The National Evangelical Church of Beirut has deep roots in Lebanon, first established in 1848 and later creating the first evangelical Arabic-speaking congregation in the Middle East. It has a long history of serving as a center for publishing and other communication among Arab Christians. In June, the tradition of this church continued as it became the venue for a book-launch of Langham scholar Riad Kassis’ latest publication to an enthusiastic crowd that included many local and national dignitaries.

Organized by Clarion Publishing House, the event celebrated the publication of Riad’s book Why Don’t We Read the Book That Christ Read? Towards a Better Understanding of the Old Testament (Beirut: Clarion Publishing 2008). The book was released in Arabic and supported in part by a grant from the Langham Literature program. Riad is the first Langham writer to publish in the Middle East and the first to publish in Arabic.

The main objective of the book is to approach the difficulties that an Arab reader may face when reading the Old Testament, to provide an appropriate methodology on reading the Old Testament, and to show the relevancy that the Old Testament has for the ethical, social, and political issues of the Arab world today.

Among the attendants of the event were following: the president of the Supreme Council of the Evangelical Churches in Syria and Lebanon, the president of the Evangelical Alliance in Lebanon, many pastors, school principals and teachers, as well as the presidents of several theological institutions in Lebanon.

“I was also pleased to see the most influential writer and biblical scholar in the Maronite/Catholic church of Lebanon, and perhaps in the whole Middle East, Father Dr. Boulos Feghali,” Riad said. “Even Father Feghali, who was not scheduled to speak, insisted to say a few words on the importance of my work.”

Riad was honored and thrilled with the excitement from the people who attended. One leader from the Lebanon chapter of the International Fellowship of Evangelical Students (IFES) wrote, “Allow me to thank you for yesterday’s ‘classy’ signing event. I liked all of its parts, especially your word! … May the Lord bless you and keep your pen running for His glory!”

Crews from local media–including SAT-7 (the evangelical satellite television) and Noursat (the Catholic satellite television)–were also present. SAT-7 will be broadcasting the book-launch event on June 24 and 25, 2008, and will feature a special interview with Riad on July 10. It is expected that the event will also appear in several major newspapers in Lebanon and the Middle East.

Please join Riad in prayer that the success of his book release will help promote the need for the publication of more books written by and for Arab Christians.

Read the recommendations for Why Don’t We Read the Book That Christ Read?

View more photos of Riad Kassis’ historic book launch.

Revd. Dr. Saleem Sahouny
President of the Supreme Council of the Evangelical churches in Syria and Lebanon

“This book represents a great academic and reference value to be added to our Arabic Christian library. Revd. Dr. Riad Kassis is an example of a believing Christian scholar who, on the one hand, has a distinguished academic wealth and on the other hand carries the burdens of his fellow Arab Christians. These Arab Christians were overwhelmed with various difficulties to understand the Old Testament. They were also subject to illegitimate interpretations of the Old Testament that mixed up the message of the Old Testament with the complexities of the political situation. All this have contributed to widen the gap between the Arab reader and the text of the Old Testament and to build a strong wall at the edge of the gap.

In this interesting book, Dr. Kassis attempts to build bridges of reconciliation between the reader and the text of the Old Testament that was regarded by the church throughout the centuries as an integral part of its holy heritage revealed by God. Have Dr Kassis succeeded to build the bridges? I would like to invite the readers to accompany our writer in this journey to enjoy bridging the gap and to be able to see what is behind the wall.”
Revd. Eng. Atef Gendy, Ph.D. (Aberdeen University)
President of the Evangelical Presbyterian Seminary, Cairo, Egypt

“This is an interesting, deep, and documented book. It deals with dilemmas and questions that an Arab, particularly the Christian who is committed to his/her faith and to the issues of his/her country, faces as he/she reads the Old Testament. Although I do not agree fully with Dr. Kassis’s perspective on the text, I do find the book to be helpful to the reader to have his/her own conviction in understanding the Old Testament based on sound hermeneutical foundations that builds up his/her spiritual life.”
Engineer Jiries Habash
President of the Higher Council of Evangelical Churches in Jordan and Director of Bible Society in Jordan

Several Latin American leaders have expressed that a single-volume commentary is a project they have been hoping for. The discussion is at its infancy stages, and questions of expense, project management, distribution, and process details are continuing.

