"A fascinating and detailed account on the complicated and essential role that American Congregationalist, and later Presbyterian, missionaries played in 'the development of a secularized (but not desacralized) national identity among the indigenous Christian population' of Urmia, Iran, and its surrounding territory in northern Mesopotamia."

Reading Religion

“Becker’s masterful work bears on some of the key problems in the contemporary study of religion and modernity. And there are few regions of the world where these issues are more fraught than this once—but certainly no longer—obscure corner of the Middle East. This is a book full of surprises and insights, revealed with a sure hand and impressive erudition.”

Webb Keane, author of Christian Moderns: Freedom and Fetish in the Mission Encounter

“Becker’s command of Syriac and Neo-Aramaic allows him to open up a Protestant missionary archive otherwise inaccessible to historians of American religion. The novelty of that research is matched by his ingenuity in engaging larger questions about modern formations of nationalism, religion, liberalism, and secularism. From the American Protestant outpost in Urmia, Becker draws a sparkling picture of a ‘missionary modernity’—a portrait marked by both historical subtlety and theoretical sophistication.”

Leigh Eric Schmidt, author of Restless Souls: The Making of American Spirituality

“Unraveling the complex process in which the American Protestant project of moral and religious reform helped to stimulate the development of ‘Assyrian’ national consciousness, Becker provides an excellent example of how secular modernity could be configured in a non-colonial missionary context in the encounter between two different Christian communities.”

Talal Asad, author of Formations of the Secular

"This book makes a much-needed contribution to the field of the history of Middle Eastern Christianity and the study of American missions. Becker’s elegant writing style, nimble use of theory, and admirable command of an extensive archive make this book accessible to graduate students, faculty, and perhaps advanced undergraduate students. Revival and Awakening will be of interest to scholars in the fields of history of Christianity, Syriac studies, Middle Eastern studies, mission studies, American religious history, and postcolonial studies."

Journal of the American Academy of Religion