The author. who works in the area of interfaith relations at the Anglican Communion Office in London recently visited the Holy Land for the first time. She took a course "Abraham: Yesterday and Today" at St. George's College, Jerusalem, while staying at "'The House of Abraham', run by a community of French nuns offering hospitality to all regardless of nationality or faith". "The wall was very much a feature of our visit. .... The experience of checkpoints also introduced us to the apartheid that is developing. Being a group of American, Australian, English and Nepalese we were waved through with little inconvenience, not so the local residents". "One of our group had just completed three months with a Christian Peacekeeper Team and guided us around the team apartment in Hebron. It was a joy to see young Palestinian children emerge from a face painting session all smiles and giggles. Again we were reminded that the dehumanising is on both sides as we looked over to the Israeli barracks populated by young conscripts most of whom are terrified and simply want to go home". "During some of the evenings we received excellent lectures on Abraham within Islam, current work in building relationships between Muslims, Christians and Jews in Jerusalem, and Abraham in the Jewish tradition." "Worshipping with Arab Christians, praying for the peace of Jerusalem through psalms and intercessions whilst actually there, seeing the wall, all these were moving experiences."
See also advertisement for "Saint George's College, Jerusalem" on page 23 which lists three courses: Palestine of Jesus (20 April - 3 May 2007); St. Paul and the Early Church (10-23 May 2007); and St. Paul in Greece (14-25 June 2007). www.sgcjerusalem.org
"Lutherans, Anglicans, Roman Catholics and Greek Catholics in the West Bank town of Ramallah celebrated Easter on the same day as Orthodox believers, on 23 April [1995]." "Palestinian Christians have for a long time called on their Church leaderships in Jerusalem to unify the feast dates. Ramallah has one of the largest populations of Christians in the West Bank".
"Anglicans around the world were asked to offer special prayers on 30 September [1996] for Palestinian Christians in East Jerusalem, Gaza and the West Bank, and for a lasting peace". The Episcopal Bishops in Jerusalem, the Archbishop of Canterbury and the World Council of Churches have all issued appeals for peace in the light of recent violence which has caused the death of more than 50 people in two days.
"Retracing Jesus's steps in the land where he lived and preached, Charles M. Sennott, the award-winning Middle East correspondent of 'The Boston Globe', finds similar themes resonating today as they did two thousand years ago: economic injustice, military occupation, religious extremism, apocalyptic prophecies, and the quest to control Jerusalem. 'The Body and the Blood' is Sennott's journalistic pilgrimage through the vanishing Christian communities of the Holy Land, from Nazareth to Bethlehem to Egypt and Lebanon and finally Jerusalem itself, during a gripping year that was also a critical turning point for the future of the region. In the course of his journey, Sennott seeks to understand why Christianity is disappearing in the land where the faith began. A century ago, Christians represented as much as 20 percent of the population of what is today Israel, the West Bank, and Gaza, but today they comprise less than 2 percent of the total population there. .... The people Sennott meets and the stories they tell reveal an Arab Christian population caught between the forces of political Islam and a powerful Jewish state. They are the forgotten element in the Middle Eastern equation". -- front jacket blurb.
Contents: Prologue -- Author's Note -- I: Anno Domini -- Pilgrimage -- The End of Days -- The Vicar of Christ on Earth -- II: The Birth -- Nazareth: The Annunciation -- Bethlehem: The Manger -- Beit Sahour: The Shepherds' Fields -- Egypt: The Flight -- III: Jesus of Nazareth -- Nazareth: The Family -- Jordan; The Baptism -- The Sea of Galilee: The Ministry -- Lebanon: The Gentiles -- The Mount of Olives: The Lament -- IV: The Passion -- The Garden of Gethsemane: The Agony -- Jerusalem: The Via Dolorosa -- The Road to Emmaus -- Epilogue -- Acknowledgements -- Notes -- Index.
Cover title: Caught in between : the extraordinary story of an Arab Palestinian Christian Israeli.
Includes bibliographical references (pp. 166-7) and index.
This book "gives us the unique insight of a man who defines himself as an 'Arab, Palestinian, Christian, Israeli'." -- Foreword, p. ix.
