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This paper explores the educational practices of the Syriac Antiochene Maronite Catholic Church in the United States towards Maronite children and adults. The paper proposes, to a large extent, that the current educational forms have led to an uncritical obedience to the ecclesial tradition. These forms are: Qurbono (liturgy), catechetical texts, storytelling, and communal modeling. Part one of the paper contextualizes the conversation and describes the four educational forms practiced within the tradition. Part two argues for a refashioning of the educational forms so that they are consistent with a more dialogical and multi-linguistic approach. This is achieved through the practice of being prophetically obedient and placing the current educational practices of the group in direct conversation with prophetic literature. It offers a renewed vision of pedagogy and curriculum for Maronite Religious Education in the United States. The aim is to accompany and guide the Maronite people towards a Prophetic Obedience to this ancient tradition in a revitalized form.

Intrinsically linked to the power-sharing Maronite Catholic community, and historically tied to the fate of Lebanon, the Maronite Church was deeply involved in, and affected by, the 1975–90 Civil War. This study seeks to understand the changing role of the patriarchs during this time, recognizing that their relative withdrawal from politics – declining to assert the temporal authority of their predecessors – does not equate to the marginalization of the church as a whole. Analysing the internal politics of the church as a microcosm of the community's struggle, the study examines in detail a threefold relationship between the patriarchate, the papacy, and the monastic orders.

Based on the centennial experience of state-building in Lebanon, this chapter discusses several strategic options to secure the survival and empowerment of local Christian communities in a turbulent, quickly changing regional environment. The chapter addresses this topic historically by discussing the Maronite community of Lebanon and its relationship with the state of Lebanon. Since the 2000s, accelerated by the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, the challenges of the “Arab Spring”, and the dramatic rise of Sunni Islamism all over the region, a creeping shift of strategic priorities in favor of ethno-communal survival can be observed. Indicators of this process include a reinforcement of millet-like mentalities in local Christian politics, a rapprochement with the regimes of Syria and Iran, balanced by ecclesiastic efforts to improve sub-state relations with pro-Western actors in the region. The chapter discusses the risks of these policies for Lebanon’s cohesion, security, and sovereignty.

The study investigates the inclusion of women deacons in the canons of the National Synod of Mount Lebanon of 1736, which formalized Latinization of the Maronite Church, providing for codification of its particular law. The canons were approved in forma specifica by Pope Clement XII and have never been modified or overruled, thereby giving evidence of the liceity of ordaining women deacons in the Catholic Church.

The Qadisha Valley (also known as Wadi Qadisha in Arabic) is located in northern Lebanon and is one of the longest valleys in the Mount Lebanon range. It combines a beautiful unique landscape with numerous historical and archaeological sites. Carved out by the Qadisha River in a deep gorge, the valley is an oasis of peace, serenity, and spirituality for many. It has sheltered Christian monastic communities for centuries. The Qadisha Valley is an important area for early Christian monastic movements that have been coming to live and pray there since the fifth century AD, mainly the Maronite Church between the fifteenth and nineteenth centuries. In 1998, the valley was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List as a cultural landscape.

What might have befallen the “Jews of Arab lands” in the shadow of the Holocaust certainly did not apply in the case of Lebanon. Lebanese Jewish life was markedly different from Jewish life elsewhere in the Arab-defined Middle East. This chapter speaks to a relatively “stable” Lebanese Jewish experience, in an era when the world at large was committing collective suicide, when the Jews of Europe were on the cusp of destruction, and when Middle Eastern Jewry was being slated for a similar fate.

Maronites who are identified as Monothelet by some historians mostly lived in Syria, Lebanon, Palestine, Egypt, and Cyprus. They were recognized in Yohannes Maron’s leadership as a different community in Christian world. A long period following Maron’s death is not known well. During the period of the Crusades, they built close relationship with the Christian World. Although they had lived under ottomans sovereignty following the conquest of Syria and Egypt by Ottomans, they were particularly affected by French cultural and political influences. In nineteenth century there were important changes in social and economical architecture of Ottomans and rest of the world. Consequently, coastal regions with rich economical surroundings and port-town such as Izmir, Mersin, Beirut, and Haifa developed rapidly. The fact that a Maronite church was started out at Mersin in this period indicates the formation of a Maronites community. For different reasons, over the time, Maronites emigrated from their homeland to different countries. In nineteenth century majority appear to immigrate to America and a small number of the community settled in Adana, Tarsus, and Mersin. There are different views about the reason for their migration. In this study, demographical records of Maronites who settled in Mersin were evaluated.