Project editors René Padilla, Milton Acosta, Rosalee Velloso, and coordinator Ian Darke

Among those who attended the discussion were LPI Literature Director Pieter Kwant, Langham Scholar Milton Acosta, Langham Partnership Regional Council member Rene Padilla, and LPI Committee Chair Mark Hunt. Also attending was Rosalee Velloso (South American Theological Seminary, Brazil), a key editor for the project and Ian Darke of Letra Viva, who will coordinate the project.

LPI will consider sponsoring as much as half the funds needed and helping with administrative needs. The project will take shape this summer as more details and editorial assignments will be set in motion in June.

Thanks for your prayers and for passing the word to others to pray. The Lord Jesus greatly blessed our workshop. The sessions were well received, but most importantly, the participants’ faith and courage for work on the Vanuatu Bible Commentary grew, even alongside our warnings that this was a very demanding project! Also, the commitment of the Principal of Talua Ministry Training Centre, the leading theological institution of the country, and the teaching staff of the college, are more excited and committed than ever to producing Bible commentaries. Five men who were sent by their church leader to be involved in the project arrived knowing nothing about the VBC, but they left with a petition to be allowed to work on the commentary.

The workshop focused on helping participants understand their own language in relation to English and their own vernaculars, especially as far as translation into Bislama goes. We also discussed the state of standardisation of Bislama spelling and expression. Rosemary led this portion of the workshop, since she is our linguist. It was the lion’s share of the workshop, since everyone needs both the skill and confidence to write in Bislama. It was eye-opening and exciting for the participants to get to know their own national language better from a linguistic perspective, and to have light shed on their own questions and problems with the language. About 1/4 or 1/3 of the workshop was devoted to how to write Bible commentary, and what sort of Bible commentary we are hoping to write, that is, one that is tied to the text and serves preaching biblical, Christ-centred messages.

So, thanks so much for praying, but don’t stop now! The success of the workshop raises people’s expectations, which means more intense work from the Vanuatu Bible Commentary team. Pray the Lord give us wisdom for guiding the venture, and grace to all who have begun working on their commentaries. Different individuals or groups are getting started on: Psalms 1-15; Proverbs 1-10; Haggai; Jonah; Ruth; Esther; Joshua; 1 Peter; 1,2,3 John; 2 Peter; Galatians; 1 Thessalonians; as well as the works nearly completed: Philemon, Philippians, Colossians, Mark.

Thanks again for thinking of us and praying for us.

There have been Arab believers since before the followers of Jesus were even called Christians (a nickname that was invented in Syria). They were there on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:10-11). And the Christian church has continued in the Middle East throughout the past two thousand years. Some of the rich tradition of Arabic Christian theological writings from a thousand years ago are being rediscovered today. But a distinctively evangelical Arabic Christian voice has not been heard addressing its own theological concerns in today’s world within significant book-size publications. Until this year.

(photo: “Arabic Contemporary Theology” at left, alongside an Arabic translation of Chris Wright’s “Salvation”)

January 2008 saw the launch of the “Arabic Contemporary Theology” (ACT). Beautifully produced as an A4-size textbook of 500 pages in two column Arabic, it is the fruit of a three-year project by a group of ten Arab Christian theologians in Egypt and Lebanon, some of whom are Langham scholars. From clear biblical foundations, it tackles some of the sharp issues that Christians face especially in the Middle East, including:

• How Arab Christians understand the Old Testament
• The Old Testament concepts of covenant and land
• The meaning of Jesus’ identity as a Jew
• Understanding prophetic texts in relation to religion and politics today
• Christianity and women
• Evangelical and ecumenical relations
• Salvation and other faiths
• Arab culture and identity and their theological challenges

(photo: “Arabic Contemporary Theology” contributors)

The book was launched at a three-day seminar at a coastal resort on the Red Sea (perhaps in the footsteps of Moses?), which brought together about 70 theologians, pastors and Christian leaders from various Protestant denominations in Egypt. Langham Partnership was invited to attend, since we have invested significantly in the project from its beginning, and so Chris Wright (International Director), and Pieter Kwant (International Programme Director for Langham Literature) were both pleased to participate, and Chris Wright was an invited speaker in some of the sessions.

