About the Event
An AAR Fall Fridays WebinAAR
Hosted by AAR’s Middle Eastern Christianity Program Unit
As part of the Fall Fridays Scholarship WebinAAR Series, this panel of scholars will discuss a groundbreaking volume entitled Theology after Gaza: A Global Anthology that wrestles with the theological, ethical, and political implications of the Gaza war for faith communities worldwide. Written in the shadow of an unfolding genocide, the panelists will discuss how theology can respond truthfully and responsibly to mass suffering, displacement, and destruction while resisting the temptation to offer abstract or detached reflection. The panelists will outline the vision of the book, situating it within wider debates on liberation theology, political theology, and contextual theology. Together, the panelists will invite discussion on the role of theology in confronting empire, bearing witness to suffering, and imagining new horizons of justice and hope. By engaging multiple perspectives—editorial, scholarly, and lived—the panel will provide a space for dialogue on what it means to think, write, and believe after Gaza and the recent Trump proposal.
AAR Fall Fridays is a webinAAR series that will highlight the scholarship coming from our varied AAR program units. This series — part of our larger year-round programming initiative — aims to bring the scholarship of our program units to the wider AAR membership and make it accessible outside of the Annual Meeting. These webinAARs will take place at 12:00 noon ET on Fridays and run from late September up until the in-person Annual Meeting in November.
Event Guidelines
Please note: AAR membership is not required to register for this event. In order to register, you will need to login or create an account if you don’t already have one. Creating an account is free, quick and easy and enables us to let you know about related upcoming events.
For assistance, please view our video walkthrough. You can adjust the playback speed on the video next to the closed caption icon. If you still have questions, please contact us.
Panelists
Mitri Raheb is the Founder and President of Dar al-Kalima University in Bethlehem and the most widely published Palestinian theologian, with 50 books translated into thirteen languages. A former senior pastor of the Christmas Lutheran Church in Bethlehem (1987–2017) and past President of the Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land, he is also a noted social entrepreneur and founder of several NGOs. His work has earned numerous international awards, including the Olof Palme Prize and the German Media Prize. He holds a Doctorate in Theology from the Philipps University at Marburg, Germany.
Graham McGeoch teaches Theology and Religious Studies at Faculdade Unida de Vitória (UNIDA), Brazil. He is a research associate at the University of Pretoria, South Africa. He helps to coordinate the DARE Global Forum, an initiative of the Council for World Mission. His recent publications include World Christianity and Ecological Theologies (eds. Raimundo Barreto, Wanderley Pereira da Rosa & Graham McGeoch, Fortress Press, 2024). The International Bulletin of Mission Research (IBMR) selected this book one of the Ten Outstanding Books of 2024 in Mission Studies, World Christianity, and Intercultural Theology. His most recent book is Theology After Gaza (eds Mitri Raheb & Graham McGeoch, Cascade, 2025).
Yousef Kamal AlKouri is a Christian Arab Palestinian theologian from Gaza and serves as Academic Dean at Bethlehem Bible College. He is a member of the steering committee of Christ at the Checkpoint and the board of Kairos Palestine. Born into a Greek Orthodox family with a long tradition of ecclesial service, Dr. AlKhouri earned a B.A. in Biblical Studies from Bethlehem Bible College, an M.Div. from Alliance Theological Seminary (New York), and a Ph.D. in Contextual Biblical Interpretations and Theologies from the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. His research and publications, in both Arabic and English, focus on Palestinian theology, contextual biblical interpretations, and the witness of Christianity in the Palestinian experience.
Sonia Boulos is an associate professor of international human rights law at the Faculty of Law and International Relations, Antonio de Nebrija University. She holds a doctorate degree in juridical science from the University of Notre Dame, USA. Her research focuses on the international protection of human rights. She has worked, inter alia, on the Palestinian minority in Israel, gender equality, and the use of force in international law. Her articles have been published in the Journal of Business Ethics, the Journal of Holy Land and Palestine Studies, the International Journal of Human Rights, Politics and Governance, Media and Communication, and Profesional de la Información.
Moderator
Candace Lukasik is Assistant Professor of Religion and Faculty Affiliate in Anthropology and Middle Eastern Cultures at Mississippi State University. She is the author of Martyrs and Migrants: Coptic Christians and the Persecution Politics of US Empire (NYU Press, 2025).
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