pExtracts from the Conclusions pp...The book also tracks the modern day religious descendants of the first Christian converts -Jews, indigenous Aramaic and Coptic speaking gentiles, and even the Greek AntiochianMelkite colonists living in the Middle East... In the seventh Christian century, tensions between Rome and Constantinople and private treaties between Byzantine emperors and the newly emerged Arab Muslim caliphs suggest how the Middle East's religious make-up, as the world's heartland of Christianity, was to be considerably altered into the future.... The culture of Aramaic Catholics in the medieval period points to many ongoing influences on the architecture, dress and customs of Western Christianity and Islamic society. Examples are provided such as the succession of Maronite popes in Rome, Western hospital emblems, the Muslim hijab and the minaret tower of mosques.pp ppExtract from foreword of Professor Carole Cusack, Department of Studies in Religion, The University of Sydne