Ben Norquist joins us to discuss how Christianity Today, the flagship Evangelical magazine, has been covering Gaza over the last 2 years. The discussion delves into several publications by CT, including its podcast, that have revealed a problematic and dehumanizing attitude toward Palestinian, one that effectively provided a theological cover for the genocide of the Palestinians in Gaza.

Purchase your own copy of “Being Christian After the Desolation of Gaza”

https://wipfandstock.com/9798385254859/being-christian-after-the-desolation-of-gaza. Use the coupon "DESOLATION40" to get 40% off.

Ben Norquist (PhD, Azusa Pacific University) has served as director of grants and academics for Churches for Middle East Peace and as director of the Network of Evangelicals for the Middle East where he helped American Christians pursue holistic peace with their neighbors around the world. He is the co-author of a book coming out about justice and the land called Every Somewhere Sacred: Rescuing a Theology of Place in the American Imagination (InterVarsity Academic, 2026).

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Across the Divide partners with Peace Catalyst International to amplify the pursuit of peace and explore the vital intersection of Christian faith and social justice in Palestine-Israel.

#israel #palestine #gaza #christianity #bible #faith #zionism

In this episode, Abeer speaks with Kayla Tychsen, Parent Coach and certified Integrative Trauma Coach, about the deep connections between parenting, personal healing, and justice. They explore what it means to re-parent ourselves, unlearn inherited narratives, and raise children with empathy, courage, and critical thinking. Kayla shares insights from her own journey navigating faith and activism, as well as her work supporting families in times of crisis. She offers practical and heartfelt strategies for approaching hard conversations, nurturing resilience, and staying rooted in compassion.

Kayla Tychsen is an Accredited Parent Coach, Certified Integrative Trauma Coach, and TEDx speaker passionate about empowering parents, educators, and caregivers to cultivate confidence, connection, and joy. Kayla has worked with families across the Middle East and around the world, helping parents understand how their past shapes their parenting, live by their values, and build secure, nurturing relationships where children can thrive.

Sign up to join the Palestine solidarity delegation, May 25-June 4th 2026: https://forms.gle/asNkGWXgVB5MRAuZ8

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Across the Divide partners with Peace Catalyst International to amplify the pursuit of peace and explore the vital intersection of Christian faith and social justice in Palestine-Israel.

This episode kicks off Across the Divide’s Monthly Book Club. Here Jen has a conversation with Rev. Dr. Munther Isaac about his book "Christ in the Rubble: Faith, the Bible, and the Genocide in Gaza." They discuss how the book emerged from Isaac’s pastoral work and activism after October 7th. Together they reflect on the theology of a God who dwells amid the rubble in Gaza and Munther’s hope on the impact this book will have on the global Christian church.

We invite you to read Christ in the Rubble along with the ATD community and consider joining our virtual Book Club conversation on the book for our Patreon supporters on Sunday, October 26, 2025.

To learn more and become a Patreon supporter, visit https://www.patreon.com/c/AcrosstheDivide

Sign up to join the Palestine solidarity delegation: https://forms.gle/asNkGWXgVB5MRAuZ8

About the book: “Writing from Bethlehem with close-up knowledge of conditions on the ground, and rooted in a commitment to nonviolence and just peace, Isaac urges readers to recognize that support for Zionism’s genocidal project entails a failure to bring a properly Christian theological criticism to bear upon colonialism, racism, and empire. He calls on Christians to repent of their complicity in the destruction of the Palestinian people. And he challenges them to realign their beliefs and actions with Christ—who can be found not among perpetrators of violence, but with victims buried under the rubble of war.”

You can purchase the book here: https://www.eerdmans.com/9780802885548/christ-in-the-rubble/

Rev. Munther Isaac is a Palestinian Christian theologian who serves as pastor of Hope Evangelical Lutheran Church in Ramallah. He also directs the Bethlehem Institute of Peace and Justice as well as the highly acclaimed Christ at the Checkpoint conferences. His PhD dissertation at the Oxford Center for Mission Studies was published as From Land to Lands, from Eden to the Renewed Earth: A Christ-Centered Biblical Theology of the Promised Land. He also wrote The Other Side of the Wall: A Palestinian Christian Narrative of Lament and Hope.

Bruce Fisk joins Daniel to discuss his research on the weaponization of the Bible and the usage of the language of moral clarity by many prominent Evangelical and other Christian leaders to justify and sanction Israel’s genocide in Gaza.

Get your own copy of “Being Christian After the Desolation of Gaza”Sign up to join the Palestine solidarity delegation: https://forms.gle/asNkGWXgVB5MRAuZ8

Bruce Fisk is senior research fellow with the Network of Evangelicals for the Middle East and former Professor of New Testament at Westmont College. He has led study programs in Israel/Palestine and is the author of Ascent to Jerusalem: Pilgrimage, Politics and Peacemaking in the Holy Land.

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Across the Divide partners with Peace Catalyst International to amplify the pursuit of peace and explore the vital intersection of Christian faith and social justice in Palestine-Israel.

New Testament professor Ross Wagner (Duke Divinity School) joins Daniel for a conversation about his recent article titled “Being Christian After the Desolation of Gaza”. The conversation ranges from exploring the narratives that Americans tell themselves about Palestinians to a study of the Biblical concepts of Jubilee and  “the year of the Lord's favor.”

Purchase your own copy of Being Christian After the Desolation of Gaza”.

