Flannery's text, The Missions of the Portuguese Augustinians to Persia and Beyond (1602–1747), is a meticulous piece of work. It deals with many issues and aspects of the Augustinian missions to Persia, missions to Armenia, Basra and to Georgia, the origins of the order itself, perhaps too many issues (and possibly too many sub-headings). At times the details may prove difficult for the reader to follow the greater picture the author is trying to depict. As it states in Chapter One (p.1), the text deals with material that is generally under-researched, which also means readers will not be very au fait with its many complexities. It dives straight into a foreign context that the reader may find difficult to decipher – in other words – the introduction could have offered a less specialist overview. One thing that would have helped immensely at this early stage would have been a map, and other maps throughout the text would have also guided the reader through, what one eventually recognises to be, a very valuable contribution to the Augustinian missions, which have not received the same level of scholarship as, for example, Jesuit missions in China and East Asia.

The text does gradually get easier to follow. Chapter Two discusses the Portuguese influence in Safavid Persia (whose significance and background could have been outlined in a clearer manner), where Christian missions, supported by royal patronage, also sought to expand their influence in adherence with the policies of the Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith (Congregatio de Propaganda Fide). There they found themselves amidst complex relations between Shi’a and Sunni Muslims, the latter who ended up being persecuted by the former, often forced to hide their true beliefs through public dissimulation (taqiyya). In Chapter Three, the author outlines the origins of the Augustinian Order and their deployment to Goa in India, the mission hub if you like, before the founding of their mission in Isfahan (the Persian capital at that time) in 1602, where initially Christians were treated relatively well under Shāh ‘Abbas I, partly because they hoped to form anti-Ottoman alliances (the enemy of the Shāh, who were Sunnis) with Christian princes (p.64). Muslims were permitted to convert to Christianity, as long as Christians could convert to Islam, though in the end it seems that Muslim converts to Christianity were sometimes martyred and many fled Persia with the aid of missionaries (pp.71–72). António de Gouveia (1575–1628) is one of the main missionaries from this era, who took the lead in the mission to Persia and who appears throughout the text, as do references to his writings on Persia, which count among the earliest in the seventeenth century.

Chapter Four looks at the presence of Augustinians in Isfahan in the early seventeenth century, from the building of the first church and convent, described in travel journals by travellers, to positive relations with the Propaganda praising their efforts to evangelise, while also highlighting the lack of apologetical texts to convince and attract new converts. It also highlights the translational efforts of Simão de Moraes, a Persian speaker and one of the earliest missionaries sent to Persia in the early 1580s. In Isfahan, the missionaries also had relations with a small group belonging to the Syrian Church, which they hoped to convert to the Church of Rome, highlighting the division between the Eastern and Western Churches that still exists. With the death of an elder Syrian Patriarch, the Augustinians hoped to take over his Church meeting great resistance from the Armenians and soon the Augustinian mission would itself be in decline (Chapter Five), mainly due to their lack of integration with the norms of the society they hoped to convert and the fondness of wealth on the part of some–they maybe could have learned lessons from the Jesuits in China under Matteo Ricci, who had even dressed as a Chinese Mandarin and adopted a Chinese name! By the end of the seventeenth century priors from the Isfahan convent had converted to Islam, one of them Fr Manuel de Santa Maria, having converted after having squandered Church money. The second conversion of Antonió de Jesus, seems to have been based on more theological/spiritual considerations, and after adopting the name Aliquili Jadid ul Islam, he set about writing treatises criticising Christianity, comparing it with Sufism, and insisting that “carnal pleasures are willed by God”, clearly rejecting celibacy (pp. 98–102). Meanwhile, other missionaries were continuing the long tradition of Christian apologetic, such as the Jesuit Jerome Xavier, who argued from reason, rather than scriptures (as had Ricci in China), as well as comparing Christianity and Islam, Christ and Muhammed (p.103). Soon, due to political change under Shah Sultan Husain (1694–1722), religious freedom was a thing of the past, and soon too, the presence of the Augustinians in Persia.

Chapter Six brings us to a discussion on the Augustinians in Armenia after leaving Isfahan, who hoped (but ultimately failed) to unite the Church there with the Catholic Church. It briefly outlines the history of Christianity there, with its different Christology, described as “miaphysite” (p.113) followed by footnote to a text which would explain this for the reader – a simple description would have sufficed. (Miaphystism means that in Jesus Christ, his human nature and divine nature are unified, not separate, as opposed to say, Nestorianism, which noted a distinction between Christ's divinity and humanity). The author later returns to the difference between the Catholic Church and Armenian Church, and the issue of Christ's nature(s) (pp.127–128). Chapter Seven moves on to Catholic missions (mainly to Basra) to convert the ‘St John Christians’, or the Mandaeans: a gnostic religion, apparently devoted to John the Baptist at that time. There was a presence of Augustinian and Carmelite missions, producing some apologetic literature, often anti-Muslim, in attempts to evangelise (pp. 180–182). But ultimately conflict between the different Christian orders detracted both from their missions (Chapter Eight), culminating in a dispute over ecclesiastical jurisdiction in Basra, as in, who had the right to be parish priests and administer the sacraments, and who did not possess such rights: the Augustinians claimed their rights from the archbishop in Goa (in charge of the Portuguese East), while the Carmelites assumed positions under the authority of the Propaganda. The issue was only resolved by the closure of the Augustinian mission in 1650.

Chapter Nine is possibly the most interesting and engaging, dealing with the brutal martyrdom of Queen Ketevan of Georgia at Shiraz in 1624, as well as, this time, a mission to Georgia (again, a map would have made this journey easier). Queen Ketevan had been imprisoned in the city of Kakheti for many years by order of ‘Abbas after she went to Persia to prevent the invasion of her country. Her two grandsons, who had accompanied her, were castrated! At the same time, the shah had granted the Augustinians permission to set up a church in Shiraz, where they ultimately met the Queen, who refused to become a Muslim, or renounce her Christian faith. The details of her torture and death are excruciating. Her ‘martyrdom’ (called into suspicion as to whether she acknowledged the authority of the pope, despite dying for Christ) and the subsequent cause for her canonisation were used by the Augustinians to establish a mission in Georgia, and while Georgia would not become Catholic, it would remain deeply Christian. The mission had ended by 1637.

The final chapter draws together various “reflections” by the author on the complexities and issues from the Augustinian missions, such as those relating to religion and politics, as well as issues relating to ecclesiology. It seems that the Augustinian missions lacked the order of the Jesuits, and this may have been their greatest failure – they seemed not to have clearly understood the context of the people or places they attempted to evangelise, hindered even further by political instability, and quite possibly, by the religious stability of Islam. Conflict between different European orders also caused confusion and disrupted the work, which was already underway, to evangelise (this happened in East Asia too). The book relies very heavily on Portuguese sources, and it would have been interesting to have seen more engagement with Persian/Arabic texts/accounts to fully appreciate the complex socio-religious context, although this would make for interesting future research, especially issues relating to the translation of Catholic terms into the languages of the peoples the Augustinians hoped to convert. Flannery has a wealth of information for further research, and has many sub-topics that he can develop for many years to come, which will assure his authority and influence in this area of study. The issues within the text itself, as mentioned above, are merely to make his work clearer for less-informed readers in this very specific area. The work itself is scholarly and unbiased, and contributes an informed view of the Augustinian missions that has been lacking for too long.