Iran (Persia in the Old Testament) has been in the news lately for all the wrong reasons. As most American Christians have not travelled to this part of the world and know little about Iran’s culture, history, and politics, I have compiled some sources for those seeking trusted information, but are unsure where to look. I have recommended three people, 13 books, and 14 videos. They are mostly non-Christian, span the academic and popular worlds, and have a British flair. I do not agree with all the content; however, they will help American Christians who want to develop a greater understanding of modern Iran.
My area of specialty focuses on Iran from the 1960s onward; how Christians in Iran – both ethnic Christians and those who converted to Christianity – interact among themselves and among the general population. If you are interested in what I have written, please go to my faculty page.
People
Ali Ansari, Professor of Iranian History, Founding Chair of the Institute of Iranian Studies, University of St Andrews, Scotland. See his X account: @aa51_ansari
Ali Ansari is the foremost expert of modern Iranian history. He is a historian’s historian and an academic’s academic. He is an engaging writer and speaker with self-defacing British humor. Related to Mohammad Reza Shah, his father was an ambassador during the Pahlavi administration. He was my major professor for my second PhD at the University of St Andrews. He has influenced me more about modern Iran than anyone. He is a dear friend whose advice I seek on geopolitics and modern Iranian history. One day I hope to write something with him.
Garnik Asatrian and Victoria Arakelova, Professors of Oriental Studies, Russian-Armenian University, Yerevan, Armenia.
An Armenian husband-and-wife team living in Yerevan, they were two of the first people I worked with after finishing my first PhD. I have known them for 20 years. While much of their research does not concentrate on what is going on in Iran currently, outside of Ansari, they have impacted me the most regarding Iran. If you can find their works in English, I would read them. Asatrian focuses on Kurds and linguistics; Arakelova centers on Yezidis and heterodox Shia sects. Their journal, Iran and the Caucasus (Brill), where I was an editor for a number of years, highlights non-western authors’ academic research.
Books
Ali Ansari, Iran: A Very Short Introduction (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014), 120 pages.
Ali Ansari’s Iran is not strictly a history of Iran, nor is it written in a purely chronological manner. Rather, its three main chapters focus on the areas he sees as essential to those unfamiliar with Iran: mythology and history, Iran and Islam, and Iran and the West. Ansari petitions the reader to see Iran as Iranians see themselves and their country – in paradox. Iranians view their origin with pride; it is part of their identity and character. They have, in varying degrees, combined their ancient historical and mythological origins with Shia Islam to give them a distinctiveness that is enigmatic and contradictory, ambiguous in nature, and difficult to grasp. In seeing Iranians as they perceive themselves, one can gain a greater appreciation for the people and the culture as opposed to viewing them from the eyes of Hollywood or Western news stations. Ansari explains Iran in a way Westerners can value, if not comprehend. Lucid in style, Iran provides a historical sketch of Iran, but more importantly, it gives a glimpse of how Iranians view themselves.
Ali Ansari, The Politics of Nationalism in Modern Iran (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2012), 327 pages.
The Politics of Nationalism in Modern Iran is an intellectual history focusing on the relationship between political myth and the modern Iranian state. Ali Ansari argues that nationalism, the main ideology in modern Iran, has been developed from the European Enlightenment. He explains all Iranian intellectuals used philosophical constructs and ideas based on the same Enlightenment theories. He notes that many Iranian intellectuals and leaders traveled to Europe, read European authors, and were educated in European universities. Ansari also introduces some Iranian political myths that play a crucial role in the formation of the modern state; among others, the Iranians as Aryan, the idea of a savior (especially found in Cyrus the Great), and the Shahnameh as history. Using an Enlightenment motif, Iranian thinkers and leaders used these myths to develop and promote their ideal nation or state. Ansari’s work is the first scholastic study of length concerning Iranian nationalism in decades. It will challenge the uninitiated’s perceptions of Iran and increase interest in those concerned with the creation of the modern state. For students and academicians of Iranian studies, the work provides ample resources for additional study as well as deepens their understanding of the discipline.
