The Contemporary Christian Communities in the Holy Land

Academic Directors: Prof. Steven Kaplan and Dr. Merav Mack

A collaboration of The Van Leer Jerusalem Institute, the Centre for the Study of Christianity at the Hebrew University, Centre de recherche français de Jérusalem and the Tantur Ecumenical Institute for Theological Studies, Jerusalem.
This research group was established as a multi-year programme. Our purpose is to encourage collaborative work both locally and internationally and encourage new scholarship.
The theme of our work this year was "Transnationalism and the Contemporary Christian Communities in the Holy Land." An international conference was hosted by the CRFJ and the Van Leer Jerusalem Institute (28-29 June 2010). The keynote speaker was Prof. Anthony O’Mahony from Heythrop College, University of London. Other international speakers included Prof. H.L. Murre van den Berg and Mr. Mordechay Lewy, Ambassador of Israel to the Holy See. Conference program

An article written about the conference in the online magazine Jerusalem and Religions

Following the conference a publication is currently under way. Additional contributors are welcome to contact the editors.

An exhibition entitled "The Ruins of Lydd" by the artist Dor Guez at the Van Leer Jerusalem Institute tells the story of the Christian Palestinians in the Arab-Israeli city of Lydd (29.6.10–12.8.10).

For more details about our activities in 2009-2010 see our Syllabus

Former activities

Members of the group in 2010
Catherine Dupeyron, Journalist and the author of Chrétiens en Terre Sainte (Paris, 2007)
Jackie Feldman, Lecturer, Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Ben Gurion University
Yael Guter, Lecturer, Israel Land and Archaeology, Bar Ilan University
Masha Halevi, PhD Student, Department of Geography, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Yisca Harani, Consultant to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Christianity in the Holy Land
Rafael Herzstein, Lecturer, Haifa University
Steven Kaplan, Director, The Harry S. Truman Institute, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Michal Kimhi Biton, PhD student, Department of Geography, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Merav Mack, Research Fellow of the study of contemporary Christian Palestinian communities in Israel, The Van Leer Jerusalem Institute
Barbara U. Meyer, Lecturer, Law Faculty, Tel Aviv University
Salim Munayer, Dean, Bethlehem Bible College
David Rapp, PhD student of Art History, Tel Aviv University
Amos Ron, Lecturer, Kinneret College on the Sea of Galilee
Galia Sabar, Chair, African Studies, Department of Middle Eastern and African History, Faculty of Humanities, Tel Aviv University
Nikodemus Claudius Schnabel, OSB, Dormition Abbey, Mount Zion, Jerusalem
Shulamith Shahar, Prof. Emeritus of Medieval History, Tel Aviv University and winner of the Israel Prize in History
Faydra Shapiro, Associate Professor, Religion & Culture, Wilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo, Canada
Anan Srour, PhD student, Department of Psychology, Ben Gurion University
Michelle Syen, MA student of Religious Studies at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Olivier Tourney, Director, Centre de recherche français de Jérusalem