October 21, 2020
by Brent Hamoud 2020 has been a most perplexing year, and even passports are feeling it. To mitigate the spread of COVID-19 nations have implemented unprecedented measures restricting the entry of select passports. This has added intrigue to an already dynamic historic moment, and no doubt some were slightly amused […]
September 14, 2020
By Tim Brys, Martin Accad and Brent Hamoud When COVID-19 hit Lebanon in February 2020 bringing the country to a near standstill, the team at the Institute of Middle East Studies was challenged to rethink its peacebuilding initiatives in light of new social-distancing realities. This was quite difficult for programs […]
June 4, 2020
By Walid Zailaa Long after I hear sermons, the parts that usually remain most vividly in my mind are the pictures painted through the telling of stories. These tales oftentimes resemble my own personal stories, and through them I have learned lessons, come to decisions, and made significant U-turns in […]
May 21, 2020
By Robert Hamd All of us are affected. From the beginning of the popular protest, to the current collapse of the Lira, all of us are affected. What sets this time apart from the bloody era of the Lebanese Civil War (1975-1991) is that now we can’t stand behind our […]
April 23, 2020
by Nabil Habibi One of the more challenging aspects of the biblical world is the focus of the ancients on purity laws. Many ancient Jewish groups and even common people were constantly aware of their ritual purity, especially concerning eating or praying in everyday life.[1] They lived in fear of […]
April 16, 2020
by Rabih Hasbany “We will not celebrate Easter this year …” “There will be no Resurrection Day this year …” In light of the current worldwide lockdown due to the outbreak of coronavirus, many people have lost the opportunity to practice traditional Easter rituals. On Sunday morning, we did not […]
April 9, 2020
by Mike Kuhn …and there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour… (Luke 23:44) I confess. I thought pandemics were medieval. Sure I remember SARS and Ebola. But those didn’t get close. They affected others. I caught H1N1 (Swine Flu) but I recovered eventually and life went […]
April 2, 2020
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. […]