Christian Agency and Lutheran Personal Status Laws in Palestine

Abstract

In describing Christianity in the Middle East, scholars often highlight religious oppression, especially in relation to the larger Islamic context. Such contentious descriptions often cast Christians in the role of dhimmis, who are tolerated but not regarded as equal members of Muslim societies. Only in recent years some scholars have begun to modify their depictions of Christians and Christian-Muslim relations in the Middle East. While Christians in the Middle East have experienced and in certain regions continue to experience persecution, solely portraying them as victims does not do justice to the reality on the ground. By means of a case study on Palestine, I argue that an examination of the interaction between sharia (Islamic law) and Christian personal status laws sheds a different light on Christian identity and Christian-Muslim relations in the Middle East, and demonstrates the agency of Palestinian Christian communities in this respect.