Sailing through Troubled Waters: Christianity in the Middle East - Paperback

by Mitri Raheb (Author)

It was in 1988 that Mitri Raheb was ordained Pastor in the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Jordan and the Holy Land and was installed as Pastor of the Evangelical Lutheran Christmas Church in Bethlehem after finishing his seminary studies and doctorate in Germany in Church History. Besides being a Pastor, Mitri Raheb continued to be involved in the theological discussion and research both at home as well as in regional and international settings. The selected articles were given by Rev. Raheb at several occasions. The first article on Christianity and Religious plurality was given at Fuller Seminary in 2003 during the author sabbatical as Mission Partner in Residence with the PCUSA. The second and third articles on the political and ecclesiastical context in the Arab Peninsula during the 6-7th centuries were part of a Post doctoral research that the author did during his stay at Harford Seminary in Connecticut. The article on the History of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land is a summary of the author's doctoral dissertation at Marburg University and of his German book "Das reformatorische Erbe unter den palaestinensern" published by Guetrsloh in 1990. The article on the Situation of the Palestinian Christian community in the Holy Land was given as lecture to several church delegation interested in the situation of the Christians of the Holy land, while the article on the Arab Spring was given at a regional conference in Lebanon. The last chapter of the book is different in nature since it is actually a short lecture given at a hearing at the Danish Parliament, Christiansburg, in Copenhagen on May 21st 2012. Diyar publisher is happy to publish these mostly unpublished articles of Rev. Dr. Mitri Raheb to coincide with his silver ordination in May 2013.

Author Biography

Dr. Mitri Raheb is the President of Diyar Consortium and of Dar al-Kalima University College in Bethlehem, as well as the president of the Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land in addition to being the Senior Pastor of the Evangelical Lutheran Christmas Church in Bethlehem, Palestine. The most widely published Palestinian theologian to date, Dr. Raheb is the author of 16 books including: Das Reformatorische Erbe unter den Palaestinensern, I am a Palestinian Christian; Bethlehem Besieged. He is the Chief Editor of the Contextual Theology Series at Diyar Publishing including: The Invention of History, A Century of Interplay between Theology and Politics in Palestine; The Biblical Text in the Context of Occupation: Towards a new hermeneutics of liberation. His books and numerous articles have been translated so far into eleven languages. The 50 year-old multilingual contextual theologian received for his 'distinguished service to church and society' the prestigious Wittenberg Award from the Luther Center in DC (2003). He also received for his 'outstanding contribution to Christian education through research and publication' an honorary doctorate from Concordia University in Chicago (2003) and for his 'interfaith work toward peacemaking in Israel and Palestine' the "International Mohammad Nafi Tschelebi Peace Award" of the Central Islam Archive in Germany (2006) and in 2007 the well-known German Peace Award of Aachen. In 2012 the German Media Prize, a Prize granted mainly to head of states, was awarded to Dr. Raheb for his "tireless work in creating room for hope for his people, who are living under Israeli Occupation, through founding and building institutions of excellence in education, culture and health." The work of Dr. Raheb has received wide media attention from major international media outlets and networks including CNN, ABC, CBS, 60 Minutes, BBC, ARD, ZDF, DW, BR, Premiere, Raiuno, Stern, The Economist, Newsweek, and Vanity Fair. Dr. Raheb holds a Doctorate in Theology from the Philipps University at Marburg, Germany. He is married to Najwa Khoury and has two daughters, Dana & Tala. For more, www.mitriraheb.org