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Published by Mitri Raheb
Dr. Mitri Raheb is the Founder and President of Dar al-Kalima University College of Arts and Culture in Bethlehem and Bright Stars of Bethlehem, a non for frofit US organization. The most widely published Palestinian theologian to date, Dr. Raheb is the author of 18 books including: The Cross in Contexts: Suffering and Redemption in Palestine; I am a Palestinian Christian; Bethlehem Besieged, Faith in the Face of Empire: The Bible through Palestinian Eyes. His books and numerous articles have been translated so far into eleven languages. Rev. Raheb served as the senior pastor of the Christmas Lutheran Church in Bethlehem from June 1987 to May 2017 and as the President of the Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land from 2011-2016. A social entrepreneur, Rev. Raheb have founded several NGO‟s including Dar annadwa Cultural and Conference Center, Dar al Kalima University College of Arts and Culture, the Christian Academic Forum for Citizenship in the Arab World (CAFCAW), in addition to several other civic initiatives on national, regional, and international levels. Dr. Raheb was elected in 2018 to the Palestinian National Council, the Parlaiment of the Palestinian people worldwide as well as to the Palestinian Central Council. The 50 year-old multilingual contextual theologian received in 2017 the Tolerance Award from the European Academy of Science and Arts, in 2015 the Olof Palme Prize for his courageous and indefatigable fight against occupation and violence, and for a future Middle East characterized by peaceful coexistence and equality for all. In 2012 the German Media Prize was awarded to Dr. Raheb for his “tireless work in creating room for hope for his people, who are living under Israeli Occupation, through founding and building institutions of excellence in education, culture and health.” Launched in 1992, this award was mainly granted to Heads of States, including President Obama (2016) the German Chancellor Angela Merkel (2009), the Dali Lama (2008), King Juan Carlos of Spain (2006), Kofi Anan (2003), Queen Rania of Jordan (2002), Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder (2000), Bill Clinton (1999), Nelson Mandela (1998), King Hussein of Jordan (1997), Boris Yeltsin (1996), President Arafat (1995), Yitshak Rabin (1995), Francois Mitterrand (1994), Chancellor Helmut Kohl (1993), in addition to few and selected personalities such as Sir Richard Branson (2010), Steffi Graf (2007), Bono (2005) and Rudolph Giuliani (2002). For launching the “Authentic Tourism Program” at dar annadwa, Rev. Raheb received at the ITB the ToDo 1996 Award for socially responsible tourism. Rev. Raheb received for his „distinguished service to church and society‟ the prestigious Wittenberg Award from the Luther Center in DC (2003). He also received for his „outstanding contribution to Christian education through research and publication‟ an honorary doctorate from Concordia University in Chicago (2003) and for his „interfaith work toward peacemaking in Israel and Palestine‟ the “International Mohammad Nafi Tschelebi Peace Award” of the Central Islam Archive in Germany (2006) and in 2007 the well-known German Peace Award of Aachen. The work of Dr. Raheb has received wide media attention from major international media outlets and networks including CNN, ABC, CBS, 60 Minutes, BBC, ARD, ZDF, DW, BR, Premiere, Raiuno, Stern, The Economist, Newsweek, Al-Jazeera, al-Mayadin, Vanity Fair, and others. Dr. Raheb holds a Doctorate in Theology from the Philipps University at Marburg, Germany. He is married to Najwa Khoury and has two daughters, Dana & Tala. For more, www.mitriraheb.org View all posts by Mitri Raheb