On March 24, it was standing room only in Barrows Auditorium for Rev. Dr. Munther Isaac’s lecture on the theology of “sumud,” which means “steadfastness” in Arabic, and how it is fundamental to the Palestinian Christian identity. The seating capacity of Barrows is 500, and there were people standing along the entire back wall.
Isaac, a Palestinian Lutheran pastor and theologian, is director of the Bethlehem Institute for Peace and Justice at Bethlehem Bible College. The talk was sponsored by the departments of HNGR, biblical and theological Studies, peace and conflict studies and the Jean Kvamme distinguished chair of public Christianity.
Alex Massad, assistant professor of world religions, introduced Isaac and the topic of sumud.
“What we’ll be discussing here tonight is not merely a theological concept,” said Massad. “Before the legalization of Christianity, under an edict of Milan, Christians did not spread the gospel merely by preaching, but by primarily living as the church with the poor and taking care of plague victims when all others would flee.”
Massad underscored the importance of intercultural understandings of the gospel, cautioning against culture and politics smothering its message. “One of the best ways to remedy one’s cultural influence over the gospel is to have somebody from another culture preach the gospel to you,” he said.
Isaac opened by expanding on the complexity of his identity as both a Palestinian and Christian, particularly as someone from a land that has never experienced true peace.
“I myself was born in a reality of military occupation, a military occupation that defined every aspect of my life. Everything’s defined by that oppressive military,” he said. “God knows how many wars I’ve witnessed. Like my community, I had to rely on faith to sustain and support myself.”
Isaac emphasized the brutality of the ongoing war, stating he was tired of sharing the numbers of Palestinians who had died or were displaced from their homes. He said that the current war is a definitive genocide, but that sumud stands against the Christian Zionism that many Palestinian Christians are used to hearing.
“It’s never easy to preach in the middle of such a brutal war. As a pastor, it was so hard,” said Isaac. “Should we even preach hope in the midst of a genocide? How can we talk about hope when we have lost more than 17,000 children? How can we talk about hope when we have 2 million people displaced from their homes?”
He called out the Western church for failing to stand against the violence and imperial occupation in Palestine, and, at times, explicitly voicing support for Israel. “We feel totally abandoned by our siblings. Even worse, we are crushed and erased,” said Isaac. “It’s Western theology that dismissed us completely as Palestinians, that seeks to erase us. They look at the land from a very narrow, one-sided lens that does not see us as people.”
He noted that the evangelical tradition, regarding the establishment of Israel in 1948 as the fulfillment of prophecy, overlooks Christians who were already living in Palestine.
“Why would God do this to us in order to fulfill a prophecy? And if this is a sign of God’s faithfulness to one people, what about us? Is God against us?” he asked.
“Do you know the number of Palestinian Christians who were in this place in 1948 and were still denied the right not just to return, but even to visit their homeland? They still have the keys to their homes,” Isaac continued.
Isaac argued that referring to the establishment of Israel as a divine right, a word often used in biblical and political circles, erases the millions of Palestinians, including Palestinian Christians, who do not share the same beliefs.
“It’s one thing to say Jews have a religious and historical connection to the land. No one denies that,” he said. “It’s entirely another thing to translate that political argument into displacing Palestinians and living in their place.”
Isaac also said he felt discouraged by the ways Christians have used war theory and past war atrocities, such as Nagasaki and Hiroshima, to justify the suffering of the Palestinian people.
“How can we hope when the Bible continues to be weaponized against the Palestinians?”
Isaac admitted that in the midst of such discouragement, he has found it hard to find worth in his ministry as a pastor. But Isaac said that even when the theology of sumud seems impossible, the idea of hope remains integral to survival.
“When we stop hoping, we accept injustice as the norm. Yes, hope is a struggle. It is painful. It is illogical. We cannot surrender to the alternative,” he said. “This is why sumud is important. It’s about refusing to give in to injustice, refusing to forget our rootedness in the land.”
Isaac closed with some biblical examples of the theology of sumud, which he said is embodied in the book of Habakkuk, in particular, and in the crucifixion narrative. “ It feels like the tomb of Jesus on Saturday. Death, darkness and silence. But we choose to hope. We choose to insist that God is good, and so we will recover, rooted in resilience and demanding justice for our people,” he said.
The session then opened up for questions from the audience. People asked about the ways theology had been exploited against Palestine, how Isaac responds to accusations that he has marginalized the Jews in his work and what his vision for the Palestinian Christian community is.
The talk ended in a Franciscan blessing led by George Kalantzis, professor of theology.
“May God bless you with enough foolishness to believe that you can make a difference in the world, so that you can do what others claim cannot be done: to bring justice in your highness to all your children and the world. Amen,” the audience read in unison.
Isaac later spoke to several HNGR and Sawa members, students from the Middle East or North Africa, as well as faculty, on Tuesday morning.
In an interview with the Record, Isaac said that for students wanting to make a tangible impact on the lives of those suffering in Palestine, action is needed beyond prayer and support. “I want you to come to Palestine,” he said. He referenced programs that immerse students and help them understand the situation firsthand.
Isaac made the same offer to students who were not sympathetic to his arguments, but interested in learning more about what is really going on in that conflict and how Palestinian Christians seek to live out their faith in Christ and his teachings.
Isaac remains hopeful that students would step up by advocating for a ceasefire or calling for revisiting the theologies in evangelical circles that have enabled violence and supremacy. “It’s my hope that students now take the lead, more from a Christ-centered perspective rather than from a certain political point of view,” he said.
Isaac emphasized that political activism cannot only exist within political parties. “They have to promote the ethics of Jesus, the ethics of the kingdom of God, the agenda of the kingdom of God,” he said.
Kara Grace Hess, Features Editor, contributed reporting to this piece.
