Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, January/February 1999, pages 85-86

Christianity and the Middle East

 

Christians Face the Year 2000 in Different Ways

 

By Fred Strickert

There is something intriguing about the fact that it is now 1999 ad. Calendars say something about who we are.

In the Jewish calendar, we have reached the year 5759, calculated from the traditional time of creation. In the Muslim calendar it is the year 1419, calculated from the migration of Muhammad to Medina. So it is only natural that Christians are calculating the years from the birth of Jesus Christ. Thus the current year 1999 ad. The turn of the calendar page signals the beginning of the countdown to the turn of the millennium.

Of course, historians would be quick to point out that human calculations are fallible, including our Gregorian Calendar. In reality, the sixth-century Dionysius Exiguus, who is responsible for the bc/ad designations, miscalculated the year of Jesus’ birth, since King Herod of the Gospel infancy accounts actually died in 4 bc. Thus they figure Jesus’ birth somewhere between 10 bc and 6 bc. In all likelihood, then, the 2000th anniversary of this birth passed without much fanfare earlier in the present decade.

Theologians would caution that those who place a lot of stock in the “magic” of the year 2000 may thus be disappointed. The designation ad for Anno Domini (“in the year of our Lord”) is a reminder that God is the Lord of history and that time is not something to be manipulated.

Greek scholars will note that the Greek New Testament uses two distinct words for time: chronos and kairos.

To be sure, the Gospel writers were concerned with chronos, the regular calculation of time into measurable units of years, days, and weeks. They do speak of Jesus’ birth occurring “in the days of Caesar Augustus.”

Yet the earliest Christian writer, Paul, described the birth of Jesus as occurring “in the fullness of time.” The term used here is not Chronos, but kairos, pointing to a decisive moment—a significant opportunity for change and new directions.

Thus it is not inappropriate that various Christian groups are focusing their attention on the Middle East for the year 2000.

 

Bethlehem 2000

The Bethlehem community is engaging in a facelift for the birth city of Jesus in anticipation of four and a half million visitors next year. The Bethlehem 2000 Project has been established with the support of the Palestinian Authority to commemorate a 16-month celebration beginning on Christmas 1999 and culminating at Easter 2001.

While the year 1992 might have been a more accurate time for this celebration, it is to be remembered that Bethlehem was still under Israeli occupation and in the midst of the intifada. Thus the symbolic value of the year 2000 provides a kairos moment.

The tourist industry in Bethlehem has been preparing for this influx of visitors with new and renovated hotels, training courses for tour guides, and a major renovation of Manger Square.

The large open area adjacent to Justinian’s Nativity Basilica has been used most recently as a parking lot for tour buses, resulting in a less than ideal aesthetic scene with bus fumes, traffic congestion, and hustling crowds of people. Under the current $12 million remodeling plan the square is being turned into a plaza with trees and water fountains. Since most visitors approach from the north, buildings on that end of the square are being razed to be replaced by a tourist center and museum. Most notable is the disappearance of the old police station, one last symbolic reminder of the days of occupation.

 

Archaeological Discovery in Bethlehem

This construction activity has led to a recent serendipitous discovery. Remains of a public building connected with the ancient church complex were found underneath the police station.

The excavation, under the direction of Hamdan Taha of the Palestinian Department of Antiquities, has revealed a mosaic, two cisterns and two water tunnels. One cistern held a collection of Byzantine plates and five or six lamps.

Most attention has focused on the large mosaic with red, black, and white geometric designs from the Byzantine period. Although not yet completely excavated, the mosaic presently extends for about 18 square feet over the sloping ground.

“It is a very important discovery,” Taha told the Associated Press, “something that will add to the history of the city and to the millennium celebrations.”

 

Millennial Groups

One particular group of Christians will be ignoring the city of Bethlehem in their recognition of the Millennium. This segment has long been given the name “Millennialists” because of their expectation that the year 2000 will usher in the Second Coming of Jesus. Some would argue that this is especially misleading because of a confusion of chronos and kairos concepts of time.

Nevertheless reports are surfacing of millennialists who have sold their homes and left families behind to purchase one-way plane tickets to Jerusalem. The focal point of their quest is the Mount of Olives, where they expect the return of Jesus to bring an end of the world as we know it.

This has resulted in increasing concern among main-line Christian groups in the Middle East, and also the Israeli government, as to what will result if and when their expectations do not come to fruition.

