Dear Colleagues,
I hope this letter finds you doing well and Happy Thanksgiving to our American colleagues!

The Department of Nestorian Studies now serves as a project of the International Institute for Central Asian Studies in partnership with the Center for Eastern Christian Studies of the University of Salzburg. The continued goal of the department is to continue to develop this field and develop strategies for engagement as well as research and development of known and suspected Syriac Christian sites. In addition to on-campus research in the late Spring at the University of Salzburg, funded through a grant, I had the privilege in July of presenting at the 13 th Syriac Symposium Syriacum in Paris, followed by a week of lectures at an academic conference sponsored by the Catholic Church of Kyrgyzstan in Issyk Kul in August, then onto a doctoral colloquium at the University of Gottingen in Germany. In addition to presenting academic papers and continuing to network with scholars and meet with prospective partners, my primary objective is the completion of my dissertation project, slated for June of 2023. I have thoroughly enjoyed the study and look forward to continuing to research as well as develop infrastructure and collaborations for the development of this field.

Let us know if you would like to become involved in any way. This is truly an exciting time to research this extraordinary lost history of Christianity in Central Asia.

We are very excited to announce that on the 26^th of August, the Department of Nestorian Studies was incorporated as a project under the partnership between the Centre for Eastern Christian Studies (Zentrum zur Erforschung des Christlichen Ostens) of the University of Salzburg and the International Institute for Central Asian Studies (UNESCO).

Our Mission and Strategy remains the same:

Our Mission

The primary goal of the Department of Nestorian Studies is to create infrastructure which will facilitate the research and development of the Nestorian history of Kazakhstan and Central Asia, recruit the top experts in the field as well as promising young Kazakhstan students, and creating the best possible atmosphere for them to conduct research and publish findings.

Strategy of the Department for Nestorian Studies

Strategies to fulfill this mission first involve networking and synergizing with the top Nestorian experts in the field and seeking how we can serve and facilitate their research interests in the heart of Nestorian territory of Central Asia. In addition to providing access to research and sites, our department welcomes the input of experts in helping to develop this platform.

Researchers will have the opportunity to pioneer research as well as helping to shape strategies which will affect the future course of Nestorian Studies in Central Asia. As our department can serve as a regional hub, along with our developing close relationship with other departments in the region, researchers will be able make a valuable contribution to Nestorian research in Kazakhstan as well as all of Central Asia.

We welcome departments from universities and schools, as well as other groups, which may wish to collaborate in research efforts. We are very interested in exploring opportunities for partnerships in archeological excavations, research and development.

Dear Colleagues,

For all of us, 2020 has definitely been an unprecedented year of trials and uncertainties. We hope for God’s grace and a good 2021. This past year, many of our programs have been in a holding pattern for many of us. I have used this time to work extensively on my own dissertation and research.

I wanted to wish you and your family a wonderful Christmas and New Year, in spite of the uncertainties. We are excited that the Kazakhstan Academy of Sciences is making a continued commitment to the research of the history of Nestorian / Syriac Christianity in Kazakhstan and Central Asia. We again welcome your partnership. Our primary role is to serve as a link between the scholarly network and Kazakhstan archeology. Please let us know how we can assist in facilitating collaborations.  We are eager to continue in this research and welcome your continued partnership.

Happy holidays and may God bless you with a gracious 2021!

Sincerely,
Kevin White

Check out the latest video that has been added to our resource collection - Christians of the East: The Untold Story Along the Silk Road.

The Department of Nestorian Studies is looking forward to the continuation of the Ilibalik excavation this summer, as well as other projects. Head of Department Kevin White has been in Salzburg for a doctoral seminar, a conference, research, as well as lecturing. He was able to meet with Dr. Peter Zieme and the faculty of the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and present at the Freie University of Berlin. There are incredible discoveries coming to light which indeed show a very rich, though lost, history in the territory of modern Kazakhstan. The Department of Nestorian Studies remains committed to serving Kazakhstan and the scholarly community by helping to develop infrastructure to facilitate research and development of this lost history.

Please let us know if you would like to get involved by sending us a message here!

Dear Colleagues,

We are thrilled to announce that this past summer’s Ilibalik excavations were extraordinary. There are over one hundred Christian graves discovered, some with Christian jewelry, all pointing to a significant Christian presence as well as advanced cultural development. This is great news for Kazakhstan!