The book is published by Dar El Thaqafa, which is the publishing arm of CEOSS, the Coptic Evangelical Organization for Social Service (founded in 1950 by Sami Habib). The Director of Dar El Thaqafa is Andrea Zaki Stephanous – a Langham scholar who has driven the whole project from the beginning.

A Dream Fulfilled

“The dream started when I was doing my Ph.D. as a Langham scholar in Manchester, England,” says Andrea. “My Ph.D. was about religion and politics, a theology of minorities. I realized it was so important for us as Arabs to have our own theology and understanding of the Bible. Originally we intended to produce an evangelical Arabic systematic theology. The only one we had before is about 150 years old, it is mostly translated, and not original. But the shocking fact is that there is no single evangelical Arab scholar in the region equipped to produce such a systematic theology alone. So the idea transformed into an Arabic contemporary theology.

(photo: Andrea Zaki Stephanous seated with his wife Hala, and Amani, manager of the Dar El Thaqafa publishing operation)

“We wanted to face a whole range of challenges that come from things like: our own Arab Christian identity; the existence of the state of Israel; political Islam, which wants to marginalize Christians; ecumenism and church divisions – Orthodox, Catholic and Protestant; the identity and role of women; salvation; inspiration of the Bible – Islamic or our own? So there are many challenges facing us, and there are lots of smaller articles and leaflets on these things, but no systematic treatment.

“It was a real challenge – even just to get us Arabs to work together! Part of our culture is that we easily disagree! We had tough deadlines, and of course some theological differences. But we agreed a clear theological framework and worked hard.

“Another objective was to pull together the Langham scholars in the region and help them not to feel alone, but to cooperate in a major project. That has been a blessing for all of us.”

First of Its Kind

“I hope this book will do for its readers what it has done for the participants in this seminar this week,” said Dr. Mary Mikhail, one of the contributors to the volume. Mary has been President of the Near East School of Theology, Beirut, Lebanon for the past 14 years and on its faculty since 1984, after years in IFES work in the Middle East.

“It is the first of its kind in this part of the world. It raises questions that we sometimes don’t want to face, and drives us back to the Bible to search for answers. And even when we don’t find easy answers, or don’t agree what they are, it keeps us asking and wrestling with important issues.”

Mary’s chapter is on “Women – in the Bible and Christianity and the Middle East Today.” “It is a privilege to be included,” she said, “for I do have something to say and a textbook like this will make so much more impact on the church than articles and leaflets. It will reach more people and help more people. One of the editors told me, ‘When I read what you wrote about Mary, I felt like I was frozen holding the paper.’ Another said, ‘Nobody has tried to interpret the Bible for us the way you did. You spoke to my heart. I felt included.’

“I know I am standing in a minefield, and that some of the other contributions will be controversial in this part of the world, too. But I hope the book will lead to a greater openness in the churches to read the Bible afresh. I chose to get involved in the project because it really is the first of its kind, and it is high time we produced some solid evangelical theology in the Arabic context – not just translations.”

Building a Different Environment

(photo: Nabil Abadir (left) with Andrea Stephanous at the launch of the “Arabic Contemporary Theology”)

Nabil Abadir is the Director of CEOSS, which is the umbrella Christian development agency under which Dar El Thaqafa functions. CEOSS is dedicated to blessing all the people of Egypt with the practical love of God that flows from the gospel. It serves among the most impoverished communities in health and literacy work, micro-enterprise, and sustainable development. CEOSS is also involved in cultural and inter-faith issues and stands in a high position of credibility and trust with the government as a result of 50 years of transparent integrity.

Nabil is delighted with the arrival of the ACT, and with the role of CEOSS in sponsoring it.

“It fits with all that CEOSS tries to do in building a different environment,” he said. “We live in the midst of a very tense situation here, and this book will help to develop new leaders who have a different attitude. Instead of an ignorant and aggressive stance, we want to relate to others in our country as human beings made in God’s image and sharing with us in God’s creation, and loved by God. We will want to develop forums for dialogue around the issues addressed in the book.