Michael Axworthy, The History of Iran: Empire of the Mind (New York: Basic Books, 2008), 341 pages.
There are a number of decent books to read on the history of Iran or the history of modern Iran such as Nikki R Keddie, Modern Iran (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2003), 408 pages, and Abbas Amanat, Iran: A Modern History (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2017), 979 pages, but there is a reason late Michael Axworthy’s work is a best seller. The History of Iran is one of the most straightforward and uncomplicated general histories of Iran. Axworthy traces the main periods of Iranian history in chronological order in small digestible chapters. He addresses key themes about Iran that a non-Iranian would need to know. Axworthy believes that Iranians see themselves as having their own Iranian identity that is based on language and land, though Iran itself is not a monolithic state. In helping the reader understand Iranian culture, he introduces some of the main Iranian poets and explains Iran’s monotheistic nature, which not only includes Islam, but other faiths such as Zoroastrianism. The History of Iran is a good introduction to Iran for those not wanting to become Iranian experts or get bogged down in too much detail.
Adam H Becker, Revival and Awakening: American Evangelical Missionaries in Iran and the Rise of Assyrian Nationalism (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2015), 432 pages.
Revival and Awakening is a work that connects American evangelical missionaries’ involvement to Assyrian nationalism in Iran during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The evangelical promotion of a Protestant understanding of Christianity, while not successful in converting East Syrians to Protestant Christianity, led East Syrians of the Urmia and Hakkari areas to develop an ideology that formulated a unified nationalism. It was the Protestant missionaries’ concept of reform, Adam H Becker argues, that provided East Syrians the foundation for this modernistic distinctiveness that nationalists traced to the ancient Assyrians. Couched within an epistemological system from the Enlightenment, East Syrians developed a secular understanding of society and modernistic concepts such as individualism, liberty, and privatization, and transferred them to a nationalism associated with ancient Assyria even though a direct ancestral line from East Syrians to Assyrians is not supported historically. Becker’s work is well written and researched. Few Western scholars have the necessary grasp of the needed languages to research this topic. It is a welcomed work.
Christiane Bird, Neither East Nor West: One Woman’s Journey Through the Islamic Republic of Iran (New York: Simon and Schuster, 2001), 396 pages.
This work is a fascinating account of Christiane Bird’s travel through Iran as a solo American female. Living there as a child, she returns to Iran and visits places many Americans are not allowed to see. It is a diary of sorts, one written with innocent and informed inquisitiveness that helps those not familiar with Iran understand the nuances of Iranian culture. She takes readers on a journey with her as she expresses her emotions and thoughts about a place many females (or males) would not dare go to alone. She shows both the kindness and generosity of the Iranian people while not glossing over their struggles or the dangers she faced during her time. As one reviewer states, the work is, ‘an engrossing intellectual odyssey delivered with dramatic skills and a novelist’s flair . . . A literary event.’ This is one of the books I most recommend. It was required reading when I took people into Iran.
H E Chehabi and Vanessa Martin, eds., Iran’s Constitutional Revolution: Popular Politics, Cultural Transformations and Transnational Connections (London: I. B. Tauris, 2010), 504 pages.
Comprised by scholars from across the world who attended a conference held on the Iranian Constitutional Revolution (1906-1911) at Oxford University, the work focuses on both external and internal pressures on Iran during this formative period. The authors address traditional powers (Britain and Russia in particular), mention the influence of world thought (the Enlightenment and social democracy), and explain the significance of the more known political revolutions of the day on Iran. Much of the work is devoted to what happened internally. The Constitutional Revolution helped to transform Iran’s modern history as it created important institutions and developed a means for popular politics. It also led merchants to become their own class, developed representative politics with limited suffrage, and saw municipalities and civic responsibilities grow. The work underscores a particularly complex time important in bringing Iran into the modern age and advances the discussion of this period with analysis that is both wide-ranging and discerning. It is a welcome addition to the field of Iranian studies.
Hadi Enayat and Mirjam Künkler, eds., The Rule of Law in the Islamic Republic of Iran: Power, Institutions, and the Limits of Reform (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2025), 471 pages.
