Palestinian Evangelicals and Global Evangelicalism

12 November 2019, 16:30 - 12 November 2019, 17:30 Rm 7, Divinity Faculty, West Rd, Cambridge

Dr Lena Rose, Leverhume Postdoctoral Fellow, Centre for Socio-legal Studies, University of Oxford

Palestinian evangelical Christians are an anomaly in a context in which
many dispensationalist and Christian Zionist evangelicals understand the State of Israel as being divinely ordained for the ‘Jewish people’.

This paper introduces some of the key challenges Palestinian
evangelicals face in navigating both their belonging to their global
evangelical faith family, and their often difficult relationship with
the Israeli state.

The paper explores the role of power in the negotiation of evangelical engagement with Israel. It argues that through the small population of Palestinian evangelicals, the fault lines in the making of 'evangelical orthodoxy' in theology and practice are rendered visible.

Lena's doctoral research focuses on encounters across difference between Palestinian and European/North American evangelical Christians. She is interested in how these encounters are shaped by historical, ethnic and cultural difference, as well as differing interpretations of biblical scripture that lead to opposing political and social commitments. More widely, her research addresses the tension between religious belonging and citizenship, and critically investigates global religious connections that are perpetuating uneven social and political structures.

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