St. James’ Sunday Bible Study Lectures

The Rise of Islam and the Threat of Iconoclasm

Lecture # 23
March 15, 2020 11:45 am. To 1:00 pm.

In 540, Justinian had accomplished what he thought was an “eternal peace” with the Persian Empire through the payment of tribute. But the peace won by Justinian was illusory: There was constant war with the Persians from 572 to 591, and the Byzantine Empire progressively found its earlier gains taken away. Between 614 and 625, the Persians took over Damascus and Jerusalem, overran Egypt, occupied the Hellespont, and attacked Constantinople itself. The Byzantine army decisively defeated the Persians at Nineveh in 627. But a new religious and political challenge arose that would eventually conquer Byzantium—the religion of Islam.