Turkey
“They Can Live in the Desert but Nowhere Else,” by Ronald Grigor Suny
Study of the Armenian genocide has attracted many fine scholars, but Ronald Suny's book stands out.
Never forget, never tell: An Armenian Americans dilemma of memory
My first trip to Turkey, the place where so many Armenian Christians were killed, found me in a land both strange to me and known in my bones.
Islam and democracy
The prospects for genuine democracy in Egypt are more remote than ever. But there are other models of Islamic politics in the region.
Unrest in Istanbul: Turkey’s season of struggle
Turkey may be a model for the rest of the Middle East, but the country faces deep problems. And religion is not at these problems' core.
Family ties: Reading the story of the prodigal son in Turkey
The parable of the prodigal son came to have new meaning for me after I preached on the passage in a small Christian church in Turkey. My congregants could read meaning, for example, into the famine that the younger son experienced because our city is in the throes of a serious water shortage. We have gone without running water for days at a time. The reaction of the Turkish mayor was to call for public prayers for rain in the traditional Muslim fashion, and Turkish churches followed suit by praying for rain. It was a similar shortage that drove the prodigal son to desperation and created an occasion for repentance.