June 22, 2023

Liberating Arab Evangelicalism from Patriarchy through Inclusive Community

By Caleb Hutcherson Patriarchy is a way of organizing social relationships that privileges the authority of men over women. And patriarchal social patterns permeate Arabic-speaking evangelicalism. But there are also remarkable resources within Arab evangelicalism that can liberate it. Some research I did several years ago with theology students at […]
April 7, 2022

Practicing Theology in Ramadan: How Actions Shape Our Talk About God  

By Caleb Hutcherson Another Sunday afternoon and we’re walking home from church, my kids and I, through densely packed streets of Hamra, Beirut. My eldest and I are discussing how Ramadan is approaching and how for our family it means we’ll refrain from eating in public in this neighborhood during […]
October 7, 2021

On Romanticizing Staying or Leaving Difficult Places: A Reflection about Christians and the Middle East Today

By Caleb Hutcherson The views and conclusions in this post represent the author’s opinion and do not represent the views of the Arab Baptist Theological Seminary. I wonder if this is the year that we can finally stop glorifying staying in Lebanon and idealizing leaving it. In my family’s 13 […]
June 3, 2021

Palestine, Evangelicalism, and the Problem of Power

by Caleb Hutcherson As I write this, a ceasefire has been negotiated between Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas. Again. During those 11 days, more than 230 people in Palestine, including 66 children, have been killed. Along with at least 12 people in Israel, including 2 children. One report dropped […]
January 7, 2021

An Antidote to Christian Nationalism

by Caleb Hutcherson Imagine with me for a moment the following scene from a Sunday morning church service… ——- As you enter the worship center, you see the whole room draped in the colors of the flag. A dazzling feast of patriotic sayings fill the hall as the faithful worshippers […]
April 2, 2020

COVID-19: Sovereignty without resurrection is just opium

by Caleb Hutcherson A mu’azzin calls people to pray at home, rather than coming together to pray. A church cancels its Sunday services, moving to online broadcasts. A seminary pivots to online instruction, temporarily closing in-person classes. In ordinary times, any of these local changes would barely make the news. […]
July 18, 2019

A Reflection on Traffic through a Theology of Sin

by Caleb Hutcherson Have you ever thought about your theology of sin in the middle of being stuck in traffic? That chortling I hear doesn’t faze me. And of course, you are right. My friends and family chuckle, too, at my goofy probing of the everyday with theological lenses. But, […]
September 13, 2012

Is the Trinity critically important to dialogue in the ME context?

By Caleb Hutcherson Often when I am talking to my Muslim friends, it seems like the Christian doctrine of the Trinity is one of the first obstacles to any dialogue between us. And truthfully, the understanding of God’s nature has been a source of contention and conflict since the beginning […]