J. Ross Wagner is Associate Professor of New Testament at Duke Divinity School in Durham, NC, specializing in Paul's letters and Septuagint studies, He is also an Anglican priest.

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Across the Divide partners with Peace Catalyst International to amplify the pursuit of peace and explore the vital intersection of Christian faith and social justice in Palestine-Israel.

Hear the compelling story of Elom Tettey-Tamaklo, a former Christian Zionist from Ghana who eventually gets in trouble for his leadership at the Harvard University Gaza encampment. Elom also gave a passionate talk at the recent Church at the Crossroads conference, which we discuss here as well.

Born in Atlanta, raised in Accra and Harare, and having worked in Ramallah, Amman, and Philadelphia, Elom has always been enchanted by places and the stories they contain. Elom graduated from Harvard Divinity School in May 2025, focusing on the intersections of lived religion and political culture. His interests revolve around the prophetic imagination, popular resistance to Empire, and global black emancipatory politics. 

Resources:

Clash at the Harvard encampment: https://www.nbcboston.com/video/news/local/video-minor-clash-at-pro-gaza-harvard-die-in/3163853/

Some notes about Elom’s first time in Palestine: https://www.pym.org/travel-and-witness-grant-elom-tettey-tamaklos-travel-to-ramallah-palestine/

Jean Zaru, Occupied with nonviolence https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2714040-occupied-with-nonviolence

Howard Thurman, Jesus and the Disinherited https://www.amazon.com/Jesus-Disinherited-Howard-Thurman/dp/0807010294

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Across the Divide partners with Peace Catalyst International to amplify the pursuit of peace and explore the vital intersection of Christian faith and social justice in Palestine-Israel.

In this episode, Leyla King, Palestinian-American Episcopal priest and author, discusses the importance of getting a voice to Palestinian Christians whose stories are often overlooked in the broader conversation about the conflict. By humanizing the Palestinian experience, Western Christians gain a deeper understanding of the situation beyond political headlines.

The conversation is based on Leyla’s recent book, Daughters of Palestine: A Memoir in Five Generations

Leyla K. King is a Palestinian-American Episcopal priest and author. She is a founding member of both Palestinian Anglicans and Clergy Allies (www.palestiniananglicans.org) and The Small Churches Big Impact Collective (smallchurchesbigimpact.org). She writes about her experiences as a Palestinian, a clergywoman and a mother at thankfulpriest.com. Daughters of Palestine is her first book. 

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Across the Divide partners with Peace Catalyst International to amplify the pursuit of peace and explore the vital intersection of Christian faith and social justice in Palestine-Israel.

Professor Ebrahim Moosa joins Daniel for a conversation discussing Muslim support for Palestine. They discuss political Islam, violence, Hamas, and all things controversial. 

Ebrahim Moosa (PhD, University of Cape Town 1995) is Mirza Family Professor of Islamic Thought and Muslim Societies in the Keough School of Global Affairs at the University of Notre Dame. He co-directs, with Scott Appleby and Atalia Omer, Contending Modernities, the global research and education initiative examining the interaction among Catholic, Muslim, and other religious and secular forces in the world. He is a faculty fellow of the Keough School's Liu Institute for Asia and Asian Studies.

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Across the Divide partners with Peace Catalyst International to amplify the pursuit of peace and explore the vital intersection of Christian faith and social justice in Palestine-Israel.

Preston Sprinkle joins Daniel for a conversation tackling Evangelical support for pro-Israel. They discuss Preston’s journey out of dispensationalism, and tackle the reasons why so many Evangelicals are Zionist and pro-Israel.

Preston is an international speaker and a New York Times bestselling author, who’s written over a dozen books including his most recent book: Exiles: The Church in the Shadow of Empire. Preston currently serves as the president of The Center for Faith, Sexuality & Gender, an organization that equips Christians to engage questions about faith, sexuality & gender with theological faithfulness and courageous love. And he’s also the president of Theology in the Raw, which includes the popular “Theology in the Raw” podcast and the annual “Exiles in Babylon” conference.

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Across the Divide partners with Peace Catalyst International to amplify the pursuit of peace and explore the vital intersection of Christian faith and social justice in Palestine-Israel.

In this episode, Jen speaks with Daoud Nassar, a Palestinian Christian who stewards his family's 100-acre farm located about 6 miles southwest of Bethlehem known as Tent of Nations. They discuss Daoud's family's history, their nearly 40-year legal struggle to keep their land, and the relationship between faith, hope, suffering, and love. Daoud describes his family’s commitment to nonviolent Christian peacebuilding, the spirituality of their stewardship of the land, and the necessary relationship between prayer and action.Daoud Nassar is a native of Bethlehem, Palestine. Daoud is a Palestinian Christian activist and farmer. He holds a degree in Biblical Studies from a Bible School in Austria and a degree in Tourism Management from Bielefeld University in Germany. He manages the farm known as Daher’s Vineyard located in the West Bank of Palestine and directs the work of the programs and projects at Tent of Nations.

Tent of Nations: https://tentofnations.com/ 

Friends of Tent of Nations North America: https://fotonna.org/

Friends of Tent of Nations Netherlands: https://www.freundeskreis-tentofnations.de/en

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‬⁠⁠⁠Across the Divide partners with Peace Catalyst International to amplify the pursuit of peace and explore the vital intersection of Christian faith and social justice in Palestine-Israel.