Articles

Why is Nazareth significant? The answer seems obvious—it is the village where Jesus was conceived and grew up (though not born), and after which he was named: “Jesus of Nazareth” or “Jesus the Nazarene.”

Perhaps no other town is as strongly associated with Jesus in the Western Christian imagination as the “little town of Bethlehem,” and this despite the fact that Jesus had to be called a “Nazarene” (Matthew 2:23) and had to die in Jerusalem (Luke 13:33).

You might be aware to the controversy of a Wheaton University professor who donned a hijab in solidarity with Muslims, after they faced backlash following the terrorist attacks in Paris. She also was suspended from the school in response – not for her wearing of the hijab, but for her comments in justification that Muslims and Christians worship the ‘same God’.

The Holy Land has long attracted the attention of evangelical Christians. Its ties to the persons and events recorded in the Bible drew the attention of many, the geopolitical decline of the Ottoman Empire in the 19th century and the location of the land at the nexus of Africa, Asia, and Europe drew the attention of others.

More than three years have passed since the beginning of what was known then as the "Arab Spring,” a term that symbolized hope for the people of the Middle East. However, this hope rapidly evaporated as the “spring” morphed into a cruel and endless winter. Running for their lives, millions sought shelter in neighboring countries while others moved to safer cities and towns in their own lands.

At the time of their arrival in Palestine in the 1820's, the American Protestant missionaries' main activity was the distribution of Scripture and tracts. Their primary audience was Christian pilgrims who came to Jerusalem for Christmas and Easter. Initially, the use of Arabic literature was very limited.