East constituted the geographically most extensive Christian Church.
From June 4 to 9, 2009, approximately fifty scholars from China, Japan, India, Turkey, the United States, Australia, Germany, the United Kingdom, Belgium, Italy, Canada, Austria, and other countries convened in Salzburg for the Third International Conference on “Research on the Church of the East in China and Central Asia.” The conference brought together specialists from a wide range of disciplines and provided a forum for the presentation and discussion of recent research on East Syriac Christianity, including contributions in theology, philology, epigraphy, manuscript studies, and archaeology.
