“The Palestinian Christians of today are the descendants of those early Christians, yet this is no cause for hubris. With a humility that befits their Lord, they accept it as a privilege that carries with it a responsibility for service. Palestinian Christians of today are the present generation of that great cloud of witnesses to Jesus who came before them, and who will, God willing, come after them until Christ comes again. They and their ancestors have maintained a living witness to Jesus and his Resurrection from the beginning of the Church, and they should see themselves dynamically continuing such a witness in the land, witnesses to the Resurrection.” (Justice, and only Justice, p. 113).
The Rev. Dr. Naim Stifan Ateek was born in Beisan, a Palestinian village, in 1937. He is a Palestinian priest in the Anglican Church and founder of the Sabeel Ecumenical Liberation Theology Center in Jerusalem. He is the first to articulate a Palestinian theology of liberation in his book, Justice, and Only Justice: A Palestinian Theology of Liberation, published by Orbis Books in 1989. Among his other writings is A Palestinian Christian Cry for Reconciliation, which was also published by Orbis Books in 2008.
*Anyone quoting from this series should give credit to
HCEF Palestinian Christians: In Their Own Words.