“This book comes at a very opportune time, in a region with such potential for causing world-wide trouble. We want to help Christians have the courage to develop positive programmes that build up society, to work with the rest of our society, and yet keep their Christian faith and identity very clear.”

A Very Practical Help
(photo:Basheer Anwar Nody)
But what about the ordinary pastor? Basheer Anwar Nody is pastor of a Coptic Evangelical Presbyterian Church in Gezer, Cairo, in the shadow of the pyramids. He felt that the contents of the book were addressing very crucial issues, but not in a merely academic way. The book would also be very helpful in all the practical matters that fill his life as a pastor, both in helping his own congregation, and in relating to the majority religious community around him and their spiritual leaders, and especially in the sphere of ministry he gives himself to most of all – peace-building and conflict resolution. He was very glad to be participating in the seminar.

The Dream Goes On

For Andrea, it is clear that this is just the start of the fulfilment of his dream.

“Our whole hope for a reference book like this is to create a debate, to open Arab Christians to the challenges around them, and to strengthen the church’s spiritual life,” Andrea said.

“But this book is not limited to the church alone. It is for Arab society – for Muslims and even Jews. I will be sending copies to intellectuals and some politicians even, to say, ‘Look how evangelical Arabs in your midst are thinking.’ We are saying, ‘Look, you have Arab Christians living among you. We are a minority, yes. But this minority is part of the region and they have their own theological understanding and identity. We are part of the region. We have our own cultural and social contribution to make. Please be aware that there is an evangelical voice, a faith, to be heard in this region.’

“We also hope that we can produce an English translation to make it available in the west,” Andrea continued. “I find some American and British Christians are astonished. They don’t know that there are so many Christians in Egypt and the Middle East. And they are your brothers and sisters, a solid community.”

The publication of the ACT is a vital first step, but only the first. Andrea and his colleagues are planning a 5 – 10 year programme. They plan further volumes in this series – an Arabic applied theology (addressing issues such as HIV-AIDS, the environment, nationalism, the arts, etc), another volume on theological issues not covered in the present volume (inspiration and authority of the Bible, the sacraments, inter-faith dialogue, etc), and eventually a full-blown Arabic systematic theology.

In addition, with Langham Literature’s further assistance, a five-volume “Arabic Contemporary Commentary” on the whole Bible is planned over the next 5-6 years. This will be a huge project. But Andrea is undaunted! And his confidence and competence combined with Langham’s continued investment and God’s gracious help, will bring it to fruition.

“Without the support of Langham Partnership and the help of God,” Andrea concluded, “this book would never have happened.”

Read more about Langham scholar Andrea Zaki Stephanous

View the LPI photo gallery of the January 2008 Egypt gatherings

We all know that salvation is the central message of the Bible , but in the Global Christian Library series, it is the sixth book to be published. The series is published in the west by IVP in the UK and the USA . The first five have already been translated and published in Arabic, and in January, Chris Wright was in Cairo for the launch of the sixth in the series, his own contribution, Salvation Belongs to Our God . In fact, the Arabic translation was launched in Egypt before the original English edition had reached the market! “Blessed be Egypt !” (Isaiah 19:25).

Chris Wright in Cairo for the launch

The Egyptian Christian publisher, Dar El Thaqafa, under the energetic leadership of its manager, Dr Andrea Zaki Stephanous (a Langham Scholar), organized a public panel discussion to launch the new book. Chris Wright gave a lecture on the topic, summarizing the overall message of the book. There were two responses from a Lebanese and an Egyptian church leader, and then lively question and answer and discussion. The evening drew 190 people from a wide variety of Christian denominations and the book sold well.

The Arabic Global Christian Library will reach into seminaries as textbooks on basic Christian doctrines, but will also be distributed widely among pastors and preachers across the whole Middle East and Arabic speaking world.

The whole project represents exciting co-ooperation between all three Langham Programmes. It is of course a Literature project, but it is being driven forward by a Langham Scholar, and it will serve the cause of biblical preaching around the region.

