engleski

Theology Shaped by Politics: Fact in the Middle East, Potential in the Balkans

Conflicts in the Balkans are in many ways unique and in many details differ from the conflict raging in the Middle East. And yet, Balkans-conflict contains some features which make it a political set-up probably the most similar to the Middle Eastern in the world. Perceptible reality and threat of the global jihad is one of them. Comparative civilizational proximity of non-Islamic political actors is another. Could those similarities inspire Balkan Christians to view each other through different eyes than they used to? Could divided and often antagonized Balkan – and for that matter all European – Christians perceive each other in a different way: as servants of the same King, children of the same Kingdom and partners in the same mission of bringing it on Earth as it is in Heaven? Based on what we have seen in Jewish-Christian relations in the Middle East, I believe that it is not unrealistic to expect positive spiritual development emerging out of the harsh and tough political circumstances. In spite of past animosity and conflicts, the rift between, say, Catholics and Orthodox Christians have not been deeper and wider than the one between Christians and Jews. Why then should it be less bridgeable?

Middle East ; Balkans ; Israel ; Islam ; Jihad ; Theology ; History

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