Naim Ateek

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The Rev. Dr. Naim Ateek (Arabic: ناعم عتيق‎, transliteration: Nā’im ’Ateeq) is a Palestinian Christian who lives and serves in Israel. He was the first to articulate a Palestinian theology of liberation in his book; Justice, and only Justice, a Palestinian Theology of Liberation, published by Orbis in 1989. The book laid the foundation of a theology that addresses the conflict over Palestine and explores the political as well as the religious, biblical, and theological dimensions.

From a position of faith, Naim seeks to find solutions based on the faith principles of justice, peace, and nonviolence. He has edited and written other books and articles. A former Canon of St. George’s Cathedral, Jerusalem, he lectures widely both at home and abroad.

Naim Ateek had just turned eleven when his town of Beisan (Beth Shean) twenty miles south of the Sea of Galilee was occupied by Israeli soldiers on May 12, 1948. The Ateek family, with Naim were Christians in a predominantly Muslim community. For two weeks they lived under occupation when finally the military commander informed his father that unless the family left straightaway, they would be killed. All the Christians were relocated to Nazareth and the Muslims were deported to Jordan. This traumatic and sudden dislocation was the Ateek family's personal version of the event the Arabs call, "the Nakba" (the catastrophe).

When the Ateek's were finally permitted to travel to Beisan a decade later, they discovered their former home was now occupied by a Jewish family. Shortly after, Ateek's father suffered a paralyzing stroke.[1].

Naim earned his BA degree from Hardin-Simmons University, Abilene, Texas in 1963, and his Master of Divinity degree in 1966 from the Church Divinity School of the Pacific (CDSP), Berkeley, California. He then returned to Galilee where he started his ministry after being ordained priest in the Episcopal Church. In the early 1980’s he returned to the United States where he completed his doctoral studies at San Francisco Theological Seminary. Dr. Ateek has also received honorary Doctors of Divinity from CDSP, Berkeley, California and the Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge, Massachusetts; and the distinguished alumni award from San Francisco Theological Seminary. This year, Dr. Ateek received the Sayre award from the Episcopal Peace Fellowship USA.

In 1974, Naim was married to Maha Fuad Aranki of Birzeit, West Bank (Palestine).

After 30 years of parish ministry, Naim took an early retirement and dedicated his time to the ministry of Sabeel, the Ecumenical Liberation Theology Center that he helped to found at the beginning of the 1990’s. As the president and director of Sabeel, he expanded Sabeel’s ministry both inside the country as well as abroad. In addition to the work of justice and peace, it includes the ecumenical ministry within the Christian community and the inter-faith work between Christians and Muslims.

Rev. Ateek dismisses the Old Testament. “Before the creation of the State [of Israel], the Old Testament was considered to be an essential part of Christian Scripture, pointing and witnessing to Jesus. Since the creation of the State, some Jewish and Christian interpreters have read the Old Testament largely as a Zionist text to such an extent that it has become almost repugnant to Palestinian Christians . . . The fundamental question of many Christians, whether uttered or not, is: How can the Old Testament be the Word of God in light of the Palestinian Christians' experience with its use to support Zionism?” (Naim Stifan Ateek, Justice, and Only Justice: A Palestinian Theology of Liberation (Maryknoll: Orbis Books, 1989), pp.77-78.)

Contents 1 Replacement Theology 2 Use of Crucifixion Imagery 3 References 4 See also

[edit] Replacement Theology

Palestinian Liberation Theology is also known as Replacement Theology. It holds that God's covenant with the Jews was abrogated by the coming of Christ, and replaced by the new covenant with the Church. A similar heresy arose in ancient times, its chief spokesman was Marcion (b. 144 AD,) who argued for the rejection of the Old Testament as scripture and taught that Christ was not the Son of the God of the Jews, but the Son of a good God, who was different from the God of the Ancient Covenant. (http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/09645c.htm) The Marcion heresy, or Replacement Theology, last resurfaced in the work of proto-Nazi theologians, notably Adolf von Harnack. It is also known as Supercessionism. Mainstream theologians perceive a worrying reappearance of replacement theology (neo-Marcionism) in the work of the Sabeel Center. (Habib C. Malik, Christians in the Land Called Holy, Copyright (c) 1998 First Things 89 (January 1999): 9-12. (http://www.firstthings.com/ftissues/ft9901/opinion/malik.html)

[edit] Use of Crucifixion Imagery

Sabeel's founder, Anglican priest Naim Ateek, has been accused of breathing new life into what French historian Jules Isaac called the “teachings of contempt” and directed their vile energy toward the Jewish State.

For example, in his 2000 Christmas message, Ateek likened the Israeli government to “modern day Herods.” In his 2001 Easter message he stated that ““in this season of Lent, it seems to many of us that Jesus is on the cross again with thousands of crucified Palestinians around Him.…The Israeli government crucifixion system is operating daily." (http://www.juf.org/news_public_affairs/article.asp?key=6398)

And in a February 2001 sermon, Ateek likened the occupation to the “stone placed on the entrance of Jesus’ tomb. … This boulder has shut in the Palestinians within and built structures of domination to keep them in. We have a name for this boulder. It is called the occupation.”

Critics say that with these three images, Ateek has portrayed the Jewish State as a baby- and Christ-killing nation that blocks humanity’s salvation. Critics assert that this imagery has a long history promoting hostility toward Jews and echoes Muslim portrayals of Jews as treacherous prophet killers that pervade the Middle East.

[edit] References

Sabeel Ecumenical Liberation Theology Center: An ADL Backgrounder http://www.adl.org/main_Interfaith/sabeel_backgrounder.htm

A Primer on Sabeel Ecumenical Liberation Theology Center www.judeo-christianalliance.org/materials/SabeelPrimer.doc

Liberation Theology in the Middle East http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=22575

[edit] See also

• Palestinian Christian
• Episcopal Church in Jerusalem and the Middle East
• Bishop Riah Hanna Abu El-Assal
• St. George's Cathedral, Jerusalem