A team including Ps Sophia Silas from Malekula in Vanuatu and Dr Andrew and Rosemary Williamson, Missionaries with the Australian Presbyterian Church, has this year been working to prepare commentaries on Philemon, Philippians, Mark and Colossians. The idea has been to produce some sample commentaries in Bislama which can serve as models for the writers who start work next year. As we work on them we gain an idea of what style
guide questions will arise, and what particular issues writers may face.

Ps Sophia Silas
with Andrew and Rosemary Williamson.

Early October we printed a trial run of draft copy commentaries on Philemon and Philippians. These sold well at the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church of Vanuatu, which also officially endorsed the project. We are hoping for some feedback from this initial run. The idea of the run is to raise awareness of and interest in the project, and to show that we mean business.

Scripture Union Vanuatu has agreed to issue the final publications under their name. This is a good partnership as Scripture Union is well respected in Vanuatu as an inter-denominational, gospel-centred, relevant organisation.

Plans are underway to hold a Bislama Writers’ Workshop January 28-30 2008 for a selected group of pastors and a bishop who are interested in writing commentaries, individually or with a group, in Bislama. Few people in Vanuatu have much confidence about writing in Bislama, even though it is the language most people use for everyday communication outside of their own home villages, where they speak one of over a hundred local Vanuatu languages. One of the aims of the Bislama Writers’ Workshop is to help people overcome their reticence to write in Bislama, by showing them the conventions currently in use for writing in the language.

We expect to introduce the participants to writing standard Bislama, with particular emphasis on avoiding English structures which do not communicate for people who have not had much education. We will also discuss how to go about writing a commentary — which again is not something people are familiar with and how to make the writing appropriate for people in Vanuatu. We will introduce the process of producing a commentary as well as the process to allow small groups to work together under a team leader to produce a commentary.

The workshop will take place at Talua Ministry Training Centre, which is an institution for training lay and ordained gospel workers for Vanuatu from various denominations. The Principal, Ps Fiama Rakau, is 100% behind this project, and has made time available for us to meet so that the lecturing staff can attend if they wish. Talua will provide sleeping accommodation for the
participants, but we will need some help with transport costs, as inter-island travel in Vanuatu is relatively expensive, and some money for food costs. Most pastors have a putative salary that is never realised.

Talua Ministry Training Centre.

The Next Step

In May 2008, we plan to hold a Commentary Writing Workshop for two weeks at Talua which is on the island of Santo. In preparation for the workshop, individuals will have spent several months in studying their texts, reading commentaries that we make available to them, and preaching those texts. The workshop time will be spent producing the commentary: discussing what should and should not go in the commentary; actual writing; critique of that writing; and further research in the Talua library as required. Some writers will be working on their own, and others will work together on the same commentary under a commentary team leader.

Since Talua has the best theological library in the country, the Commentary Writing Workshop will be held there. The two-week workshop will probably not see the completion of those particular commentaries, but they will move them forward, help participants find the most useful resources, and give the commentary team leaders the main materials they need to finish the commentary whether personally or through further direction of group members at a distance.

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“God seems nearer to a people when he speaks their language.”
–Augustine of Hippo

On November 18, 2007, in Dar Es Salaam, WordAlive Publishers officially announced the launch of the Africa Bible Commentary Kiswahili, in the Tanzanian market. This celebration marks the first of many translations for the first-ever single volume Bible commentary written by Africans, for Africans. It also marks the beginning of many milestones recently achieved on the ABC project:

1. ABC was written by African theologians for African pastors as a commentary on the whole Bible adding dozens of relevant articles on issues specific to the church in Africa. This volume will enter in Kiswahili a market of more than 50 million Swahili natives that has comparatively nothing for pastors in their language.

2. Langham Literature is funding the Kiswahili translation and production with USD $130,000 over three fiscal years (WordAlive publishers in Nairobi are managing the project and will cover printing and distribution). The final published work is due out in late 2009.

3. Langham with Serving In Mission (SIM) are sharing sponsorship of the ABC translation into Portuguese (total Langham commitment of USD $64,000 over two fiscal years) for Portuguese-speaking Africa plus Brazil, Portugal, etc. The project is underway and being managed by MundoCristao in Sao Paulo, Brazil, to be distributed in Africa by Langham and partners beginning 2010.

