It is striking how normally highly reasonable and spiritually aware people can suddenly lose any sense of ethical, let alone Christian, balance when it comes to Middle East conflicts involving modern political Israel. . . .
As an academic with a Ph.D. from Oxford University and specialist in Christian-Muslim and East-West relations, constantly seeking creative models of conflict resolution and better understanding, all of what I have just written is written in a manner far from what I would normally write or say with a cool head, far from what my Swiss-blood-flowing veins would normally permit me to utter. But then, perhaps academics sometimes owe their readers more genuine feelings, skin-level emotions gushing out of a deeply hurting, frustrated, desperate, and hopeless soul that has had enough of human arrogance and injustice. . . .
I am angry at self-centered Hezbollah, which has done the inadmissible of taking a unilateral war decision without consulting the Lebanese government of which it is part, never giving a second thought to the hundreds (perhaps thousands) of Lebanese who will perish as a result of its selfish decision. I am angry that citizens of a nation like Israel, who have so suffered at the hands of others, would allow themselves such an out-of-proportion reaction, oh-so-far from the "eye-for-an-eye and tooth-for-a-tooth" principle that we might have forgiven them. I am just as angry at -- I have lost hope in -- the international community that is keeping silent and not even budging with an official condemnation of this senseless instinct of extermination. By both sides, I would be lynched for what I have just said, if they had the chance. But what have I got to lose anymore?
4 comments:
This was very important, Bruce! I linked to it on my blog. I ached because I actually know both Martin Accad (slightly) and Dave Gushee (somewhat better), the latter being among my closest friends who are more conservative theologically than I am, but far from rabid fundamentalism. Dave's doctoral dissertation on the Holocaust and his years of Jewish-Christian dialogue (itself somewhat rare in evangelical circles!) has made him somewhat biased on the Middle East--but nowhere near as much as many U.S. evangelicals as Martin Accad points out.
I met Dr. Accad at Shades Mtn Baptist Church, home church to former Turner South morning Celebs Rick and Bubba, as well as local TV anchor Pam Huff. Alabama Baptists former Editor Hudson Bagget's widow is a member there.
Martin's seminar was in conjunction with the Baptist Seminary in Beirut hosted by Samford and the Alabama Baptist partnership with Beirut. There are some Samford Students now whose home is Beirut.
I was struck my Accad's presence, his balance and wisdom for someone relatively young, mid 30's I took him to be.
He has good friends in the BWA and Retired Samford President Tom Corts. Maybe Samford can place him here in the states, he could do a seminar at Wake Forest with Charles Kimball or something.
Prescott, through your network please bring our concerns here to his attention as I will try to get it to the attention of Corts and his friends at Samford, and Kimball at WFU.
Stephen Fox
Collinsville, Alabama
I also enjoyed his article.
But I felt it was too emotional and brash for the American audience. I think that explains the obvious and quite long disclaimer by the Christianity Today editors above his piece.
That along with the headline?
Cool blog by the way.
I thought the emotion quite appropriate. I used to be quite the Israel supporter, growing out of my deep appreciation for Jewish theologians and leaders. I had not been involved in Christian-Muslim dialogue then as I had Christian-Jewish dialogue. Then, during Intifada I, I met many Palestinian Christians for the first time. The utter sense of abandonment and betrayal they felt by U.S. Christians was eye-opening. The stories they told me--for the first time I found out that Israel the opressed had become Israel the oppressor.
Even though Dr. Accad's criticisms were all quite valid, I do hope no one reading it jumps to the conclusion that Dave Gushee is completely blind in loyalty to Israel. I do think his loyalty leads him to assume Israeli innocence as a "default position" unless shown otherwise in a given situation--and that's a problem, IMO. But Dave is no Christian Zionist, no John Hagee. I hope folks realize that--even Accad calls his article "fairly balanced from a certain perspective" because he knows how much worse others are.
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