Largely historical, The Rule of Law in the Islamic Republic of Iran offers insight into one of the more enigmatic governments in the world today. The authors address the modern Islamic Iranian legal system in relation to topics such as prison reform, rights of ethnic, religious, and social minorities, and the influence of Shiism. With the rise of Ayatollah Khomeini’s Islamic Revolution in 1979, laws were adjusted to correspond to a stricter interpretation of Shiism. However, this change failed to curtail the imbalanced legal system seen in previous regimes. Authorities persisted to interpret the legal code in ways that were ‘right in their own minds’ resulting in ‘judicial personalism’ over impartial application. Enayat and Künkler’s work is well documented. For researchers and students interested in the rule of law in the Islamic Republic of Iran and for those not wanting simplistic interpretations of modern Iranian state and society, this work is a welcome compendium. It offers nuanced views that may challenge readers’ own perceptions.
Javier Gil Guerrero, The Carter Administration & the Fall of Iran’s Pahlavi Dynasty: US-Iran Relations on the Brink of the 1979 Revolution (London: Palgrave-MacMillan, 2016), 264 pages.
Javier Gil Guerrero looks at many of the United States’ recently declassified documents that focus on Iran during the 1970s. Guerrero explains that President Jimmy Carter emphasized morality and human rights. Carter believed greater involvement, diplomacy, and cooperation from the global community was a moral way to conduct American foreign affairs. Mohammed Reza Shah, who modernized Iran rapidly, often violated human rights. The Shah rationalized that the imprisonment of political activists and others who opposed his rule was just a consequence of advancement. As tension between the Shah and Carter grew, Ayatollah Khomeini came into prominence. Khomeini questioned both the Shah and America, giving the populist sentiments in Iran a figurehead for their views. As hostilities increased between Khomeini and the Shah, the Shah’s weaknesses intensified. Guerrero believes the lack of American involvement was one of the main reasons that led to Khomeini overthrowing the Shah to establish an Islamic Republic. It is an interesting read.
Hooman Majd, The Ayatollah Begs to Differ: The Paradox of Modern Iran (New York: Doubleday, 2008), 273 pages.
The Ayatollah Begs to Differ: The Paradox of Modern Iran is a popularly written work for Americans who desire better to understand Iranians in modern-day Iran. Hooman Majd stresses that Iranians (and Muslims in general) perceive things differently than those in the United States and Europe. Much of what is done and thought in that part of the world is done in paradox. Explaining Iranian paradoxical thinking and living is the main theme of Majd’s work. Realizing that Iranians think in paradox is key to grasping Iranians and their culture. Majd’s book is a quick and easy read. It is provocative, witty, and insightful. He allows Americans to gain an insider’s view of the Iranian way of life as he gives an overview of Iranian thought. With the current and continued friction between the West (particularly the United States) and Iran, and the many misunderstandings that arise when cultures intersect, Majd’s book is a must read.
William McElwee Miller, Tales of Persia: Missionary Stories from Islamic Iran (Phillipsburg, NJ: PR Publishing, 1979), 163 pages.
In my Introduction to Missions class I often have my soon-to-be-teenage son read parts of Tales of Persia. It is a compilation of short testimonies from a missionary to Iran during the years before the Islamic Revolution. Tales of Persia shows how God uses the ordinary to bring the gospel to a forefront. In the way of stories, the work explains in the simplest forms how Islam differs from Christianity, how God changes lives, and how missionaries go about their work. The readers see how missionaries participate in things outside their control. While not its intent, the devotional nature of the book makes it great to read with children. It also challenges adults’ understanding of missionary work overseas. Even though Tales of Persia is almost 50 years old, much of what is written still applies.
Matthew K Shannon, Mission Manifest: American Evangelicals and Iran in the Twentieth Century (Ithaca, NY and London: Cornell University Press, 2024), 322 pages.
