Christ At The Checkpoint

What does the evangelical church in Palestine think about the land, the end times, the Holocaust, peace in the Middle East, loving enemies, Christian Zionism, the State of Israel, and the possibilities of a Palestinian state? For the first time ever, Palestinian evangelicals along with evangelicals from the United States and Europe have converged to explore these and other crucial topics. Although Jews, Muslims, and Christians from a variety of traditions have participated in discussions and work regarding Israel and Palestine, this book presents theological, biblical, and political perspectives and arguments from Palestinian evangelicals who are praying, hoping, and working for a just peace for both Israelis and Palestinians.

What does the evangelical church in Palestine think about the land, the end times, the Holocaust, peace in the Middle East, loving enemies, Christian Zionism, the State of Israel, and the possibilities of a Palestinian state? For the first time ever, Palestinian evangelicals along with evangelicals from the United States and Europe have converged to explore these and other crucial topics. Although Jews, Muslims, and Christians from a variety of traditions have participated in discussions and work regarding Israel and Palestine, this book presents theological, biblical, and political perspectives and arguments from Palestinian evangelicals who are praying, hoping, and working for a just peace for both Israelis and Palestinians.

What does the evangelical church in Palestine think about the land, the end times, the Holocaust, peace in the Middle East, loving enemies, Christian Zionism, the State of Israel, and the possibilities of a Palestinian state? For the first time ever, Palestinian evangelicals along with evangelicals from the United States and Europe have converged to explore these and other crucial topics. Although Jews, Muslims, and Christians from a variety of traditions have participated in discussions and work regarding Israel and Palestine, this book presents theological, biblical, and political perspectives and arguments from Palestinian evangelicals who are praying, hoping, and working for a just peace for both Israelis and Palestinians.

This book contains the most important papers from the second, third, and fourth Christ at the Checkpoint conferences that took place in Bethlehem. The themes of these conferences were: "Hope in the Midst of Conflict" (2012), "Your Kingdom Come" (2014), and "The Gospel in the Face of Religious Extremism" (2016).

This book explores the challenges of transforming the violent conflict between the State of Israel and the Palestinians into just peace. There are many challenges involved in the bottom-up transformation of the violent structures that sustain the State of Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory. This book examines these structures as it assesses the actors and strategies that are contributing to the termination of cycles of violence and oppression. Consisting of contributions from both peace practitioners and academics who have conducted research within Israel and the occupied territory, the volume utilises a multidisciplinary perspective to examine promising strategies for conflict transformation in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territory. Moreover, it spells out the types of nonviolent strategy that are being used to expose and undermine occupation structures, and surveys the manner in which a variety of key actors are working towards the transformation of the ongoing conflict. As a whole, the volume presents a proposal for the transformation of the conflict between Palestinians and the State of Israel that embraces the constructive potential of conflict, engages with power asymmetry, and pushes for justice and accountability. This book will be of much interest to students of conflict resolution, peace studies, Middle Eastern studies, the Arab-Israeli conflict, and IR in general.

Christians have lived in Palestine since the earliest days of the Jesus movement. The Palestinian church predates Islam. Yet Palestinian Christians find themselves marginalized and ostracized. In the heated tensions of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the voices of Palestinian Christians are often unheard and ignored. This book provides an opportunity to hear the realities of life on the ground from a leading Palestinian pastor and theologian. Munther Isaac gives the perspective of Palestinian Christians on the other side of the separation wall surrounding most Palestinian West Bank cities today. Isaac laments the injustices suffered by the Palestinian people but holds out hope for a just peace and ways to befriend and love his Jewish and Muslim neighbors. In contrast to the dominant religious and nationalistic ideologies and agendas for the region, he offers a theology of the land and a vision for a shared land that belongs to God, where there are no second-class citizens of any kind. "This book is my invitation to you," Isaac writes, "to step into the other side of the wall and listen to our stories and perspective. It is my humble request to you to allow me to share how Palestinians experience God, read the Bible, and have been touched and liberated by Jesus—a fellow Bethlehemite who has challenged us to see others as neighbors and love them as ourselves. . . . This book paints a picture of our story of faith, lament, and hope. And I invite you to join and listen, on our side of the wall."

"Palestinians and Israeli Jews live in one land, yet as two distinct communities, each of which claims ownership of the same territory. How are we to understand the divine promise pertaining to the land? Did God promise the land exclusively to the Jewish people? Do the Palestinians have a right to live in the land, or does God want them to leave? After affirming important Palestinian Evangelical concerns, The Land of Christ challenges the argument that God gave the land to Israel. Yohanna Katanacho asks: (1) What are the borders of the land? (2) Who is Israel? (3) How did God give Israel the land? Through careful biblical exegesis, the book responds to these questions, exposing the superficiality of many slogans and claims. Then the book presents an alternative biblical theology of the land. However, the theology of the land in this book is intimately associated with the context in Israel/Palestine. The Palestinian Kairos Document is the most accepted representative of the current Palestinian context and theology. The book unpacks this document and extrapolates on its theology of the land. Finally, the author does not leave the reader without hope. Katanacho portrays Hagar as a symbol of hope and considers the Korahite Psalms from the perspective of refugees. "

For we are Gods handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do Ephesians 2:10. This presupposes that we were not saved just because we did something good, special, or amazing; on the contrary, after we have been saved we are then called to do good works. Just as in every work we do in life, we need some training. We are first taught what is expected of us and sometimes supervised (rebuked and correctedif that is what it takes) until we got the job done. Then, after passing through the learning curves, we are expected to show some competency and sometimes required to train others (2 Timothy 2:2). 2 Timothy 3:16 outlines the purpose of the Scriptures, which is teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training till we attain verse 17 status: thoroughly equipped. God does not want us to be ill-equipped, rather to be completely and thoroughly equipped for every (not just some, but every) good work. The Scripture: teaches us what we ought to know shows us sins, blind spots, or errors to avoid helps us make it right again and helps us stay our course If there is any blessing or laurel or glory as a result of this book, therefore, let the glory be to God and not to men.