I Am A Palestinian Christian Review
"Is there such a thing as a Christian Palestinian or Palestinian Christian?" (Raheb, 3) is one of the many questions that Mitri Raheb tries to tackle and answer in his novel, I Am A Palestinian Christian. Raheb is a Palestinian Christian pastor who ministers in Bethlehem and has a first hand experience at what other Palestinian Christians face in that region. He writes his novel with the intention of being a mediator between the Western Christian world and the Palestinian Christian community. He wants each side to understand each others struggles and he feels that by educating the Palestinian Christian community and helping them develop a local theology, it might help reduce some of the conflicts that are taking place in Israel and Palestine.
Raheb's book is organized into twelve chapters, including a forward, conclusion and an appendix which helps give the reader a better and deeper understanding of the region.
Interior of the house of a Palestinian Christian f...
Rev. Dr. Mitri Raheb in his Bethlehem office
Nederlands: Dr. Mitri Raheb, Evangelisch-Luthers t...The appendix includes the Declaration of Independence for the State of Palestine, official statements given by leaders of Christian communities, and articles from the agreement on the Gaza Strip and the Jericho Area.
People have different ways of identifying themselves and Raheb traces his background mainly in the opening paragraphs of his first chapter. He emphasizes mostly on religion and identifies himself as a devout Christian. His emphasis on religion as his identity is different from other authors that write about their life in the Palestinian or Israeli regions. David Horovitz, for example, is a Jew, and although he makes it clear in his novel that religion is very important to him, he identifies himself more with the land of Israel. Another author, Fadia Faqir, is a Muslim, but identifies herself more with her ethnicity. The Multiple Identities of the...