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. […]
March 25, 2020
by Wissam Nasrallah One thing spreading faster than the coronavirus is fear: the fear of the unknown, fear of not being in control, fear of losing our livelihoods, and fear of becoming a social pariah for contracting the virus or simply sneezing[1]. But most of all, we fear death.
March 19, 2020
By Martin Accad Lebanon this academic year (2019-2020) has so far reaped three “pandemics:” the collapse of our political system, the collapse of our economy, and the collapse of our public health. Who could have predicted that we would use these words in a single sentence? As someone who grew […]
March 12, 2020
by Elie Haddad Many of us continue to write about the recent uprising in Lebanon exploring how the people of God can respond to a crisis such as this. We continue to wrestle with the big question: What is the role of the Church in society? Our June consultation will […]
February 27, 2020
By Brent Hamoud People are intuitively innovative, but religion is a realm where innovation can easily lag. Faith convictions have a history of taking lines in the sand and turning them into crevasses in concrete, especially regarding Christian-Muslim relations. Over the years many ideas have been inspired but not enough […]
February 20, 2020
by Emad Botros I have prepared many lectures for theology students during my time on faculty at the Arab Baptist Theological Seminary, but I was recently reminded that the most meaningful lectures sometimes happen through conversations outside of the classroom. Last week I had an interesting chat with a student. […]
February 13, 2020
by Robert Hamd We are living through historic times. If you are reading this, whether you live in Beirut, Bangkok, or Baltimore, you are well aware we are all witnessing massive shifts in culture, economy, environment, and political conditions. For us Lebanese, not a day passes that doesn’t reminds us […]
February 6, 2020
by Nabil Habiby Gandalf the Grey, a wizard in J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings epic, stands before the Balrog, a rather malicious creature of the caves, and shouts with a great voice: “You shall not pass!” Gandalf’s friends escape, but he is downed in a great pit with the […]