October 14, 2014

The Personal Touch: Discovering the Humanity in International Conflict

By Lexy Airey* This summer I had the pleasure of serving IMES as part of an intensive internship experience. As a student of political science and a young Christian, it was an incredibly educational experience for me. I had come to Lebanon seeking understanding of the Middle East and was […]
October 9, 2014

Preventing Radicalisation

by Colin Chapman* Radicalisation is one of the pressing issues of our time, and as a long-time lecturer in Islamic studies in Beirut, it is something that I have thought about deeply. I would therefore like to present my thoughts on preventing this coming about. Assuming that we’re not talking […]
October 2, 2014

Christians at the Heart of the Middle East’s Future

By Martin Accad Three weeks ago, on September 9-11, 2014, the well-publicized conference entitled ‘In Defense of Christians’ (IDC) was held in Washington, D.C. As Arab Christians, we are grateful for this gigantic effort. There are numerous positive aspects to this initiative. A large proportion of the speakers were actually senior […]
July 31, 2014

Trying to make sense of Gaza

By Colin Chapman* If there’s been a cease-fire by the time this article appears, none of the underlying issues will have been resolved. Here then is a brief attempt to analyse what this recent outbreak of fighting between Israel and Gaza has been about – with four clues which help […]
July 18, 2014

A Plea to My Christian, Muslim and Jewish Friends

By Martin Accad Israeli assault on Gaza. IS(IS) assault on everybody. US assault on Iraq, still vivid in everyone’s memory. Self-proclaimed Muslims attacking the NY twin-towers. Self-proclaimed Jews burning alive a young Palestinian teenager. Self-proclaimed Christians promoting the apocalyptic heresy of “Christian Zionism” to justify the ethnic cleansing of the […]
July 10, 2014

When It Gets Personal

By Arthur Brown Like many concerned with the news in and around Lebanon I receive regular updates from The Daily Star, one of the English language news providers in Lebanon. Almost daily, I receive via my phone a brief news feed with updates on the latest road side blast, suicide […]
July 3, 2014

Tearing Down Walls to Build up Bridges

By Sara Obeid Loose-fitting Mottos I have often found it difficult to reconcile the seeming (yet ultimately superficial) contradiction between interfaith work and personal religious conviction. On the one hand, I have always held to such noble mottos as “tolerance,” “celebrate difference,” “openness,” and “Christ-like love.” On the other hand, […]
June 26, 2014

Middle East Consultation 2014: Real Stories of Discipleship in the Middle East and North Africa

Last week marked completion of the Middle East Consultation 2014 – Discipleship Today: Following Jesus in the Middle East and North Africa that took place from 16 – 20 June. This year we were pleased to have an unprecedented number participants, 170 in total, who came from all over the […]