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St Francis Magazine No.

3 (December 2005)

"To the King, the one true royalty


Though King, has befriended me From: To the King
Music: Anne Herring, Matthew Ward
But greater still! He lives in me! Words: Matthew Ward
I give Him everything." Van de CD My Redeemer, Matthew Ward

"Only an ostrich can ignore Islam", M. Goldsmith

CHALLENGES FOR CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY IN THE MIDDLE EAST


Dr. Bernhard Reitsma - dr.BernhardReitsma@hotmail.com

It is obvious that the Christian view of Jesus of Nazareth differs substantially from the
Islamic view. It therefore seems clear that the task of theology in the Middle East should be:
to emphasize that Allah has ultimately revealed himself in Jesus Christ and that Christ is the
divine Son of God. This will lead us in turn to explain the uniqueness of Christ and its
implications for our understanding of God. A theologian in the Middle East must be
completely at home in the doctrines of Christ and the Trinity.

Yet the reality is not as simple. There are particularly two problems that complicate the task
of theology in the Middle East.
a. First of all it seems that Christians and Muslims often live in different and sometimes
very isolated communities. There might be regular encounters in daily life, but at
important events or crossroads (weekly prayer, weddings, family-occasions etc.) usually
the two (or more) communities do not mix. There are simply to many religious, cultural
and political differences.1 Christians tend to be more open for Western standards in
lifestyle, ambitions and education. They do not have a problem with drinking alcohol,
eating pork meat or eating during Ramadan and freer social intercourse between
boys/girls, men/women. Political ideals and goals differ substantially as well. As a result
it has become very hard for Muslims to identify themselves with Christians and vice
versa. Christians sometimes look down upon the legalistic and strict lifestyle of Muslims,
while Muslims tend to view Christians as very liberal and sinful. All of this makes it
almost impossible to really listen to what the other wants to say or ask. Our responses are
mainly directed by our prejudices, acting and reacting from a constructed view of the
other. There is a saying: "Your face speaks so loud I cannot hear what you say". This
exactly seems to happen in the Middle East between the different religious and ethnic
groups. Each group does not want to have anything to do with the God of the people that
live the life they abhor.
b. Secondly, while in Protestant, Western Christianity, ‘doctrine’ has always been center
stage, in Islam it is ‘sharia’, which is the more important element: living the life of a
devout Muslim, subjected to God. Of course ethics are important in the church, but they
are predominantly the consequence of the right doctrine; in most seminaries ‘Ethics’ is
listed under ‘Systematic Theology (Dogmatics)’. And Islam obviously has its doctrines,
but they are the indisputable and indubitable presuppositions of the ‘submitted’ life, about
which can be no discussion (e.g. God does not have a son).

These two conditions/circumstances present a real danger for Christian theology. It can very
easily become isolated from reality. The questions that Islam poses to the church can easily
be ignored, in which case the church risks becoming irrelevant, not just for the society as a
whole, but even for its own church members, who work and live in this society. And an
irrelevant church is a church that has no taste (cf. Matt. 5:13).

St Francis Magazine is published by Interserve and Arab Vision


www.stfrancismagazine.info - www.interserve.org - www.arabvision.org
St Francis Magazine No. 3 (December 2005)

In this context I see above all two challenges for theology:


I. Christ and Islam; the need for a well developed Pneumatology.
II. Christ and Israel; the need for a right Soteriology.