Contents: Foreword dated Advent 1998 / John L. Peterson, Secretary General of the Anglican Communion -- Acknowledgements -- Introduction -- Home sweet home -- Caught in between -- Present absentees -- A prisoner in his own country -- Eggs for India -- An urgent engagement -- High tea -- For God's sake -- How shall they hear without a preacher ? -- Coal for the cause -- Meeting Arafat -- Vatican and Lebanon -- A prisoner in my own country -- Sulha -- 'Islam in the alternative' -- Bridges to peace -- An endangered species -- Meet the Nazarene -- The Good Samaritan -- Glossary -- Appendix 1: UN Resolutions 181, 242 and 338 -- Appendix 2: Resolutions of the US Episcopal Church's House of Bishops -- Appendix 3: List of Destroyed Palestinian Villages -- Notes -- Index.
OTCH Note: Author was installed as Bishop of the Anglican Diocese of Jerusalem in the Episcopal Church of Jerusalem and the Middle East in 1998.
"[E]dited by Naim Ateek, Cedar Duaybis and Maurine Tobin".
"In April 2004, Sabeel Liberation Theology Center Jerusalem held its 5th International Conference on the theme of 'Challenging Christian Zionism'. This book contains the papers of that important, ground-breaking conference". -- back cover.
Contents divided into eight main sections: History and Theology -- Political Effects of Christian Zionism -- Christian Responses to Christian Zionism -- Jewish and Muslim Perspectives -- Nonviolent Strategies for Peace -- Religion as a Humanizing Factor -- Biblical Reflections -- The Archbishop of Canterbury's Message and Responses.
Contents: Editor's Note -- Acknowledgements -- Contributors -- Introduction: Challenging Christian Zionism / Naim Ateek -- The Historical Roots of Christian Zionism from Irving to Balfour: Christian Zionism in the United Kingdom (1820-1918) / Stephen Sizer -- From Blackstone to Bush: Christian Zionism in the United States (1890-2004) / Donald Wagner -- Theological and Biblical Assumptions of Christian Zionism / Gary M. Burge -- The Theological Basis of Christian Zionism: On the Road to Armageddon / Stephen Sizer -- Keys for Understanding the Christian Zionists' Interpretation of the Bible / Goran Gunner -- Israel as an Extension of American Empire / Jeff Halper --The Second Superpower: Organizing in Opposition to the New Empire / Phyllis Benner -- The Influence of the Christian Right in U.S. Middle East Policy / Stephen Zunes -- Israel and India: Disturbing Parallels / Praful Bidwai -- Violence and the Biblical Land Traditions / Michael Prior -- The Effects of Christian Zionism on Palestinian Christians / Rafiq Khoury -- Christian Zionism and Main Line Western Christian Churches / Rosemary Radford Ruether -- Justice and Mercy: The Missing Ingredients in Christian Zionism / Jonathan Kuttab -- Holocaust, Christian Zionism and Beyond: A Jewish Theology of Liberation After / Marc H. Ellis -- Eschatology and Apocalyptic Literature in Early Islam / Khalil Athamina -- The Danger of Millennial Politics / Gershom Gorenberg -- Breaking Down the Iron Wall: Reflections on Nonviolence in Palestine/Israel / Alain Epp Weaver -- Nonviolence as a Strategy for Struggle and Method for Peace-Making / Zoughbi Elias Zoughbi -- The African-American Experience / Damu Smith -- Nonviolence as a Legitimate Means toward Peace / Mubarak Awad -- Religion: Problem or Potential for Transformation / Jean Zaru -- Fear No More / Elias Chacour -- Faith as the Solution / Edmond Lee Browning -- A Maori Perspective / Jenny Plane Te Paa -- The Third Kingdom / Mitri Raheb -- The Promise of a New Jerusalem: Rapture in Reverse / Barbara Rossing -- The Promise of the Father / Bishara Awad -- The Promise of the Land (Genesis 12: 1-3) / Peter de Brul -- Holy Land and Holy People / Rowan Williams -- An Open Letter to Archbishop Rowan Williams / Jonathan Kuttab -- On Knowing One's Place: A Liberationist Critique of Rowan Williams' 'Holy Land and Holy People' / Robert B. Tobin -- A Response to Rowan Williams' Message to the Sabeel Conference / Helen Lewis.
OTCH Note: Anglican contributors include: Naim Ateek, Presiding Bishop Edmond L. Browning, Helen Lewis, Jenny Plane Te Paa and Archbishop Rowan Williams.