Professor Dr. Salim J. Munayer is the founder of Musalaha, an organization dedicated to fostering reconciliation between Palestinians and Israelis and other divided communities in the Middle East. He served for several years as Academic Dean at Bethlehem Bible College and has authored several theological books focusing on theology, reconciliation, and justice. Professor Munayer currently serves as the MENA Region Team Lead for the Peace and Reconciliation Network (PRN) of the World Evangelical Alliance (WEA).
The Hebrew scriptures are easily weaponized when passages are taken out of context of the whole Christian Bible. The advent, death, and resurrection of Jesus changes the entire narrative. Here is an example leveraged by Christian Zionists in favor of Israel's continuing attack on Gaza.
Unity, one of Christianity’s most beautiful concepts, is one of its most abused. Throughout Church history, unity has been used to silence criticism, suppress prophetic voices, protect institutions, and preserve existing power structures. But that is not the unity Jesus prayed for.
The relationship between Christians and Zionism in the Holy Land is a dissonant one. While Zionists are willing to relate to Christian Zionists for their multifaceted support, Jewish religious leaders find the end-times theology of Christian Zionism deeply uncomfortable. Add Palestinians into the mix and the reality becomes very complex.
The year 2033 has become significant focal point for the global Church, in an attempt to rally fresh evangelistic energy leading up to the 2,000th anniversary of Christ's resurrection. Yet we must not forget that the Church's authority is rooted in Jesus' example on the cross. Broad-spectrum evangelistic initiatives will not replace the need for embodied witness with those who are suffering.
