By: Elysse Burns on August 29, 2024
What did I know before? Israel has been an oft-addressed topic in my family and church community for as long as I can remember. It was and remains the focus of many eschatological discussions. My father, a pastor, usually has stacks of Zion’s Fire magazines and Chosen People Ministries’ updates scattered throughout his office. In…
By: Christy on August 29, 2024
Prior to the October 7, 2023 Hamas attacks on Israel, my understanding of the Israel-Middle east conflict was limited to casual and sporadic bits of information spread throughout my life. I have vague composite memories of car bombings and other attacks playing on the evening news throughout my childhood. Growing up in a conservative Christian…
By: Pam Lau on August 28, 2024
“Mythic violence is blood-violence over mere life for the sake of violence itself; divine violence is pure violence over all of life for the sake of the living.”[1] – Walter Benjamin What I Knew Before October 7th, 2023 Golda[2] is the 2023 biographical film dramatizing the leadership of Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir during the 1973…
By: Debbie Owen on August 28, 2024
Large-scale human conflicts (and many small-scale conflicts) inevitably arise around concepts of ownership: “This is mine…” This desire for ownership could be about land, or water, or antiquities, or a variety of other tangible objects. But what is at the heart of the concept of “Mine!”? It’s a fear of loss. But when we dig…
By: Adam Cheney on August 28, 2024
Previous knowledge of the Israel conflict I grew up in a church that held to a traditional Zionist perspective when it came to Israel. Essentially, the return of the modern nation-state of Israel was the fulfillment of a prophecy that was going to usher in the Apocalypse. This might be overstated and simplified a bit.…
By: Ryan Thorson on August 28, 2024
“I can’t believe I am here again!” I stared across the Holy City of Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives. This special and remarkable place that I had visited now three times, forever etched in my mind, and a place I think of longingly almost every day I’m away. Below me the white sepulchers of…
By: Graham English on August 28, 2024
In The Palestine-Israeli Conflict- A Very Short Introduction, Martin Bunton traces the tumultuous recent history between Israel and Palestine. Bunton reduces this conflict to a struggle between two nations over land.[1] In my journey to this region, the conflict was palpable, and I was struck by the irony of the prevalence of conflict in “The…
By: Kally Elliott on August 28, 2024
In this blog post I will answer three questions. “What did you know about Israel before October 7th 2023, and what was that based upon? What does this book help you understand that you didn’t know before? How do you navigate the Israel-Middle East conflict? What did you know about Israel before October 7th 2023…
By: Joel Zantingh on August 28, 2024
By breaking down the history into four historical periods, The Ottoman, The British, The Palestinian (partition), and the American eras of war and international involvement, Martin Bunton helps us see a snapshot of these important periods in an even-longer conflicting story spanning millennia. And even though this was published over a decade ago, I still…
By: Kim Sanford on August 26, 2024
Looking Back Reading about life in Israel and Palestine over the past 100+ years evoked some diverse emotions. Firstly, nostalgia as I was taken back to my college Hebrew classroom where we began each class by singing, “Hineh ma tov uma na’im Shevet achim gam Yachad.” How good it is for brethren to dwell in…
By: Cathy Glei on August 26, 2024
A Peek Into My Limited Understanding Admittedly, I have a limited understanding of the conflict that is taking place in Israel. John, I think I need the 5-year-old explanation of the conflict too. For several years I taught in an Arabic/Muslim in Michigan and not much was said about the historical conflict of the region,…
By: Diane Tuttle on August 26, 2024
Canadian History Professor, Martin Bunton chronicled the last 120 years of the Israeli/Palestinian conflict in his book The Palestinian-Israeli Conflict, A Very Short Introduction.[1] While far from exhaustive of the thousands of years that the conflict has been raging, the book gave me a better understanding of many of the struggles in the area and…
By: John Fehlen on August 26, 2024
I read this entire book, and I still don’t fully understand the situation in the Middle East. I didn’t prior to October 7th, and I still don’t fully after October 7th. Honestly, I just don’t get it. Reading The Palestinian-Israeli Conflict by Martin Bunton only seemed to confuse me more, and the material only covered up…
By: Tim Clark on August 26, 2024
One of the features of the home I grew up in was sitting down in front of the TV to watch the nightly news. Some of my earliest memories are of news anchor Walter Cronkite signing off the end of his program with “And that’s the way it is…” (and then he would give the…
By: Jeff Styer on August 26, 2024
Without really knowing why I remember growing up hearing people say that there will never be peace in the Middle East. I knew that Israel as a nation was re-established after WWII and that there had been conflict over the years that resulted from the Promised Land being given back to Israel. I heard terms…
By: Jenny Dooley on August 26, 2024
My Understanding of Israel The Palestinian-Israeli Conflict, by Martin Bunton was a timely and informative read. As the Israeli-Hamas war continues, this short volume helped me understand the complexity of how two peoples came to be at violent odds with one another. Before reading this book, I knew Israel became a nation in 1948, continues…
By: Russell Chun on August 23, 2024
Week 1: Aug. 26-Sept. Hebrew: זוהי אדמתי (Zo hei adma’ti), Arabic: هذه أرضي (Hadhihi ardi) “This is my land.” What’s happening now. What happened before. (The book) Major Events since 2013. DIME + R, What the bible says, what the Koran says. The way ahead Epilogue 1.What’s happening now… Fuad Shukr, a senior Hezbollah…
By: Daron George on April 22, 2024
Matthew Petrusek’s book, ” Evangelization and Ideology: How to Understand and Respond to the Political Culture.” explores in detail the complex dialogue between the spreading of religious beliefs and the influence of ideological frameworks. The current situation makes this investigation particularly necessary, as the author writes, considering the impact of contemporary matters such as the…
By: Daron George on April 22, 2024
In her book “Rethinking Leadership: A Critique of Contemporary Theories,” Annabel Beerel delves into the essence of leadership during periods of turmoil and uncertainty. Her critical examination is timely, given the backdrop of the global COVID-19 pandemic, underscoring the relevance of her work. Beerel advocates for a reevaluation of leadership paradigms in light of transformative…
By: Alana Hayes on April 21, 2024
In the field of religious studies and the ideological analysis, Matthew R. Petrusek’s “Evangelization and Ideology” looks at exploring the intricate connections between not only evangelism, but our belief systems, and cultural narratives around the globe. Through the simple dynamics of outreach, persuasion, and conversion, the author also sheds light on the ways in which…