Matthew K Shannon concentrates on the link and influence, if not cooperative effort, between Presbyterian missionaries and other Americans and Iranians in the context of United States and Iranian interactions prior to the Islamic Revolution of 1979. Missionaries were ‘cultural and political brokers’ who developed relationships, both positively and negatively, between America and Iran. Shannon’s secular bias provides a fair and sharp analysis of the religiosity of Iran and the state and society of Iran at the time. While the thoughts and practices of missionaries influenced the United States administration (and vice-versa), Shannon shows that there was no direct causational link between American missionaries and the American government regarding Iranian foreign policy – the missionaries did not dictate to the United States administration what actions should be taken nor did the American government mandate what feats the missionaries shouldaccomplish – but there was an indirect one. Natural connections influenced both the United States government and American missionary thinking about Iran. Shannon’s work is written well and investigated meticulously. Mission Manifest is a welcome addition to the field of Iranian studies. It tells a tale of caution both for American missionaries, the United States government, and the Iranian state. Connecting the Christianity of America with the governmental interests of Pahlavi Iran or the United States in Iran failed in the long term to produce the results that anyone desired.
Sasan Tavassoli, Christian Encounters with Iran: Engaging Muslim Thinkers after the Revolution (London: I. B. Tauris, 2011), 308 pages.
Christian Encounters with Iran: Engaging Muslim Thinkers after the Revolution is a work focused on Iranian Islamic intellectual thought as it relates to Christianity since 1979. Sasan Tavassoli desires to inform English readers about modern Shia thought as it relates to Christianity; assess the achievements of Iranian Muslims in dialog with Christians; and demonstrate that Shia Muslims in Iran are open to further engagement with Christians. Tavassoli’s thesis is that since the Islamic Revolution, changes are occurring among Iranian Muslim intellectuals in regard to Christianity that allow for more open and honest discussion. His irenic method of treating those who he encounters with respect and equality provides the work with its greatest strength: it makes available to Westerners data on institutions, publications, and people associated with Muslim-Christian discourse in Iran. Iranians, even at the highest level of government, are interested in engaging Christianity. Written well and temperate throughout, the work provides an accurate understanding of a difficult subject, an understanding in which opposing positions could agree. Those interested in Iran, particularly Muslim-Christian dialog in Iran, would do well to read this work.
Edwin Yamauchi, Persia and the Bible (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1990), 575 pages.
Persia and the Bible is a historical survey that focuses on Persia’s (or Iran’s) portrayal in the Old Testament. It largely centers on political figures and archaeological finds. Other religions like Zoroastrianism and the mystery religions are addressed. Edwin Yamauchi writes from a theologically conservative viewpoint. The work is well documented and detailed. It reads like a textbook in a good way. There are lots of photos and graphs, which are helpful. As Persia is mentioned numerous times in the Old Testament, the work provides some historical background of the Old Testament in relation to world history. Many consider this work a classic in the field. If you are not into history, you may find it a bit dry; nonetheless, it is a good reference piece.
Videos
I realize many would rather watch something about a subject than read about it, so here are some videos I find helpful when introducing people to Iran. The travel videos are more general; Ansari’s are more intellectual; all are interesting.
Travel Videos
I like Peter Santenello’s videos the best, but all the videos give American Christians a taste of Iran and clear up misconceptions.
Drew Binksy (American married to a Filipino; traveled to every country)
Rick Steves (one of the most famous American tour guides to Europe; from the northwest US)
Peter Santenello (Italian American married to a Ukrainian; lived for many years in California)
Ali Ansari
Listen to Dr. Hopkins’ Podcast
Project 3000 with Kelly Zbinden
Kelly Zbinden joins Dr. Hopkins at a live Q&A at the 2026 Mission Conference. Kelly is with the International Mission Board. He has served in the IMB in a variety of ways over the last 31 years with his family. In 2023, Kelly and his wife began serving as Global L
Theology and Missiology with Dr. Peter Lillback
Rev. Dr. Peter Lillback, president of Westminster Theological Seminary, PA, and founder of The Providence Forum, joins Dr. Hopkins to chat about the inclusion of young children during the main services in church, the religion and theology of George Washington, and the