As Kazakhstan seeks to become one of the top thirty economies in the world as well as serve as a prime mover for the revival of Silk Road commerce, it is very committed to investigating its history and cultural heritage. In his address to the Nur Otan Party in 2015, President Nursultan Nazarbayev affirmed Kazakhstan’s policy recognizing the important role religion plays in the affairs of a nation when he stated: “We are entering a period of our development, when spiritual development is no less important than economic and material interests.”

This vision is expressed as well in the new program Course Ahead: Spiritual Renewal. In discussions on economic development, particularly as it relates to the One Belt One Road project, Kazakhstan understands the significant role religions of the Silk Road played in trade and commerce.

The Department for Nestorian Studies was created to investigate the Nestorian aspect of this history, and is a positive step to facilitate the investigation of the role Nestorianism played in the territories of what is to today Kazakhstan and other Central Asian nations. As Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev succinctly stated: “We need to look into the past in order to understand the present and foresee the future.”

Indeed Christianity had a significant presence in Central Asia, particularly between the 8th and 12th centuries. In his book The Church of the East, Christoph Baumer records, that of the two dozen Turko-Mongol tribes which Genghis Khan united in 1206 to form the Mongolian Empire, at least seven of them had significant populations of Nestorian Christianity. The Flemish explorer William of Rubruck recorded in the 13 th century that the Kerait, which is one of the significant clans of modern Kazakhs, had 200,000 Nestorian Christians. In addition to the Kerait, other tribes which had significant Nestorian Christian populations include the Merkit, Naiman, Ongut, Uighurs, Uriyan-gakit, Kangli, and Manchurian.

To give some perspective to the extent of Nestorian development, Philip Jenkins in his book The Lost History of Christianity, notes that in 8th century – before Christianity was accepted in German, Dutch, and Russian territories – the Eastern Church patriarch Timothy already presided over 19 metropolitan sees (regional archbishops) which oversaw eighty five bishops along the Silk Road. The city of Merv – modern Mari, Turkmenistan – had a bishop by 420. By 500, Merv as a major Christian center to Central Asian Turkish tribes, translating important books from Greek and Syriac into the Central Asian and Eastern Asian languages.

The primary goal of the Department of Nestorian Studies is to create infrastructure which will facilitate the research and development of the Nestorian history of Kazakhstan and Central Asia, recruit the top experts in the field as well as promising young Kazakhstan students, and creating the best possible atmosphere for them to conduct  research and publish findings.

We welcome university archaeology departments to partner in this developing field, just beginning to be rediscovered. In addition to inviting interested archaelogy departments, the Department of Nestorian Studies would like to invite other school, university and other interested groups to come to Kazakhstan to participate in ongoing archaeological projects. Teams can assist as volunteers assisting with excavations under the supervision of professional archaeologists.

Please see our Salzburg Conference report, which was an extraordinary event. Please contact us if you have any questions. We’d be delighted to meet and share of the great things coming to light.

It was indeed a great honor and privilege that we were able to host the 6th Salzburg International Conference on Syriac Christianity in China and Central Asia in Almaty, Kazakhstan. We want to thank our organizers and sponsors from the University of Salzburg Center for the Study of the Christian East (ZECO) in cooperation with the Archaeological Institute of Kazakhstan Academy of Sciences. We also want to thank our main sponsors, including the International Institute of Central Asian Studies, Pro Oriente, and the Grand Tien Shan Hotel.

We are pleased to announce that the 6th Salzburg International Conference on Syriac Christianity in China and Central Asia will be held in Almaty, Kazakhstan in June, 2019. The conference will be organized by the University of Salzburg / Center for the Study of the Christian East (ZECO) in cooperation with the Archaeological Institute of Kazakhstan Academy of Sciences / Department of Nestorian Studies. This conference will feature renowned experts from top academic institutions worldwide including Oxford University, Cambridge University, the University of Salzburg, Harvard University and numerous other institutions.

I am writing to invite you to attend the official opening program which will be on Friday, June 21 at the Grand Hotel “Tien Shan”, located at 115 Bogenbay Batyr Street, Almaty, Kazakhstan. The opening program will be at 14:00 – 15:30 and is free and open to the public. This will feature various introductions and a keynote presentation by Dr. Li Tang, who serves as a postdoctoral fellow at Cambridge University.