4. ABC English provides Western pastors and students of the Bible with unique and helpful reading on Scripture and issues in the church from an African perspective. The book has won honors in the Western publishing trade and its production was managed by Langham Literature International Director Pieter Kwant.

5. As of December 2007, the following translations for the Kiswahili edition have been completed:

• Joshua
• Judges
• Matthew
• Mark
• Luke
• James
• Titus
• Philemon
• All 70 Articles

Reviewers will begin looking at edited work in April 2008.
Read more about the launch of the Kiswahili edition of the Africa Bible Commentary

Over the past 3 years the Kenyan preaching movement has been growing steadily, not least through the sustained training of the annual seminar programme hosted by St Paul’s College in Limuru, through the help of Dr. Esther Mombo. This August 119 participants came from all over Kenya, with 33 attending for the first time, 53 returning for a second level of training, and another 33 returning for the third level of training.

Alongside the seminar programme, the preaching movement encourages local initiatives, through small preachers’ clubs and day workshops.

For this, the fourth seminar at St Paul’s, Biblical exposition was modelled as the book of Ruth was taught each morning. Participants at each level were helped to see the importance of studying the Scripture in its context, understanding its meaning for the first hearers, and then building the bridge from the Biblical world to their contemporary world.

There were very encouraging comments from some of the preachers : ‘I am learning so much and I want to go back now and practise what I have learned.’ One pastor said, ‘I used to preach whatever I wanted, but now I know how to find out what the Bible is saying and how to preach that.’

As a large African country with a strong Christian community, Kenya benefits from several training initiatives for pastors and preachers, not simply the programme organised by Langham Preaching, and there is growing integration between these various projects.

Plans are underway to develop a training of trainers consultation in 2008, which will equip a small team to develop more Langham Preaching Level 1 regional training programmes supported by the local churches, and thus to extend the impact of the preaching movement around the country.

The ABC Kiswahili project launched in August of this year, starting the process for translating the entire ABC into Kiswahili. Langham Partnership International is supporting WordAlive Publishers in Nairobi who is managing the work and plans to publish in mid-2009. Langham Literature also supported the intense, hands-on training of Paul Karaimu, a key editor with the project.

“The publication of the ABC was long overdue and that it has become a vital resource for pastors, in churches, homes and theological institutions,” said David Waweru of WordAlive, who is heading up the translation project. “We have seen a trend in which many institutions purchase the commentary for their graduating classes. Many copies have also been purchased by missionaries based in Africa hoping to understand the African point of view and perspectives in the interpretation of the biblical text and contemporary issues.”

Paul Karaimu is a contributing editor/manager for the ABC Kiswahili project.

David said that the encouragement and financial support by LPI has helped to define a definite timetable on the project and get the work started. Kiswahili is the most widely spoken language in Africa with an estimated 90 million speakers; it is also among the least resourced of the major languages. The ABC Kiswahili is a long-awaited drink of cold water for Kiswahili-speaking church, as it will utterly surpass all else available.

A translation team comprised of seven people at the Masters and Ph.D. levels from both Tanzania and Kenya have started the project, including Dr. Aloo Mojola, one of the most experienced Bible translation consultants in Africa. The translation will take 20 months with plans to print in between 10,000 and 15,0000 copies in June/July 2009. There are plans to launch the translation in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania in September 2009.

“The wide acclaim of the Africa Bible Commentary across the continent (and the world), the enthusiastic reception and acceptance by pastors, Bible students and Christians has given us greater boldness to have the ABC translated in Kiswahili,” said David.

David Waweru of Word Alive Publishers will head up the ABC Kiswahili project.

Several language translations are planned, including French, Portuguese, Amharic and Kiswahili, in order that most Africans can be served. LPI is partnering with Serving In Mission (SIM) to bring a Portuguese edition (which is requested also in Brazil) and an additional $50,000 investment is needed. The next opportunity for the ABC is the possible production of a Study Bible — distilling the whole ABC into notes, and setting them with the entire Scriptural text.

Read  some recent reviews of the ABC:
Amazon.com
Redcliffe College
TheologicalResearch.org (.pdf format)