The post-war period in Lebanon brought to the open all sensitive subjects that have marked the history of Lebanon: how to avoid falling into such a crisis? How not repeating such war? How can the Lebanese society eradicate the reasons that may lead to any other war? The Lebanese crisis had challenged the Church inviting her to move from being a passive witness to an active participant in the peaceful struggle for the liberation of the Lebanese society and help the country to complete its incorrect reading of history. Can the Maronite Patriarchate have a positive role in this regard? Can the Maronite Patriarchate bring about the purifi cation of the memory in a multiconfessional country? In this paper, and after defi ning the meaning of the purifi cation of memory in the Lebanese context, we will consider the important challenges that must precede any serious and defi nitive solution to the crisis in Lebanon and how can the Lebanese Church contribute in the development of a national identity and in the building of a new state free from any kind of domination. The purpose of this paper is not to justify what has happened in the past 34 years, i.e. since the beginning of the Lebanese war, but to contribute in searching for a sustainable peace.

In the latter half of the nineteenth century, members of the Maronite Church from the Middle East, especially Lebanon, began immigrating to the United States. Due to economic hardships, political tension, and religious discrimination, Maronite immigration has continued through the early twenty-first century. The large-scale immigration of Maronites resulted in the creation of Maronite parishes and after numerous requests to the Holy See, two Maronite dioceses were founded successively in the second part of the twentieth century. Attempting to protect its identity and its traditions in the U.S., the Maronite Church has faced challenges concerning its freedom and autonomy, its relation with the mother church in Lebanon, priestly vocations, and its relationships with other churches, especially Latin Catholicism.

The paper briefly describes relations between Antioch and Alexandria, i.e. between Syro-Mesopotamian and Coptic Christians. Short periods when Arians held power in both patriarchates are omitted, as well as pro-imperial patriarchates established after the Council of Chalcedon, known as Melkites. Also the Maronite Church, which was gradually established in 15 th century from Antiochian Church, together with Uniate Churches (from both Alexandrian and Antiochian roots, starting from 16 th century) are omitted. The scope of these relations included exchanges of patriarchs; lasting to this very day common stance on dogmas; commonalities in liturgy and religious practices (which also last to this day). Both patriarchates offered support and asylum to each other in times of persecution, especially after the Council of Chalcedon.

This article examines the changing relationship between religion, secularism, national politics, and identity formation among Lebanese Christians in Senegal. Notre Dame du Liban, the first Lebanese religious institution in West Africa, draws on its Lebanese "national" character to accommodate Lebanese Maronite Catholic and Greek Orthodox Christians in Dakar, remaining an icon of "Lebanese" religion, yet departing from religious sectarianism in Lebanon. As such, transnational religion can vary from national religion, gaining new resonances and reinforcing a wider "secular" ethnonational identity. [Keywords: Transnational migration, ethnicity, Maronite Church, Senegal, Lebanon, religion, politics]Foreign language translations:From the Cross (and Crescent) to the Cedar and Back Again: Transnational Religion and Politics Among Lebanese Christians in Senegal[Keywords: Transnational migration, ethnicity, Maronite Church, Senegal, Lebanon, religion, politics]Abandonner la Croix (et du Croissant) au profit du Cedre pour les retrouver: Religion et Politique transnationale des Libanais chretiens au Senegal[Mots cles: Migration transnationale, Ethnicite, l'Eglise maronite, Senegal, Liban, Religion, Politique]......Da Cruz (e do Quarto Crescente) ao Cedro, e Novamente de Regresso: Religiao e Politicas Transnacionais entre Christaos Libanenses no Senegal[Palavras chaves: Migracao transnacional, afiliacao etnica, a Igreja Maronita, Senegal, Libano, religiao, politica]...(ProQuest: ... denotes non-US-ASCII text omitted.)In the past few decades, social scientists have examined the interplay of politics and religion in the world, perhaps most famously through the now discredited secularization thesis. More recently, anthropologists (along with other social theorists) have begun to study the interconnection among secularism, religion, and nationalism, discounting yet another thesis- the decline of the nation-state. In this article, I seek to show how various forms of religious, secular, ethnic, and nationalist modes of identification and belonging overlap, and, at times, compete with one another, transforming some functions of the Lebanese Maronite Church in the diaspora in West Africa. Like Vora (2008), I understand diasporas as bounded groups which cannot be abstracted out of their particular contexts.I follow Goldstone's (2007) approach, which moves beyond secularism's more common understanding of demarcating religious from non-religious institutions. He underscores secularism's "disciplining of religion in such a way that now renders it compatible with the norms and precepts of liberal, democratic governance" (2007:210). Drawing on Asad (2003), Goldstone argues thata person's habits and sensibilities must be disciplined just to the extent that one's sense of political belonging-and the invention of a distinction between "political" and "religious" belonging is crucial here-no longer derives primarily from one's religious community... but is instead found in the nation-state and its values.1 (2007:208)If we take the Maronite Catholic Church in Senegal as a proxy for the Lebanese homeland, I maintain, following Goldstone, that Lebanese secularism continues to mediate the interactions between religion and politics-and also between religion and ethnicity-while subject to the circumstances of being a minority community in Senegal (another postcolonial liberal democracy). Yet Lebanese diasporic secularism goes beyond Goldstone's model, where the political aims to supersede the religious in efforts to reify Dakar's Maronite Church as a Lebanese national church inclusive of all religious denominations.Members of ethnic groups are often categorized by belonging to a particular religious community, speaking the same language, and following certain social practices. Lebanese, in contrast, are characterized by religious pluralism. …

