Christianity and Jerusalem

CHRISTIANITY IN THE HOLY LAND has found its presence significantly challenged for much of the twentieth century and the whole of the first decade of the twenty-first, from war, interreligious and ethnic conflict, emigration, and a fragmented ecclesiology. As a sacred city Jerusalem has a global significance: for Muslims the Haram-al-Sharif is a symbol of victory; for Jews the Wailing Wall a symbol of loss; and for Christians the Holy Sepulchre a symbol of victory through loss. Theology and politics have interacted in this sacred story. Political theologies remain at least implicit in the histories of all major faith communities: Jewish, Christian and Muslim. For Christianity the Holy Land is not only of local significance, but is of importance to the identity of the two-and-a-half-billion-strong world community of churches which make up Christendom.

The contributors to this volume have undertaken a wide-ranging historical, political and theological enquiry into the Christian presence in modern Jerusalem and the Holy Land. The chapters have an ecumenical, even interreligious, instinct and focus. The political landscape is ever changing and, while severely threatening the Christian presence in the Holy Land, continuously challenges and demands a Christian response. The primary responsibility for articulating this Christian response to the political and religious questions has in practice lain with the Christians of the Holy Land, however it cannot be solely their burden. This book bears witness to an ongoing theological reflection whilst its immediate concern in the contemporary significance of Jerusalem has a much wider significance.

While bearing witness to an ongoing theological reflection, this book's immediate concern with the contemporary significance of Jerusalem has a much wider resonance. It covers a host of themes - Christianity in modern Jerusalem; contemporary Jewish-Israeli views on Christianity and Christians; Hebrew Catholicism in modern Israel; the Vatican, Israel, Palestinian Christians and Jerusalem; the Intifada and Palestinian Christian identity; Palestinian Christians and liberation theology; the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem - Church-State politics in the Holy Land; indigenisation and contextualisation - the example of the Anglican and Presbyterian Churches in the Holy Land; Jewish fundamentalism; Jewish-Muslim encounter; Jerusalem, the Holy City; a possible way to share Jerusalem in peace; and reflections on the future of Christianity in the Holy Land itself, from a Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem.

Contributors include:
Anthony O'Mahony, David Mark Neuhaus SJ, Leon Menzies Racionzer, Drew Christiansen SJ, Leonard Marsh, Sotiris Roussos, Michael Marten, Nur Masalha, Rob Johnson, Charles H Miller, Brd Mland, David Kitching, Archbishop Michel Sabbah.