May 10, 2018

Fighting the Stigma of Mental Illness in the Middle East: A Reflection on the Middle Eastern Church’s Position on Mental Health محاربة وصمة العار للأمراض العقلية في الشرق الأوسط: تأمل في موقف الكنيسة الشرق أوسطية من الصحة العقلية

By Jade Kassis War has become a familiar phenomenon to us Middle Easterners, who have become acquainted with its violent chaos as well as with its sacrificial loss. War has changed us as a people. We have grown accustomed to feelings of unrest and a lack of control. One minute […]
March 15, 2018

Reflections from a Social Psychologist تأملات من وجهة نظر علم النفس الاجتماعي

(Photo: Murr Tower, used by militia fighters from various factions during the Lebanese Civil War) by Thia M. Sagherian-Dickey “Why are you asking us Christians about Shias? We don’t have a problem with them. The tensions are between Sunnis and Shias. You should be asking them such questions.” I was […]
February 8, 2018

When the Lights go Down in the City: A Reflection on the Season’s Passing عندما تخفت الأضواء في المدينة فهذا انعكاس لانصرام موسم في حياتها

By Chaden Hani It was an abiding sense of desperation, frustration and repression which led Lebanese journalist and professor of history Samir Kassir to speak in 2004 of the “Arab malaise.” For as long as I can remember we have barely had a moment of our history lacking in conflict […]
January 18, 2018

Calling for Prophetic Passion الدعوة إلى شغف نبوي

By Robert Hamd Today, the younger generations of Christians are asking the difficult questions, such as why injustice persists. They are passionate about a convergence of the words of scripture and real-life practice. For example, they read passages from Isaiah that challenge us to “learn to do good; seek justice, […]
November 23, 2017

Guns, Israel, Justice and the United Nations: How My Context Shapes My Writing الأسلحة، وإسرائيل، والعدالة، والأمم المتحدة: سياقي وأثره في كتابتي

By Wissam al-Saliby I am grateful for several recent conversations with American pastor friends, during which we spoke about writing from and on the Middle East, trans-Atlantic (mis)perceptions and political fault lines. One of these friends, who leans toward political conservativism, told me that when reading my posts on the […]
July 13, 2017

Hospitality in an Age of Terror

By Suzie Lahoud “By the exercise of hospitality we come to the knowledge of Christ.” – Augustine[1] The week that the controversial US travel and immigration ban was first issued, I sat in my living room in Lebanon with a Syrian woman whose water had broken in her seventh month […]
February 2, 2017

A Wakeup Call for People of Faith in the Twenty-First Century

By Martin Accad Judging from the opening seventeen years of this new millennium, I expect the twenty-first century to be one of major social and political transition. We have entered an age where world religions are having a key role in the rise of global conflicts, and in which therefore […]
December 16, 2016

Kerygmatic Peacebuilding (Part 2): What Does Peace Have to do with the Gospel?

By Jesse Wheeler Note: This is a difficult week to speak of peace. With heartbreaking tragedy in Egypt and unspeakable horror unfolding in Syria just a few hours away, peace now seems more than ever like an elusive dream continually beyond reach – all while I sit here feeling helpless […]