Christians and the Middle East Conflict by Zimmermann Jens. Dyck John Rowe Paul S

Author:Zimmermann, Jens.,Dyck, John,Rowe, Paul S. [Zimmermann, Jens.,Dyck, John,Rowe, Paul S.]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
ISBN: 9781317801108
Publisher: Taylor & Francis (CAM)
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

It contributed to increasing tensions between the Christian and Muslim communities and the growing uneasiness of the Palestinian Christian population.

Observers of the Israel–Palestine conflict might easily make the assumption that Christians in the region are limited to the small Arab Christian population, but this would ignore the increasingly sizeable number of Messianic Jewish believers in the State of Israel. The story of Arab Christian decline is mirrored by the growth of the Messianic community. From modest beginnings in the 1970s, the number of Messianic Jews has climbed to somewhere near 50,000, spread throughout the territory of Israel.36 Messianic Jews feel the effect of many of the same stigmas suffered by Arab Christians: association with former and current oppressors and a feeling of being a minority within a minority. As Jewish Israelis, however, they tend to have a very strong feeling of identification with the Israeli state. They actively participate as soldiers in the Israel Defense Forces and suffer the threat of suicide bombings and missile attacks along with their compatriots.37 Their identification with the eschatological conviction that modern Israel is a fulfilment of biblical prophecy contributes to their general embrace of a Christian Zionist perspective. On the other hand, in recent years the burden of Messianic Jews to reconnect with other Christian believers from Arab backgrounds has come to be a challenge to the Messianic community, since Churches will often blend Christians from both Jewish and Palestinian backgrounds.

Overcoming the world

The overall picture of Christian decline amid the various conflicts that have beset the Middle East over the last century and with increased potency over the past two decades suggests the growing marginalisation of these groups. Yet in spite of the many challenges that confront Middle Eastern Christians, their social and political influence has become more remarkable.

Lebanon’s Christians have been separated politically and by sect throughout its tumultuous history. Its system of institutionalised power-sharing appears to enshrine the ascendance of Christian communities over others. In practice, bargaining between the various faction leaders has often eroded Christian solidarity even if it provided an impetus for an artificial assertion of Christian solidarity. Christians vote for Christian representatives but they do not necessarily form lasting mass-based political movements. This has changed in some ways since the end of the civil war. In the absence of strong leadership among the factions, the Maronite Patriarchate under Nasrallah Butrous Sfeir took up the task of representing Christian interests in the 1990s. Syrian dominance has polarised the Christian factions but the involvement of the Church hierarchy in seeking reconciliation between the factions has helped to maintain Lebanese unity in the face of numerous conflicts. In the face of the dramatic decline of the Christian population and the breakdown of authority in neighbouring Syria, the Maronite Patriarch appointed in March 2011, Cardinal Beshara al-Rai, has recently made common cause with Hizbullah and pro-Syrian allies.

The dramatic exodus of Iraq’s Christians has been increasingly publicised due to the work of coreligionists abroad, interested journalists and the Church hierarchies who have themselves been targeted by the violence in Iraq.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.