L’immigration maronite à Montréal date de la fin du XIXe siècle, mais c’est dans les années 1970 et 1990, à la suite des guerres au Liban, qu’il y a eu les plus grandes vagues. De rite syriaque antiochien, mais d’obédience catholique romaine, les immigrants maronites n’avaient pas d’église paroissiale propre. Les autorités diocésaines montréalaises avaient rassemblé les catholiques orientaux dans une même église dont le service était assuré par l’ordre melkite du Saint-Sauveur. En 1969, le père de l’ordre maronite mariamite Élias Najjar fonde avec des Égyptiens maronites la première paroisse. Cette étude se penche sur le processus qui a mené à la naissance de cette paroisse, son évolution à travers le temps et la vie de ses paroissiens. L’approche est narrative et descriptive, elle s’inscrit dans le cadre de l’histoire sociale et religieuse. Les résultats de l’analyse mettent en lumière une église nationale et un nouveau modèle de paroisse diasporique, différent du modèle classique, recelant des diversités infranationale, internationale et interconfessionnelle., Maronite immigration to Montreal started at the end of the 19th century. During the 1970s and 1990s, massive waves of Lebanese immigrants arrived to Montreal due to the wars in Lebanon. The Maronite Church is fully Roman Catholic but has a syriac-antiochean rite. Maronite immigrants did not have their own parish in Montreal and had to go for célébrations in the Oriental Catholic Church which was created by Montreal clerical authorities and served by Greek-Catholics (Melkites) of the Saint-Sauveur order. In 1969, Father Élias Najjar from the Maronite mariamite order, together with Maronites from Egypt, founded the first Maronite parish in Montreal. This thesis aims to study the process behind the constitution of the first parish, its evolution and the life of its parishioners by using a narrative and descriptive approach in the frame of the social and religious history. Results show a national Church and a new model of Maronite diasporic parish, different from the classical one, having subnational, international and inter-confessional diversities.

Taking into account the Maronites connections with the West the article rises aquestion: in what areas did the Syriac Christian community constitute a bridge between the East and the West? Although not all critical remarks of Kamāl Ṣalībī (b. 1929) on the Maronite view of history are accepted without reservation, his remark that “the awareness of the historic truth constitutes the ultimate foundation for the possibility to build a healthy society” seems valuable. The postulate of the verification of over-interpretation is always valid, nevertheless the discussion: what is a myth and what is the truth in the history of Lebanon continues.

This essay discusses the music of the Maronite Church, a Christian church based in Lebanon. It provides an overview of the chants used in religious services and examines their transmission and performance practice. The Maronites have always faced challenges to maintain their identity and preserve their heritage while adapting to their cultural milieu. Their religious music reflects the dichotomy between safeguarding tradition and accepting contemporary trends. Since the late nineteenth century, Maronites looking for better opportunities and political freedom have increasingly immigrated to the New World, where they face new challenges to preserving their religious identity while assimilating to the culture of their new homeland. Therefore, this essay reaches beyond the traditional geographic boundaries of the Maronite Church in Lebanon to examine issues in the transmission of Maronite music in the diaspora.

The Maronite Church is a branch of the Syro-Antiochean Church and one of the oldest among the Eastern churches. Modernisation, globalisation, emigration, civil war and other factors have together influenced many aspects of local religious expression, but the Maronite Church has succeeded in adapting to the social changes and the spiritual needs of its followers without losing its identity. This is reflected in the Maronite funeral liturgy, which is here examined. I aim to show how the role of music and poetry is perpetuating a sense of communal identity among the members of this religious group, and is creating boundaries with other ethnic and religious groups.

