Articles
Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, May 2004, page 92
Book Review
Who are the Christians in the Middle East?
By Betty Jane Bailey and J. Martin Bailey, Wm. B. Eerdmans, 2003, 215 pp. List: $20; AET: $14.
Reviewed by Hugh S. Galford
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MOST WESTERNERS are woefully ignorant of the Christian communities in the Middle East, often viewing them as the result of modern missionary activity. It calls to mind the story of a member of the local Syrian Orthodox church being asked by a well-meaning visitor, “Who converted your family?” After a moment’s thought, the woman replied, “St. Paul, I think.”
Despite Christianity’s birth in the Middle East, and Israel/Palestine being known as the Holy Land, the long separation of the churches of the Middle East from those in the West—a separation based on medieval schisms, issues of language and political divisions—has led to a view of Christianity as a Western, European invention. The Baileys, long-time students of the Middle East, have produced a welcome addition to the sparse literature on the subject.
Their book is divided into three main sections. The first is a collection of essays offering an overview of the Christian communities of the Middle East. David Kerr, a professor at the University of Edinburgh, presents a brief historical background. Riad Jarjour, general secretary of the Middle East Council of Churches (MECC), discusses the present plight of Middle East Christians, and looks to future possibilities. The Baileys themselves add an essay on the important ecumenical work being done by the MECC.
The second section, which comprises the bulk of the book, discusses each of the major families of churches present in the Middle East (Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, Catholic, Evangelical (Protestant) and Assyrian), and each family’s member churches. The final section discusses the churches in geopolitical terms, examining their situation in each country of the region. While the book’s main focus is on the Arab world, the Baileys include Turkey, Iran and Armenia in the third section for completeness.
The book includes a wealth of information on the history of each church in a brief, readable format, compressing centuries of each church’s history into several pages covering historical and theological developments. The authors, both products of seminary, rue that church history and patristics—topics at the heart of their book—are less and less being taught, leaving Western clergy and missionaries even less-informed than ever about the true “Mother Church.”
The Baileys intend their book to be a reference work for those looking for information on a particular church, and as a starting point for those wanting to delve deeper into the subject. They admirably achieve their goal. The authors also emphasize that interested individuals must see and understand the Middle Eastern churches in their present reality. Rather than viewing them as buildings, as modern tourism stresses, we must see the churches as personified by their adherents—the “Living Stones.” Toward this end, the Baileys provide contact information for each church—the leadership’s name, address, telephone and fax, and e-mail and Web site where available. They also provide approximate church membership numbers.
At Pentecost, according to Scriptures, the gathered crowd heard each of Jesus’ disciples speaking in their own languages. It was in Antioch, now an Arab town, that Jesus’ followers were first called “Christians,” and many of the national churches of the region predate the conversion of Rome. Who Are the Christians in the Middle East? reclaims the centrality of the Middle Eastern churches for the Western reader.
Hugh Galford is director of the AET Book Club.
A Civilian Occupation: The Politics of Israeli Architecture
By Rafi Segal and Eyal Weizman (eds.), Verso, 2003, 191 pp. List: $20; AET: $15.
Reviewed by Safaa Nhairy
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This is because Israeli architectural planning decisions do not follow criteria of economic sustainability, ecology or efficiency of services, but instead are employed in the service of strategic and political agendas. Segal and Weizman define the Israeli state strategy of territory use as a profoundly spatial affair reserved for the people “who effect political goals with actual changes on the ground.”
The winners of an architectural competition organized by Israel Association of United Architects (IAUA), the representative body of Israeli architects, Weizman and Segal were chosen to prepare an exhibition of Israeli architecture at the Berlin Union Internationale des Architectes (UIA) congress held in 2002. Their proposal’s aim was to examine the role of Israeli architecture in the Middle East conflict. Soon after its publication, however, Israeli authorities destroyed those copies of the book already printed and prohibited its distribution. A Civilian Occupation is the second edition of the censored catalogue, revised by the editors and redesigned by the IAUA committee.
Through essays, diagrams, maps and photographs, this fascinating compilation shows that “the mundane elements of planning and architecture have been conscripted as tactical tools in Israel’s state strategy, which has sought to further national and geopolitical objectives in the organization of space and the redistribution of its population.”
The concept of building the State of Israel has long been central to the Zionist dream. But what is most shocking, according to Segal and Weizman, is the amount of planning that has gone into the creation of the Jewish state. Immediately after its 1948 declaration of independence, Israel devised a development plan covering all available land. Unlike most large-scale planning, this blueprint has been almost entirely carried out. The plan’s aim was to distribute the population from the three main cities of Tel Aviv, Haifa and Jerusalem to a number of new small towns spreading across the land. Immigrants coming to Israel were sent to live in these military outposts, and all settlers received a Class A tax-reduction status.
As much as do these official Israeli practices, the banning of the first edition of A Civilian Occupation proves that architecture in Israel is far from a politically naïve activity.
