Decolonizing Palestine challenges the weaponization of biblical texts to support the current settler-colonial state of Israel. Raheb argues that some of the most important theological concepts –Israel, the land, election, and chosen people – must be decolonized in a paradigm shift in Christian theological thinking about Palestine. Decolonizing Palestine is a timely book that builds on the latest research in settler-colonialism and human rights to place traditional theological themes within the w...

The situation of Christians in the Middle East has become an important topic of international discussion as well as an important theme covered in the media, as several CBS Sixty Minutes programs have highlighted the plight of Christians in Palestine, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, and Egypt. In the Eye of the Storm tells the story of the plight of twenty-first-century Middle Eastern Christians in five countries (Palestine, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, and Egypt) in the context of the so-called Arab Spring...

In recent decades there has been a seismic shift in world Christianity. Whereas formerly Christianity existed as a Caucasian Euro-American phenomenon, the majority of Christians today reside in the Southern Hemisphere, or the Global South. And what is true for the demographics of Christianity has followed lockstep for its theological developments. The era of German theologians setting the tone for global church are gone. Today, some of the loudest and most creative voices in theology speak from...

The Christian church was born in the Middle East and grew there for centuries. Its interaction with Islam turned Christianity in this once predominantly Christian region into a marginalized jewel, surviving at great peril within a difficult, even sometimes hostile, political and religious climate. Of course, the story of Christianity over the last 1,300 years is not solely one of conflict, marginalization, and persecution but is also about accommodation, interchange, and cooperation. This introd...

This book tells the story and history of a 1,600-year-old Christian community in Palestine. The Armenian community is one of the oldest - if not the oldest- communities in Jerusalem with an interrupted presence. Armenia was the first Christian country to adopt Christianity as the religion of the state, thereby making national and religious identity synonymous. It was this religious bond that brought the first Armenians as pilgrims to the Holy Land, where Armenian monks opened monasteries and bui...

The Israeli occupation of Palestinian land has lasted for decades in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. The long-lasting nature of the occupation and its accompanying injustices and often violence, along with the expanding of Israeli settlements on Palestinian land, have made it an ongoing challenge of diplomacy and humiliation for the Palestinians. The poems in this book address some of the difficult challenges facing Palestinians, such as displaced persons, neighbor love, anti-Semitism,...

Persecution of Christians in the Middle East has been a recurring theme since the middle of the nineteenth century. The topic has experienced a resurgence in the last few years, especially during the Trump era. Middle Eastern Christians are often portrayed as a homogeneous, helpless group ever at the mercy of their Muslim enemies, a situation that only Western powers can remedy. The Politics of Persecution revisits this narrative with a critical eye. Mitri Raheb charts the plight of Christian...

Autobiographies give a unique, eyewitness account of historical events experienced by one particular person, an account of a life with all its ups and downs, struggles and failures, successes and setbacks. Canaan autobiography recounts a very rich life of one of Palestine’s leading ethnographers, medical doctor, public figure and one of the most productive intellectuals in the first half of the twentieth century. He recalls the socio-economic and political history of Palestine through the unique...

Inclusive societies based on equal citizenship rights and dignity remain unfulfilled following the so-called Arab Spring. After years of turmoil, people in the Middle East seem to have opted for “state security” versus “human security”, while exclusive identities, be they ethnic, national, or religious such as the Sunni-Shiite divide, seem to push people into monocultural settings. On the other hand, authoritarianism in the region has cloaked itself in symbols of religious pluralism while lackin...

In Resisting Occupation, international scholars discuss the radical denial of human flourishing caused by the occupation of mind, body, spirit, and land. They explore how religious perspectives can be, and often are, constructed by occupiers to justify their actions, perpetuate exploitation, and domesticate indigenous landholders. In the name of Christianization and civilization, which has proven to be a global phenomenon beyond time and space, a consistent domestication process is established....