I. Christ and Islam; the need for a well developed Pneumatology


a. The ‘true’ Christ
Recently someone in our Druze village asked me to which Christian group I belonged:
Orthodox or Roman Catholic? When I told him I am Ingilije, protestant, he continued to
ask: "But what is the difference? Do you believe different things from the Bible or do you
only have different rituals?" Such a question made me realize that as different churches
we have to account for our differences. What is the value of our different views of Jesus
of Nazareth? Who is the ‘true’ Christ? Some churches agree with Chalcedon, others
follow Nestorius. Is both possible? How does this absence of unity obstruct (or maybe
support) our mandate in society? We all somehow believe that Jesus was divine, but can
we explain its deeper meaning and its implications for our day-to-day life of faith? This is
especially urgent since Islam holds a very high view of Christ. In the Qur’an Jesus is not
only called Messiah, but also Word and Spirit of God, born from the virgin Miriam. He
heals the blind, cures the lepers and raises people from the dead! (cf. Sura 3:45-49;
4:171). With this we are challenged to look at our own theology. Of course we can never
have a unity that excludes variety, since God never fits any of our systems of theology.
He is always greater. Nevertheless we have to look for the legitimate borders of Christian
Theology.
b. The Arabic Christ
Many theological institutions in the Middle East are very ‘Western’. They were
established by Western missionaries, the staff is either Arabic that was trained in the West
or Western and most of the theology that is being taught originates in the West. Although
East and West share many theological questions, culture and outlook are so different from
each other that it is to be discussed how much Western Theology can really contribute to
theology in a Middle Eastern context. Therefore Arabic theology has to step out of its
isolation in order to become really contextual.
The secret of the incarnation is not that God came into a specific culture, but that He put
on human nature. God in Christ became like us; He has been tempted in every way, just
as we are, yet was without sin. And although Christ was a Jew, he was nevertheless the
savior of all peoples and all nations.
The mission of theology in the Middle East is not to proclaim a ‘Western Christ’, who is
unacceptable and irrelevant to many, but to discover the significance of Christ in this
context: the ‘Arabic Christ’. For this enterprise it is promising that the Arabic culture is
much closer to the Old and New Testament cultures than the Western and even the
modern-Americanized-Jewish culture. The church in the Middle East should realize its
immense resources.
c. The living Christ
Realizing the huge gap between the different Christian groups in the Middle East, with
not only mistrust but sometimes even outright hostility, the only way to reclaim the truth
of Christ is the reality of the Christian life. "The proof of the pudding is in the eating".
Except when our doctrines and words really materialize into a pure and holy Christian
life, we can expect reconciliation. Only then, the church can also become attractive to
outsiders, so that they will really taste God’s love. When Christians are willing to show

St Francis Magazine is published by Interserve and Arab Vision


www.stfrancismagazine.info - www.interserve.org - www.arabvision.org
St Francis Magazine No. 3 (December 2005)

Christ in their daily living, theology can be an instrument to explain more what has
already become a visible reality.
In other words, theology needs to go along with the life experience of our faith. Are we
still in the light of Scripture reflecting on our experiences of God in Christ, or are we only
focusing on the experiences of others? Even Biblical theology can become simply
historical and irrelevant, when it is not an expression of our own experiences of what the
Bible-writers proclaim. Have we heard the voice of God himself? And how do we verify
that? How is this related to what other people have heard from God? How – if at all – can
we experience Christ and how can He become visible in the church? What does all of this
stand for in terms of our political choices, loving our enemies, reaching out to the outcast
of society, whatever their religion? These are the crucial questions for Christian theology
(and not just in the Middle East).

Looking at these challenges, we have to conclude that the real issues facing theology in the
Middle East maybe more in the area of Pneumatology than of Christology. A renewed
reflection on the work of the Holy Spirit is relevant to all of the three issues outlined above:
1. The New Testament emphasizes that after His ascension Christ continuous to be present
in the church in the way of the Holy Spirit. The question of the ‘true’ Christ therefore can
only be answered by the way in which the church lives. Even though theological
reflection on the person of Christ remains more than necessary, only the reality of
following Christ can reveal the truth of our faith in Him. When Christ as He is presented
to us in the Scriptures can no longer be recognized in the life of the Church, we have to
seriously question whether we are still following this Christ.
2. God is not trying to erase people’s background, uniqueness or culture. On the contrary,
whenever He chooses people to serve Him, He accepts them with their unique identity.
When Christ through the Spirit is present in a believer, He as a consequence is revealed in
a contextual way, in the specific culture of this believer, in a way that is appropriate and
understandable to him. That is why the ‘Arabic Christ’ can only be made visible in the
life of Arab Christians, because only they fully share the Arabic Culture and through
them Christ takes upon himself Arabic flesh and blood. Of course, theology in turn has to
reflect on this, but it will never be able to realize the enculturation.
3. Living theology and a truly Christian lifestyle are only possible by the grace of the Holy
Spirit. “The Spirit gives life” (2 Cor. 3:6) and theology is not an exception to that truth.
Where the Spirit is at work, the ‘acts of the sinful nature’ have to give way to ‘the fruit of
the Spirit’ (Gal. 5:19, 22). In this way Christ will be revealed!

