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January 22, 2025 77 mins

►Christian refugees to Sasanian Empire, or double agents for Byzantine Empire?

►Clash of the Sasanian and Armenian empires

►Were Nestorians treated better than Armenians in Sasanian Empire?

►Nestorian hospitals, schools and governing institutions in Iran

►Why Zoroastrian priests pushed to persecuted Nestorians

►Did a Sasanian king kill 150,000 Nestorians?

►How Nestorians succeeded in spreading Christianity from Middle East to China

►What happened to Nestorians?

►Is Nestorianism a misnomer? 🚩About My Guest: My guest is Dr. Christian van Gorder, a professor in the Department of Religion at Baylor University. He has not only traveled extensively, such as to Iran, a country that we'll talk about in this episode, but he has also lived abroad - quite a bit. For example, he received his doctorate in Muslim and Christian Relations at the Queen's University of Belfast, Ireland, and also lived in Western China for six years where he taught intercultural studies at the Yunnan University.

He has written many books on religion, including the following:

  1. Jews and Christians Together: An Invitation to Mutual Respect,
  2. Islam, Peace, and Social Justice,
  3. The Thousand-Petaled Lotus: Buddhist and Christian Discussions,
  4. Christians in Persia and Muslim and non-Muslim Relations in Iran,
  5. Muslim and Christian Relations in Central Asia, and
  6. No God but God: A Path to Muslim-Christian Discussions about the Nature of God.


🚩Other Relevant Interview:

►Dr. Beate Pongratz: how polytheism ended in the Middle East?

Watch: ▶️https://bit.ly/UME-YT-S1E33-34

Listen: 🎧 https://bit.ly/UME-S1E33


►Dr. Khodadad Rezakhani: how the Sasanian Empire ended?

Watch: ▶️ https://bit.ly/YT-UME-S1E12

Listen: 🎧 https://bit.ly/UME-S1E12


You can also watch our podcasts:

📽️⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠YouTube.com/@HistoryBehindNews ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

📽️⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠YouTube.com/@UnravellingTheMiddleEast⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

I hope you enjoy these episodes. Adel Aali

🎶Music attributions:

1. Opening and closing music of the program:

Santur: Peyman Heydarian playing on the Santur some Iranian music. Recorded with a Sony PCM-D50 at the School of Oriental and African Studies of London on April 7th 2011.

Music available on at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://freesound.org/people/xserra/sounds/125654/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Creative Commons / Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0 DEED)

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

This music has been cut in shorter pieces and its volume has been adjusted in different portions of our program.


2. Background music to guest introduction:

The Desert | The Grand Score

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