In the past 300 years, the Christians of the Middle East have had a transformative impact on the region. This book describes how Christian writers, thinkers and others introduced new ideas and practices in the fields of education, publishing, politics, trade, banking, art and culture. It also addresses some of the principal causes of their emigration to countries outside the region.

Spanning the eighteenth century to the present day, this reference book describes the different Christian sects, their demographic distribution, and their institutional organizations in Egypt, Lebanon, Syria, the Holy Land, Jordan, Turkey, Iraq and Iran. The methodological approach is historical with a focus on the socio-economic and political developments in the region under the Ottoman Empire, the French Mandate, the British Protectorate, and at independence under various political regimes until the present day. In each major period, the Middle Eastern Christians' cultural production, their economic and business contribution, their political role and their links to the rest of the world, and more particularly to the West, are shown to have impacted both their homelands and the region as a whole.

The book uses primary and archival sources in several languages from the last 300 years as well as demographic statistics on Christian minorities, country specific demographic reports and church and patriarchal reports, as well as the latest research published on the subject. The level of detail, clear historical demarcations, and extensive information offered makes the book a road map for students and scholars interested in researching Christians and Christianity in the Middle East.