Here we have to draw our attention to the fact that the presence and work of the Spirit is
crucial in this matter. Since without the Spirit the whole burden of the Christian life and the
work of the Lord will rest upon the shoulders of the individual Christian and the church. That
would be too much. Not only would the mission fail, but also would it lead to a new yoke,
which would hardly be different from the legalism of Islam: everything would depend on us.
Yet it is by grace that we are saved and it is the Spirit who will fulfill the law in us (Rom.
8:4). Then we are not obeying God’s commandment out of obligation, but because it is the
only way. Since the law has been inscribed into our hearts, and has become our second (or
even first) nature.

II. Christology and Israel; the need for a right Soteriology


After one of Israel’s bombardments on Lebanon contrary to expectations it remained calm for
a while. In those days I heard someone pray the following: ‘Thank you Lord, that you have

St Francis Magazine is published by Interserve and Arab Vision


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St Francis Magazine No. 3 (December 2005)

kept Israel away and that we have seen no more bombardments.” I am sure that in many
Western churches nobody has prayed alike, thanking God for restraining his own people. On
the contrary. It is striking that especially during the new Intifada many people in the West
have come together to pray for Israel, because Israel is considered to be under substantial
threat, even though the majority of the casualties are Palestinian. The fact that we have seen
little prayer for the Palestians reveals a substantial difference in the perspectives on the
situation in the Middle East between Arabic Christians and Christians in the West. This is not
simply a matter of political analysis, it points to a deeper theological issue: Is it possible to be
followers of Christ and yet differ in our visions on Israel? Or posed differently: How does the
revelation of God in Christ relate to his revelation in Israel. The core question is a
soteriological one: what does it need to be saved?
The answer to these questions starts with the clear NT proclamation that in Christ God has
ultimately revealed himself. "Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father" (John. 14:9).
Christ is the Image of the invisible God (Col. 1:15), ‘the radiance of God' s glory and the
exact representation (imprint) of his being’ (Hebr. 1:3.). In Him God has withheld nothing,
but spoken out completely. Christ is God’s decisive Word (John. 1:1; Hebr. 1:1). What in the
OT was still veiled has in Christ come out into the open. The shadows have given way to the
full light. The veil has in Christ been completely taken away (2 Cor. 3). The whole OT points
to and longs for Christ.
Paul sums up this proclamation by saying that Christ is the end of the law (Rom. 10:4). This
should not be taken to imply that the law, i.e. the Old Covenant, has been abolished or
abrogated. On the contrary it has been fulfilled in Christ. What the law was intending and
aiming at has become reality in Christ. He is the living law. Whoever knows Christ, we could
freely translate, does not need the law any longer. He will almost ‘automatically’ do what the
law requires, for the law has been written on his heart. Who will still be longing for a letter
from his or her beloved, when he or she is present? Who wants to light a candle when the sun
is shining?

In this light I see different tasks for theology in the Middle East (and in the West).
a. Many Western Christians believe God still has a plan with the people of Israel. Part of it
they already see realized in 1948 when the State of Israel was created. Some believe this
was a direct fulfillment of OT-prophecies, others more carefully speak about a ‘sign’
from God. Many people believe that this material restoration of the nation of Israel will
be followed by a spiritual revival, in which Israel will finally fulfill its intended role as a
light for the nations and a blessing to many. As part of this expectation some see every
Jew come to Christ in one way or another, since Paul proclaims that ‘all Israel will be
saved’ (Rom 11:26).
The challenge for this Western theology is to explain how this plan of God with Israel
relates to the secret that He has fully revealed in Christ, i.e. that in Him all nations share
in the blessing of salvation (Rom. 16:25, 26; Eph. 3:1-10) and that all the promises of the
OT that were reserved for Israel are now being applied to the seed of Abraham (Gal.
3:16-29). Paul is clear in stating that all who believe in Christ have become children of
Abraham and share in the promises to Abraham. They as well will inherit the land. And
vice versa, not all who are descended from Israel are truly Israel (Rom. 9:6).
So, what can in this light still be expected for the people of Israel? Is there still a surplus
of the material promises in the OT that has not been fulfilled in Christ? Or did all
promises become reality in Him, even though we are still awaiting their fullness, the glory
of the Kingdom to come?

