THE ACADEMIC ALLIANCE FOR RECONCILIATION IN THE

MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICA

AARMENA 2020: HERITAGE, RECONCILIATION AND
SOCIAL INCLUSION
Jena Center for Reconciliation Studies
Friedrich Schiller University Jena (11–14 August 2020)

Eugene Richard Sensenig

Gender, Communications and Global Mobility
(GCGM) Studies Unit – Faculty of Law and Political Science
Notre Dame University (NDU) Lebanon

Local Heroes: The Legacy of Christian Social

Activists and Social Justice in the Middle East
 Local Heroes: The Legacy of Christian Social
Activists and Social Justice in the Middle East
• Catholic Social Theory
– Catholic Social Teaching (CST)
– Liberation Theology
– Far Right Corporatism
• Protestant Social Ethics (PSE)
– Evangelical Social Ethics (ESE)
– Anglican Social Theology (AST)
– Protestant Social Gospel (PSG)
• Orthodox Social Thought (OST)
Catholic Social Theory
French Dominican social scientist
and philosopher Lebret
& Lebanese President Chehab
 IRFED
Institut international de recherche et de
formation Education et développement

• For six months in 1960 Lebret’s IRFED planning team

carried out research in Lebanon
• Detailed study of needs and development possibilities
for Lebanon prepared for the Office of the President
(Fouad Chehab) prior to the creation of a Ministry of
Planning and the formulation of the country’s First
Development Plan.
• IRFED, Besoins et Possibilités de Développement du
Liban, Beirut, Lebanon: Mission Irfed, 1960-61, 3 vols.
 IRFED Strategy

- Social and infrastructure development

championed by the Chehab government
- Cooperation with advocacy and service oriented
NGOs as a key strategy to weaken the sectarian
elites
- Support launching of multi-confessional and
anti-sectarian associations such as the
Mouvement Social Libanais (MSL)
- Shift from charity to rights-based Christian social
activism
 1958-1964
Lebret and Chehabism
Failed
in Lebanon
 Lebret and Chahabism Failed
• With exception of the MSL, progressive
Christian organizations focused primarily on
service provision, training, and awareness-
raising
• Not on empowering the poor and
marginalized to struggle for their own rights
 Lebret and Chahabism Failed
• Secularist movements encourage the fight for
workers’ rights, improved social services and
access to infrastructure
• Did not base their work on their Christian
faith, spirituality and the tenets of CST, PSE or
OST
• As the case for example in Latin America,
Africa or elsewhere in Asia
 When I help the poor they call me a
saint. When I ask why they are poor
they call me a communist.
Hélder Pessoa Câmara
Archbishop of Olinda and Recife, serving from
1964 to 1985, during the military regime in Brazil
 Don’t forget to
teach him about
the monopoly
rights of the
fishing industry!
 Naim Stifan Ateek is a Palestinian priest in the Anglican
Communion and founder of the Sabeel Ecumenical
Liberation Theology Center in Jerusalem. He has been an
active leader in the shaping of the Palestinian liberation
theology.
 Why did Christian Social Theory
‘Fail’ in the MENA Region?
• There are numerous ‘local heroes’ Egypt
• Two of the most prolific representatives of CST in Egypt,
Henry Habib Ayrout, and Katia Antonio Mikhaël, are both
of Lebanese decent.
• Ayrout (1907-1969) was active in the field of land reform,
working with local communities in Upper Egypt to promote
development for the most needy.
• Mikhaël, an Xaverian sister from Lebanon, worked with the
Egyptian Bishops Conference to provide training for
Catholic clergy and laypersons alike in the field of CST
 There are numerous ‘local heroes’
Palestine
• Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem Michel Sabbah
• Greek Catholic Patriarch Lutfi Lahham (Gregorius
III Lahamus),
• Greek Catholic Archbishop of Akko, Haifa,
Nazareth and All Galilee Elias Chacour

• Like Naim Stifan Ateek , all three played an

important role in emphasizing the emancipatory
messages of the scriptures with respect to both
national self-determination and social justice.
 There are numerous ‘local heroes’
Lebanon
• Haddad and Lebret
• Metropolitan of Mount Lebanon George Khodr
• Orthodox Youth Movement (MJO) leader Costi Bendaly
• Youakim Moubarac, a Maronite priest who founded
the Lebanese Development Cooperative based on the
principle of “basic ecclesial communities” established
in Latin America
• Afif Osseiran, a Latin Catholic priest who converted
from Shia Islam and was primarily involved in
promoting projects focusing on homeless youth and
impoverished working class children
Current Research on the Christian Left
• Several secular Leftist respondents mentioned
the ‘Red Priest of Batroun’ Mtanio (Tanos)
Men’em
• Maronite priest and village schoolmaster in the
1950s with open Leftist leanings who worked on
a blend of Catholicism, Islam, and Marxism.
• According to these respondents Men’em was well
known for championing the needs of the poor in
his parish from a political perspective.
Current Research on the Christian Left
• Paul (Boulos) Khoury (born 1921 in Tyre)
• Many respondents mentioned Khoury, whose
teachings on theology, liberation, and secularism
strongly influenced Grégoire Haddad
• “In effect, to physically survive without engaging
in the liberation of Arab man resembles more of a
spiritual death, since true Christian survival in the
Arab world belongs more in the register of
evangelical boldness. The Christian thus finds
himself invited to expend his energies in order to
defend the life of others.’
What Went Wrong?
What is blocking a theology of
Liberation?
Millet System as Foundation for
modern sectarianism
 Perpetuation of Millet System in confessionalism
(taeefiya), as an expression of social reality, and
sectarianism (mazhabia), as a manifestation of policy
Today’s Local Heroes?
“Thawra” 2019
Is Christian Social Teaching Speaking
Truth to Power?
Helping the Poor, or Asking why
They are Poor?
Faith-Based Response?