Since the age of the Sasanian Empire (224-651 AD), Iran and the West have time and again appeared to be at odds. Iran and the West charts this contentious and complex relationship by examining the myriad ways the two have perceived each other, from antiquity to today. Across disciplines, perspectives and periods contributors consider literary, imagined, mythical, visual, filmic, political and historical representations of the 'other' and the ways in which these have been constructed in, and often in spite of, their specific historical contexts. Many of these narratives, for example, have their origin in the ancient world but have since been altered, recycled and manipulated to fit a particular agenda. Ranging from Tacitus, Leonidas and Xerxes via Shahriar Mandanipour and Azar Nafisi to Rosewater, Argo and 300, this inter-disciplinary and wide-ranging volume is essential reading for anyone working on the complex history, present and future of Iranian-Western relations.

Winner of The 2018 Saidi-Sirjani Book Award In The Western Christian Presence in the Russias and Qājār Persia, c.1760–c.1870, Thomas O'Flynn vividly paints the life and times of missionary enterprises in early nineteenth-century Russia and Persia at a moment of immense change when Tsarist Russia embarked on an expansionist campaign reaching to the Caucasus. Simultaneously he charts the relationship between the new Persian dynasty of the Qājārs and missionary activity on the part of European and American missionaries. This book reconstructs that world from a predominantly religious perspective. It recounts the sustaining ideals as well as the everyday struggles of the western missionaries, Protestant (Scottish, Basel and American Congregationalist) and Catholic (Jesuit and Vincentian). It looks at the reactions of diverse tribal peoples, the Tatars of the North Caucasus, the Kabardians and Circassians. Persia was the ultimate goal of these missionaries, which they eventually reached in the 1820s. Altogether this study throws light on the troubled course of history in West Asia and provides the background to politico-religious conflicts in Chechnya and Persia that persist to the present day.

Anglican and Reformed Approaches in India and the Near East, 1800-1938 This book aims to offer the reader access to the treasury of experience and literature resulting from nineteenth- and twentieth-century missions to Muslims. Based on the author's doctoral work completed at the University of Edinburgh, this research also grew out of the author's mission service in the Near East. This volume represents research completed under the direction of professors W. M. Watt and A. C. Cheyne. Christian Mission to Muslims will prove of good encouragement to the host of Christ's disciples living and witnessing among their Muslim neighbors. This work is consistent with the larger biblical vision granted by God through prophet, Messiah, and apostle--a vision voiced in the Abrahamic prayer and the motto of the Arabian Mission: "O that Ishmael might live in thy sight!" (Gen 17:18); in Jesus's words: "I lay down my life for the sheep. And I have other sheep that are not of this fold; I must bring them also, and they will heed my voice" (John 10:15-16); and in the abiding hope of Revelation 11:15: "The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign for ever and ever."

John M. Flannery describes the establishment and activities of the Portuguese Augustinian mission in Persia.