Evangelical, Charismatic and Pentecostal in Israel: Local Politics and Global Relevance
Abstract
Among Arab Christians in Israel there is an intense dispute about identity, which is tangible in the use of names such as "Evangelical", "Charismatic" and "Pentecostal". By understanding these names as local political considerations, this paper shows how and why these names are used or rejected. In 2005, the Association of Baptist Churches, Church of the Nazarene, Assemblies of God and Open Brethren, as well as several para-church institutions, united as the Convention of Evangelical Churches in Israel. This Convention represents the context Arab Evangelicals find themselves in: between a local, mostly Catholic and Orthodox Christianity and global Evangelicalism. In this global-local entanglement, the name "Evangelical" emerges. Meanwhile a "Pentecostalization" or "Charismatization" can be seen in almost all the churches, these churches feel uncomfortable with both these designations even though "Charismatic" is less vehemently refused compared to "Pentecostal" as self-designation. Rather, "Evangelicals" exclude those within their circles who promote strong Charismatic actions as "Pentecostals", in order not to endanger their fragile position within the broader Christian community in Israel.
Download Media
PDF (Price: £18.00 )DOI: 10.1558/pent.36767
References
Ajaj, A. "Evangelicals in Western Asia, Greater Syria (Israel, Palestine, Syria, and Lebanon), Jordan, and Iraq". In B. C. Stiller, T. M. Johnson, K. Stiller and M. Hutchinson (eds), Evangelicals around the World: A Global Handbook for the 21st Century. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2015).
Ajaj, A. and P. Sumpter. "An Introduction to the Convention of Evangelical Churches in Israel (CECI)". In A. Ajaj, D. A. Miller and P. Sumpter (eds), Arab Evangelicals in Israel. Eugene, OR: Pickwick, 2016.
Baker, D. L. Baptist Golden Jubilee. 50 Years in Palestine-Israel: A Short Commemorative History. Typed manuscript, 1961.
Bergunder, M. "What is Religion? The Unexplained Subject Matter of Religious Studies". Method and Theory in the Study of Religion 26 (2014): 259-73. https://doi.org/10.1163/15700682-12341320
Booze, J. "Africa, North, and the Middle East (Survey)". In S. M. Burgess and E. M. Van der Maas (eds), The New International Dictionary of Pentecostal and Charismatic Movements. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 2002.
Braude, B. "Foundation Myths of the Millet System". In B. Braude and B. Lewis (eds), Christians and Jews in the Ottoman Empire. The Functioning of a Plural Society, Volume I: The Central Lands. New York: Holmes & Meier Publishers, 1982.
Butler, J. Bodies that Matter: On the Discursive Limits of "Sex". London: Routledge, 1993.
Emmet, C. F. Beyond the Basilica. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 1995.
Gräbe, U. Kontextuelle palästinensische Theologie: Streitbare und umstrittene Beiträge zum ökumenischen und interreligiösen Gespräch. Erlangen: Erlanger Verlag für Mission und Ökumene, 1999.
Günzel, A. Religionsgemeinschaften in Israel: Rechtliche Grundstrukturen des Verhältnisses von Staat und Religion. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2006.
Isaac, M. From Land to Lands, from Eden to the Renewed Earth: A Christ-Centred Biblical Theology of the Promised Land. Carlisle: Langham Monographs, 2015.
Katanacho, Y. The Land of Christ: A Palestinian Cry. Eugene, OR: Pickwick, 2013.
Kuruvilla, S. J. Radical Christianity in Palestine and Israel: Liberation and Theology in the Middle East. London: I. B. Tauris, 2013.
Laclau, E. On Populist Reason. London: Verso, 2005.
Mansour, J. (ed.). Arab Christians in Israel: Facts, Figures and Trends. Bethlehem: Diyar Publisher, 2012.
Munayer, S. and L. Loden, The Land Cries Out: Theology of the Land in the Israeli-Palestinian Context. Eugene, OR: Cascade Books, 2012.
Newberg, E. N. The Pentecostal Mission in Palestine: The Legacy of Pentecostal Zionism. Eugene, OR: Pickwick, 2012.
O'Mahony, A. "Palestinian Christians. Religion, Politics and Society, c. 1800-1948". In A. O'Mahony (ed.), Palestinian Christians: Religion, Politics and Society in the Holy Land. London: Melisende, 1999.
Parker, J. F. Mission to the World: A History of Missions in the Church of the Nazarene through 1985. Kansas City, MO: Nazarene Publishing House, 1988.
Robins, W. "The Forgotten Origins of the Southern Baptist Convention's Near East Mission: W. A. Hamlett's Month in the Holy Land". Baptist History and Heritage (Summer 2017): 20-31.
Robson, L. Colonialism and Christianity in Mandate Palestine. Austin, TX: University of Texas Press, 2011.
Rowden, R. Baptists in Israel: The Letters of Paul and Marjorie Rowden 1952-1957. Nashville, TN: Fields Publishing, 2010.
Sizer, S. Christian Zionism: Road-Map to Armageddon. Leicester: Inter-Varsity Press, 2006.
Smith, R. O. More Desired than our Owne Salvation: The Roots of Christian Zionism. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013. https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199993246.001.0001
Spector, S. Evangelicals and Israel: The Story of American Christian Zionism. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009. https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195368024.001.0001
Tatford, F. A. That the World May Know, Vol. 1: The Restless Middle East. Bath: Echoes of Service, 1982.
Tsimhoni, D. "The Status of the Arab Christians under the British Mandate in Palestine". Middle Eastern Studies 20.4 (1984): 166-92. https://doi.org/10.1080/00263208408700605
Watts, J. W. Palestinian Tapestries, 2nd edition. Richmond, VA: Southern Baptist Convention, 1936.
Žižek, S. The Sublime Object of Ideology. London: Verso, 1989.
Refbacks
- There are currently no refbacks.