St Francis Magazine is published by Interserve and Arab Vision


www.stfrancismagazine.info - www.interserve.org - www.arabvision.org
St Francis Magazine No. 3 (December 2005)

This is in essence a question concerning the right kind of soteriology. How can we be
saved? Many times I have heard lectures and sermons from people in the West in which
Israel almost has become a kind of mediator for the world. Israel is God’s faithful servant,
the light of the world, almost as if it has been cleansed by the holocaust. Israel can make
no mistakes, she is always right. And whoever blesses (modern) Israel will be blessed and
whoever curses Israel will share in this curse himself (cf. Gen. 12:3). Israel seems to have
obtained a position comparable to Christ’s, in a similar way that Mary in the Roman
Catholic tradition often has received the position of ‘queen of heaven’.
Since the churches in the Middle East face the challenge of the State of Israel like no
other, their mission is to present these questions to the churches in the West in a well-
argued and well presented manner. It is up to them to point out the painful side of
Christian Zionism, but also its consequences for our views of God. Is it possible that
Israel obtains a position that seems to make faith in Christ superfluous? Is the God of this
Israel still the father of Jesus Christ?
b. A second challenge for theology in the Middle East is to provide its own answer to these
questions. ‘How can we still respect and appreciate the Old Testament as God’s Word,
when it continues to be used against us? How can the book of Israel be our holy book,
when it continues to be used to justify not only Israel’s presence, but her actions as well?
How can we still hear God’s voice in the OT?’ The theology in the Middle East is in
danger of losing God’s revelation to Israel as part of its tradition; Marcion is a real threat.
And if we follow Marcion in saying that the so called ‘vengeful’ God of the OT is a
different God than the loving Father of Jesus Christ – or in a more up to date version that
the God of Israel is a different God from the Father of Jesus Christ – we risk losing not
only the OT but substantial parts of the New Testament as well and with that the roots of
our Christian faith.
This is the deepest struggle for theology in the Middle East: who is our God? Is He the
God of Israel? And if He is, is He still our God? And if He is not, can we still be
Christians?

Conclusion
When we discuss the challenges and the future of theology there is a danger. Humans tend to
look for success. We can easily try to look for a theology that is acceptable to the largest
number of people, whether in the West or in the East. And of course, as I have argued, our
theology has to be contextual. It has to be relevant for the world in which we live. But
thinking in terms of success can be misleading. We are called to follow the crucified one and
He will never be acceptable for any system or society in this world. A theology that is
embraced by all is in principle suspicious. So the answers to the challenges before us will
never be easy to accept. They may be difficult for our traditions, our ethnicity, and our
political and cultural aims. But theology as well has to take up its cross in order to be able to
follow Jesus. As human endeavor, theology is destined to die. All our speaking and thinking
will be judged. Yet in this way, through dying with Christ, we can find new life. But then it is
the Lord Himself and He alone who will be center stage.

1
The differences are probably the biggest in Lebanon with its many groups and factions. Christians prefer not to
be seen as Arabs, but as Phoenicians or Canaanites, since being an Arab in their view implies being a Muslim.
In other parts of the M.E. this is more moderate, although many Christians struggle with their identity, trying to
define what it means to be both Christian and Arab, since the Arabic culture is so much related to and influenced
by Islam. Nevertheless, in the whole Middle East in one way or the other, I think the mechanisms as described
here, are similar.

St Francis Magazine is published by Interserve and Arab Vision


www.stfrancismagazine.info - www.interserve.org - www.arabvision.org

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