In a copyrighted Associated Press story, Dina Kraft notes special concern for one such group, a doomsday cult from Denver, Colorado led by Monte Kim Miller, who has predicted his own death on Dec. 31, 1999 and subsequent resurrection three days later. Reportedly 72 members of this cult have already sold their homes and have begun their trek to Jerusalem. Miller earlier predicted that the city of Denver would be destroyed by earthquake on Oct. 10, a date that has already come and gone. How this affects the group’s plans remains to be seen.

Unlike such life-ending expectations, mainline Protestants, Catholics, and Orthodox Christians envision the year 2000 as a kairos moment with life-renewing opportunities for a hope-filled future.

 

Roman Catholic Plans

The Roman Catholic Church sees the millennium celebrations as an opportunity for individual reflection and renewal. The Assembly of Catholic Bishops in the Holy Land has released plans for pilgrimages to Christian sites including prayer vigils on New Year’s Eve 1999 and a day for weddings and the renewal of vows at Cana in Galilee, the place associated with Jesus’ first miracle turning water into wine at a wedding celebration.

Bishop Kamal-Hanna Bathish, chief organizer for these events, announces that “It will be an occasion to join all together, really to praise God on this opportunity.”

There has been speculation for some time that Pope John Paul II might include a Holy Land visit. Jerusalem Latin Patriarch Michael Sabbah, however, continues to announce that such a visit would require “better times.”

The Vatican does not recognize Israel’s claim to the entire city of Jerusalem. It has asked that sites holy to Christians, Jews and Muslims be protected by an international statute.

Some of the year’s events aim to create a dialogue between Judaism, Christianity and Islam, said Father Robert J. Fortin. Among these events are a meeting of the religions in Jerusalem and an event for youth in Haifa.

 

Jubilee

While the spiritual benefits of the year 2000 are not disputed, there is also the view that this commemoration can have social and political effect.

Taking a cue from the Old Testament, Rev. Naim Ateek, Anglican Priest and director of the Sabeel center, calls for the year 2000 to be a time of Jubilee. This proposal, earlier put forward at the Sabeel conference, was renewed in November at the annual scholarly conference of the American Academy of Religion and Society of Biblical Literature meeting in Orlando, Florida.

Under the leadership of Rosemary Radford Ruether and Donald Wagner, the “Palestinian Theology and Interreligious Dialogue in the Middle East” section of AAR-SBL was established in 1997 to bring these discussions into this scholarly setting. About 200 persons listened to a series of papers on the theme of Jubilee.

Ateek focused on Biblical texts (Leviticus 25, Isaiah 61, Luke 4) which describe the practice every 50 years of forgiving debts and returning the land to the original inhabitants as a way of righting wrongs and of providing the opportunity for new beginnings. Citing the line “The earth is the Lord’s,” Ateek promotes an inclusive view that the land should be shared by all its inhabitants, Arab and Jew alike.

The 50th anniversary of the state of Israel in 1998, therefore, can be turned into a catalyst for such a transforming event. Ateek called upon Israelis and Palestinians to express mutual repentance and forgiveness for deeds against each other. Others on the panel questioned whether such an expectation was realistic until Israelis and Palestinians began to learn to live side by side. The point of the Jubilee, according to Jewish theologian Tikva Frymer-Kensky of the University of Chicago, is that it provides a boundary moment for new beginnings even when people carry the baggage of memories of injustices of the past.

 

Jubilee 2000

Ateek’s proposals can be set into a context of the world-wide Jubilee 2000 movement (www.j2000usa.org or www.oneworld.org/jubilee2000). Originating in the United Kingdom and now spread to the United States and throughout the world, the call has gone out for the larger, wealthier nations to begin a program of forgiveness of Third World debt.

A November conference in Rome brought together representatives of 38 national movements and 12 international organizations to map out strategy for the cancellation of unpayable debts for the year 2000. Recognizing that there is plenty of blame to go around, the conference calls for a principle of global fairness where the needs of people are met.

It may be that the International Jubilee 2000 project can be an encouragement for the Palestinian-Israeli peace process and that a true Jubilee in the Holy Land can be experienced worldwide.

This seems to be the point of Paul’s statement that Jesus was born “in the fullness of time.” The year 2000 can be a kairos moment in Bethlehem, Jerusalem, and throughout the world.

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Dr. Fred Strickert is professor of religion at Wartburg College in Waverly, Iowa.

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