Monasteries Preserved It. More Than Likely, Nomads Carried It.

Some maps of early Christianity tell a simple story.

Christianity spreads.

Constantine converts.

Monasteries multiply.

By 600 C.E., it reaches from one end of the Roman Empire to the other — and beyond.

I found a fascinating map online tracing the early spread of Christianity which links this to “the spread of monasticism.” (1) Green arrows stretch across the Mediterranean. Purple dots mark monastic communities. Orange shading fills in the Christianized world.

It looks tidy.

It looks organized.

It looks… imperial.

But something is missing.

What Maps Like This Don’t Show

The maps show cities.

They show bishops.

They show emperors.

They show fortified monasteries in the desert.

What they do not show are grazing routes — unless you go looking for them.

They rarely show trade routes. And even when they do, we forget that long before there was a formal “transport industry,” nomadic caravans were the transport industry.

They don’t show seasonal watering holes.

But who do you think guided travelers to water?

They don’t show caravan circuits — or the extended clans that made those caravans possible. It’s not as if there were Buc-ee’s truck stops along the Silk Road.

They don’t show tribal kinship corridors stretching from Arabia toward Spain and in every direction across North Africa, the Near East and up through Europe and Central Asia.

Now, zoom in close.

They don’t show a cairn in the basalt desert where someone carved:

“O ʿĪsay, help him against those who deny you.” (2.)

No monastery.

No bishop.

No imperial subsidy.

Just a nomad invoking Jesus at a watering site.

Monasteries Matter — But How?

Let’s be clear.

Monasteries were not irrelevant.

They:

• Preserved manuscripts.

• Copied texts.

• Trained theologians.

• Became centers of prayer and stability.

• Safeguarded treasures like Codex Sinaiticus for over a millennium.

Without monasteries, much of the textual tradition might not have survived.

But preservation is not the same as propagation.

A library protects.

A grazing route connects.

The Desert Is Not Empty

Between Cairo and Alexandria sit ancient monastic lands.

In Sinai stands St Catherine’s.

For centuries monasteries have existed alongside Bedouin and other nomadic tribes.

Yet proximity has not automatically meant large-scale tribal transformation. The interaction has often been peaceful, sometimes cooperative — but, well, monks don’t resemble… shepherds.

That tells us something important:

Ascetic isolation does not automatically generate relational transmission.

Monastic withdrawal and nomadic embeddedness operate differently.

Where’s the flock?

Two Desert Logics

Desert monasticism:

• Withdrawal

• Stability

• Celibacy

• Walls

• Libraries

Desert nomadism:

• Circulation

• Clan networks

• Marriage alliances

• Oral transmission

• Seasonal mobility

If Christianity reached deep Arabia — and it clearly did — we have to ask:

Which system carried it further into the margins?

Traveling Light

Nomads travel light.

They do not carry codices.

They do not haul libraries.

They memorize.

The earliest Christian proclamation was:

• Creedal

• Hymnic

• Narrative

• Recitable

“Jesus is Lord.”

“He is risen.”

“He will judge.”

“He saves.”

That travels well on a camel.

Paul himself traveled light. He moved through trade networks. He formed communities. He wrote letters. He asked for parchments — yes — but the message spread long before heavy books did.

What If the Arrows Are Misleading?

When historians draw arrows labeled “Spread of Monasticism,” they are mapping what leaves architectural and documentary footprints.

When nomads spread something the leave:

• Short inscriptions.

• Personal names.

• Altered invocations.

• Embedded allegiance shifts.

That’s much harder to map. But perhaps just as powerful.

In a discussion group I once heard someone argue that there is no archaeological evidence Israel spent 40 years in the wilderness.

My response was simple: nomads travel light. They do not leave cities behind. Wind and time consume most traces of mobility.

Absence of walls is not absence of movement.

A Different Possibility

What if monasteries preserved Christianity in the desert…

…but nomads were the ones who carried it there?

What if agro-pastoralists and service-traders transmitted the Good News along established kinship and trade routes?

What if allegiance shifted without architecture changing?

What if the structure stayed Safaitic…

…but the invoked name became ʿĪsay?

(Sorry, I really wish I could send you this article in BAR.)

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Why This Matters Now

If we assume Christianity only spreads through institutions, clergy, and buildings, we will design strategies that look like monasteries.

If we remember that it also spreads through mobility, relationships, and memorized proclamation, we may design differently.

Especially among peoples who still move.

Especially among communities where mobility is a resource.

Especially among NOMADs.

The desert may have held two Christianities:

One with walls.

One with wind.

One of those is much harder to map.

But that doesn’t mean it wasn’t there.

Sources Referenced

• 1. “The Spread of Christianity, 300–600 C.E.” Map 1.8, Christianity and the Roman World, Central Oregon Community College Humanities site.

• 2. Ahmad Al-Jallad, “Jesus in Arabia: Tracing the Spread of Christianity into the Desert,” Biblical Archaeology Review 48, no. 1 (Spring 2022): 40–46. Published by the Biblical Archaeology Society. Available via BAS Library (subscription required).

I am grateful for the scholarship that brings these materials to light; my reflections build upon their research while raising additional questions about mobility and transmission.