Mr. Thorpe,

There should be quite a bit of information about Zoroastrianism.  It is their influence that has shaped most western and monotheistic faith communities.  The Zoroastrians have had an extensive influence through out the world, yet because of their marriage practices limiting unions outside their faith community, their numbers have dropped to record lows. 

Hi Kaz,

I would start to look at Anja Breien's movie http://www.nfi.no/english/norwegianfilms/search/Film?key=43355.

You might be able to obtain it from the website.

Furthermore, I would chat with local Kurds. And you could download https://archive.org/details/devilworship00jose just to get a picture of the "classical tradition's" understanding. 

And take a look at the references (from page 111) on https://www.duo.uio.no/bitstream/handle/10852/34420/Rxd_Hvemxerxjezidiene.pdf?sequence=3&isAllowed=y

Best of luck

Erik

Dear Kaz,

Your mini-thesis will become a maxi-thesis unless you circumscribe, define, and delimit very carefully what you mean by "minority religion."  Do you mean a minority throughout the world, or a minority in a single world region, or a minority in a single country?  I can think of abundant examples of all three. 

Focusing on Yazidis and Zoastrians

Zoroastrianism is one of the world's oldest monotheistic religions. It was founded by the Prophet Zoroaster in ancient Iran approximately 3500 years ago.

BBC - Religion: Zoroastrianism

www.bbc.co.uk/religion/.../zoroastrian/British Broadcasting Corporation

For your guidance some years ago I wrote and published a book on the MANDEANS in Greek language. Mandeans though using 2 semitic languages also have an Iranian and Central Asian cultural background as indicated in their stories about the legendary hero Rustam.

From the two examples you give, I assume that you want to look at minority religions in the Middle East. If you want to look at the Baha'is, I could give you an extensive bibliography but you need to define first what you want to look at: history, teachings, distribution, persecutions, etc. 

If you want to look at the Zoroastrians, in addition to the suggestions made, it would be worth waiting for a book The Wiley Blackwell Companion to Zoroastrianism (ed. Michael Stausberg and Yuhan Devaina), which will be coming out shortly. 

Mr. Thorpe,

You also may wish to research the Zoroastrians under the terms, 'Parsis.' These are modern day Zoroastrians that are mostly in India.

In addition to the others mentioned above, you might consider Manichaeans (extinct) and their ilk, or Druze, in addition to Mandaean baptizers.

Many of these sects have dualistic and Gnostic themes, and several have been associated with the Sabian category in the Quran (i.e. peoples of the Book in addition to the three more famous Abrahamic faiths).

I concur with others who strenuously suggest you narrow this down and pick ONE to address in detail.  What discipline is this thesis in? That will determine method and scope to a degree.

The concept of Minority Religions and Major Religions is a contested issue, Minority to who and major to who? However, generally Minority Religions are Religions held by a minority of the population of a country, state, or region.Then if you want to research on that, you have to narrow down to a particular minor religion e.g. Zoroastrianism you have to look at the following depending on the scope of your Topic: History, Tenets, Theology, teachings, dogma, etc.

All Religious issues past and actual were and are contested.....

Regarding the religions with a relatively small number of followers in the larger Mediterranean are, one should add to the Zoroastrian and Yezidis, the Mandeans, and Bahais. There are also some esoteric denominations that are currently (for political reasons) considered as part of Islam, though they themselves question this identification. These are the Alevis (+Bektashi), Alawis and Druzes. All, these denominations, with (perhaps) the exception of the Zoroastrians are so-called "Adamic religions", i.e. believe we all descent from an original Adam.

Clearly you must narrow down your research and start a systematic research in the Web, using more than one language and more than English texts.

If you come to the Mandeans ( I have published a book on that people/religion in Greek) you must first study Lady Drower' s books, and then contact their representatives in Australia., at 9 Pirie Sreet Liverpool NSW 2170.

If you choose Zoroastrians it will be important to also contact the small yet influential community of Parsis in the Gujarat and Sindh areas of India .

Finally, let me doubt whether objective and serious research, even at a superficial encyclopaedia level, may be conducted in most of the Western universities (because they "contested issues"), unless you write your thesis in a "minority language" such as Greek, Albanian, Modern Mandaic or, eventually, Bislama.

Good luck

the two examples you gave are the most secret religions in the middle east.

I tell you one rule in middle east religious issue: Minorities will be always located on mountains or caves, living at the edges of the states and encircling their religions and traditions in deep secrecy.

Jorunn Buckley's work on the Mandaeans is extremely well-regarded.  She's the editor of the Lady Drower book mentioned above, but her other books, The Great Stem of Souls( 2005) and The Mandaeans (2002) are also essential reading.

Hi 

Check out

the publication of the latest issue of the Kurdish Studies journal, which is a special issue on Yezidis after the ISIS attacks.

Special Issue: Yezidism and Yezidi Studies in the early 21st century

Guest edited by Khanna Omarkhali and Philip G. Kreyenbroek

Vol 4, No 2 (2016)

http://tplondon.com/journal/index.php/ks/issue/view/65

best ,

erik

Please check my book "Postmodern Strains in the Fiction of Rohinton Mistry". An extensive study has been done on Zoroastrianism and the exodus of Parsees and their settlement. Religion has played a crucial role in the life and survival of Parsees.

The good Parsi by Tanya Luhrmann

https://g.co/kgs/EJhMyL