wfn.org | Drama at Lambeth Conference offends Jerusalem bishop

[Worldwide Faith News <wfn@wfn.org>]

ACNS LC030 - 21 July 1998

by David Skidmore

Lambeth Conference Communications

A dramatic presentation in a plenary session today produced its
own drama when the soon to be enthroned bishop of Jerusalem
walked out in protest over language that he felt slighted
Palestinian interests in the Holy Land.

The play, "Wresting with Angels"-performed during the morning
plenary presentation The Bible, the World and the Church-earned
enthusiastic applause from most of the bishops and spouses
present but not from Bishop Riah Abu el-Assal, bishop-coadjutor
of the Diocese of Jerusalem. 

"I must say I felt unhappy to the point of being sick," said
Bishop Riah in a press conference following the plenary. So
unhappy, he said, that he walked out during the session's keynote
address by David Ford, Regius Professor of Divinity at the
University of Cambridge. 

The source of his distress was the play's approach to the origin
of Israel. Based mostly on the Old Testament story of Jacob
wrestling with Esau in the Book of Genesis, the play ends with
Jacob and Esau embracing, and members of the cast writing "Judah"
and "Israel" on two sticks and joining them to symbolize the
creation of the nation of Israel. For Bishop Riah this came
across as an affront to the people of Palestine since Judah to
them is the West Bank-the home of over 3 million Palestinians and
territory occupied by Israel since the 1967 Six Day War.

"Judah today, in political terms, stands for the West Bank-the
occupied West Bank," said Bishop Riah, and the international
community, particularly the United Nations, supports a complete
withdrawal by Israel as a condition for a lasting peace.

By symbolically joining Judah with Israel, said Bishop Riah, the
play gave credence to the cause of Christian fundamentalists who
support efforts by hardline Orthodox Israelis to annex the West
Bank and Jerusalem. 

If the writers had been more sensitive to the Palestinian
interests, they would have included Ismael and his issue in that
scene, he said, and thus underscored that the divine blessing
comes to all who worship God-not Israel alone. 

He would also have preferred to see the Gospel used as the
vehicle for the theme of peacemaking, rather than a story from
the Old Testament. 

"There is so much in the New Testament that we can bring to the
conference on reconciliation," he said, noting that "we are the
people of the New Testament."

The Old Testament, he added, has been misused for over 50 years
by Christian fundamentalists who see the creation of the modern
state of Israel as the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy.
These people, who are mostly American, he said, are more Zionist
than Benjamin Netanyahu, the Prime Minister of Israel.

Though he said he was tempted to leave the conference, Bishop
Riah said he decided to stay and press for a dialogue on the Holy
Land after meeting with Archbishop of Canterbury George Carey.

"I had a word with Dr. Carey and we prayed about it," he said. 

While painful, the snub is not worth risking a major
confrontation with conservative evangelicals, he said. "We
Palestinians have learned to bury our dead and start again," he
said. 

Bishop Riah said he was looking forward to the challenge of
educating bishops of the conference on the situation of
Palestinian Christians in the Holy Land. "Ignorance breeds
indifference. The only way to do away with indifference is to
invite them to come and see for themselves," he said.

There is also a need for "a proper Christian-Christian dialogue
on Christian thinking," especially related to the Old Testament,
he added.

Bishop Stephen Sykes of the Diocese of Ely, who coordinated the
plenary presentation, said he had seen the play for the first
time that morning and would "consider very carefully" the
concerns raised by Bishop Riah. He also "approved thoroughly"
Bishop Riah's proposal for a dialogue at the conference on the
Christian experience in the Holy Land.

Paul Burbridge, who directed and helped script the play, said his
team was unaware that the language might pose a problem for
Palestinian Christians. "It is unfortunate that we have
discovered a trip wire that we didn't know was there," he said.
While they were aware of the theological connotations, they had
no inkling of the play's political overtones, he said. The
script, he noted, had been reviewed by theologians from Cambridge
University, and a copy had been faxed to the Lambeth Conference
office well in advance to allow for translation. 

Mr. Burbridge said he was sorry for the unintentional slight and
said he would be meeting with Bishop Riah to offer his apology. 

Mr. Burbridge's company, Riding Lights Theatre in York, has 21
years of experience writing and staging Biblically centered plays
and sketches, and is known throughout England and the Anglican
Communion for its work. 

For further information, contact:

Lambeth Conference Communications
Canterbury Business School
University of Kent at Canterbury
Telephone: 01227 827348/9
Fax: 01227 828085
Mobile: 0374 800212

http://www.lambethconference.org