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The discussion of social behaviour and construct can seldom be toned down to fit in merely journalistic articles. However, the necessary discussion of the topics of the fate of sects, religions, ethnicities, and cultures can very much be ignited through the outlining of the historic facts tied together through a series of incidents

myriam sharabati

The fate of a colonized theology

The discussion of social behaviour and construct can seldom be toned down to fit in merely journalistic articles. However, the necessary discussion of the topics of the fate of sects, religions, ethnicities, and cultures can very much be ignited through the outlining of the historic facts tied together through a series of incidents and disclaimers serving warring parties and agencies at variable periods.

The theoretical and scientific analysis when interpreting the political strategy of any component in a consociational democracy requires the writer to address a series of core questions that adhere to the identity of the group and, consequently, its role. The primary question must pertain to the core values of the creation of the modern entity. This article seeks to highlight the role of the Christians in the region's future amidst a critical junction that will inevitably change its geographic, social, demographic, economic, and political future.

To that primary question, allow me to point out the most renowned statement for the Christian leadership in Lebanon whose influence supposedly must reach the extent of Antioch and the rest of the East. In 2011, the Patriarch of the Maronite Church Patriarch Moran Mor Bechara Boutros Al-Rahi stated “The glory of Lebanon lies in its message, and it had been said in the past that the glory of Lebanon is given to the Maronite patriarch .” This drives the two questions: What Message? And why was this glory given to the Maronite Church? Before we address those, the Patriarch continues to state that “the glory of Lebanon diminishes through isolationism and grows with openness towards the Orient and the world. Glory would rather be given to Lebanon and its people if we were all for the country.”

While the Patriarch is indeed speaking from his position as the leader of the church established during a prior critical juncture, it must not hinder our willingness to question an entire era. The era in question is one that resulted in the Sykes-Picot division of the region and a series of French and British mandates. During that era and even prior, to the era of the crusades, the church had used its power for colonial purposes as explained by Mark Lamport in his Encyclopedia of Christianity in the Global South, Volume 2. One of the primary tools for this expansionist strategy was the Latinization of the church during the Great Schism which split the main faction of Christianity into two divisions, Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox in 1059AD. Despite the Maronite church being established in approximately 410 AD.

Lebanon, as known today, gained its independence as a nation in 1943. This nation-building process came as the result of a decaying Ottoman empire faced with the expansionist strategy of warring European powers seeking to grow their global influence upon strategic geographical grounds. This drives the conversation back to the recent statement made by Patriarch Al-Rahi.

The above layout of facts, the details of which are left to the reader to dig into, explains Al-Rahi’s statement regarding Lebanon’s glory being given to the Maronite church. As Christians in the past decades, however, and given the statements of the Vatican regarding the Crusades, we must question the role of the church in the future of our existence in the Orient. With the consecutive wars in Palestine, Iraq and Syria we witnessed an absence of the Patriarchy’s role in handling matters that threatened the continued existence of various Christians in those countries.

Furthermore, we have witnessed an ever so prominent and dynamic strategic presence of Lebanese Christian church leadership, especially the Maronites, in Lebanese matters and wars. This is to say that the church was not absent in certain countries for a lack of capacity of knowledge but rather that it perceives its role as particularly neutral to the surrounding Christians and protective of Lebanon’s role as the mother and father of Christianity in the region.

Given the current regional and global changes, could it be that the time has come to question the colonial history and the neo-colonial practices that have affected us and will continue to affect us and possibly threaten our existence? There are options to practice and integrate our Christianity in today’s struggle for liberation and there is a deep-rooted history of liberated theology globally. What are we waiting for?

Lebanese writer