Call and Commitment
A Journey of Faith from Nakba to Palestinian Liberation Theology
By Naim Stifan Ateek
Cascade Books, 228 pages, $45
History casts long shadows across the Holy Lands. “There is nothing new in the world except the history you do not know,” said President Harry Truman, the first world leader to recognize the fledgling state of Israel. Fraught with tension, fear, and trauma, too often the history of modern Israel and Palestine remains only half told, thereby eluding us, and contributing to further pain and confusion.
Naim Stifan Ateek is a Christian eyewitness and participant in the modern history of the Holy Lands. A Palestinian Episcopal priest, he authored the groundbreaking work Justice and Only Justice: A Palestinian Theology of Liberation in 1989. This seminal work and the action-oriented ecumenical movement that it produced revitalized Palestinian Christian laity during an era of deep despair.
Call and Commitment is an autobiographical book that shares the remarkable life and memories of this extraordinary theologian. In many ways, Call and Commitment functions as a prequel to Justice and Only Justice. Each chapter records people, events, and experiences that led Canon Ateek to become a risk-taker, innovative thinker, and adroit community organizer. At the center of this personal narrative stand the 1948 Nakba (Arabic: catastrophe) and our Lord God who works through the pain and dispossession of Palestinian defeat to hone this son of a devout goldsmith into an instrument of liberation.
At its heart, this is a volume of personal stories. Call and Commitment traces Ateek’s life and thought from an idyllic childhood in Beisan, Palestine, to ordained ministry in Israel, to the joys and complications of theological stardom. Throughout, Ateek employs minute details from bygone times and a nonlinear approach to great effect. By essentially reminiscing about his family and friends, he communicates the innocence of pre-1948 Palestine and the humanity of its people, thereby sharing a history not known to most English-speaking readers.
By telling his story, Ateek adds voice to the undervalued narrative of the Palestinian people. This is the bitter personal story of property confiscation, forced transfer, discrimination, and hardship. But his is also a life of abundant blessings. On a national level, it is one of shattered dreams, failed resistance, and occupation that constitute the shadow side of Israel’s successful state-building.
Yet the charm of this personal narrative also limits its scope. Throughout, the reader is left largely unaware of wider historical and political forces shaping the events in the Holy Land. Conspicuously absent are any mentions of the various Palestinian groups and individuals who added to the wounds and misunderstanding that make the Israeli-Palestinian conflict a knotty and perennial human and spiritual crisis.
Whatever its weaknesses, I found the book both informative and charming. Reading it caused my respect to grow even further for this pioneering theologian. For me, as a former colleague of Canon Ateek in Jerusalem during the 1990s, Call and Commitment opened my mind and heart to the challenges and grace that forged his genius that I only wish that I had known at that time. Canon Ateek’s compelling trust in the risen Lord and Jesus’ inscrutable mercy shine in every chapter. Perhaps its greatest gift is directing the reader to Ateek’s Justice and Only Justice. I found myself rereading this masterpiece and being flooded by its insights. Canon Ateek’s call and commitment do indeed remain steadfast to the God of justice and mercy.