It was difficult, however, to persuade the mountaineers [Maronites of North Lebanon] that they were under the Sultan's jurisdiction, in such matters as these. ‘The Patriarch is our Sultan,’ was the...

In 1935, the French authorities in Grand Liban (1920-43) re-imposed the Regie tobacco monopoly on Syria and Lebanon unleashing a wave of labor demonstrations by tobacco farmers and workers that turned into a wide national and anticolonial opposition to the French Mandate and its economic policies in the region. This article examines the role played by Patriarch Antoine 'Arida (1863-1955), the head of the Lebanese Maronite Church and a former ally of the French in the national political resistance to the French. 'Arida's leading role in this national movement was met by diverse French responses in Grand Liban and France starting with a dismissal of the economic setback to Lebanese entrepreneurs and businessmen caused by the Regie monopoly and ending with the dismantling of 'Arida's power base and tarnishing his clerical reputation. A close examination of the conflict reveals new layers about the Maronite elite's relationship to the French colonial officers and to their own national partners, namely, the Lebanese Muslims. Against the prevalent emphasis on the harmonious and stable bonds between the French architects of Grand Liban and the Maronite community, the article brings to the fore the growing differences and disagreements between an important segment of the Maronite elite represented by 'Adda and the French colonial powers.' It also discloses the increasing restlessness of a group of Maronite entrepreneurs and clerical leaders due to decline in their economic profits following their integration into Grand Liban, thus expressing "nostalgia" for Petit Liban or the mutasarrifiyya (Reglement Organique, 1864-1918). The conflict between 'Arida and the French captured the uncertainties facing the Maronite elite in the transition from one historical reality to another. The first one was defined by the mutasarrifiyya, which led to the hegemony of a commercial Christian elite in Mount Lebanon and Beirut. This elite enjoyed exclusive socio-political privileges and was nurtured and protected by a conglomerate of European capitalists. The second historical reality was a broader configuration of power that went beyond Mount Lebanon and involved the annexation of several geographical areas with their diverse Muslim populations to Grand Liban. The new national entity, namely, Grand Liban, shared central political experiences with the Arab world and depended on the economic needs of Arab markets, especially Arab Muslim businessmen and consumers. The national ideology of Grand Liban thus depended in no small way on reconciling a local Christian vision of Lebanon to a multi-local Arab Muslim one. 'Arida's confrontation with the French throws light on all these complex features that marked the experiences of the Maronite elites.France and Lebanon: The Historical NarrativeThe prevalent scholarship on the French colonial period in Lebanon, known as the Mandate (1920-43), stresses Maronite loyalty to the French, and the clergy's conformity to French economic and political plans. Libanist discourse itself had emphasized the view that the Maronites relied on the French for "protection" as Christian minorities in the Arab Middle East. Deep "cultural" and "historical" ties compelled France to preserve the integrity of Grand Liban (and earlier Mount Lebanon) as a haven for Christians.2 A multifaceted and nuanced account of the interests and sensibilities of Maronite leaders at the time reveals the tensions and ambiguities in their relations with the French. French colonial strategy and economic investments were significant in shaping these relations. Their role, however, has to be gauged in connection to internal factors in the Lebanese context and local responses.3Albert Hourani writes of France's "special interests in the Levant," which culminated in its Mandate over Syria and Lebanon.4 These interests included curbing Arab nationalism, solidifying traditional or "potential" ties with "Francophile elements" and "strengthening the position of Lebanon vis-a-vis the interior," that is, the Muslim countries. …

This research discusses the importance of management for commercial enterprises but also for any organization and every institution of modern society. It aims to highlight the relationship between management and leadership. It examines the impact of leadership on the operation of a religious institution, namely the maronite Church. The goal is to offer this organization with the means to improve its performance and results in an ever changing environment that offers many challenges. The fundamental purpose of the maronite Church is spiritual and religious. Multiple objectives that the maronite Church is trying to achieve are constantly under the sign of this religious spirituality. In a world beset by political, social and economic crises as well as ethical questions, people are in desperate need of these abstract values, but they also require concrete achievements, work and efforts from the Church. This combination of values would exist in the maronite Church body through a proactive leadership that would initiate an innovative revolution in a strategic process able to adapt the mentality in the church. The systemic view of management of Peter DRUCKER is the cornerstone of this study. The leadership approach that we have developed aims to show that the managerial phenomenon finds its identity in an organizational context and can also develop in the context of a religious and organizational community., Cette recherche traite de l'importance du management pour les entreprises commerciales mais aussi pour toute organisation et toute institution de la société moderne. Elle vise à mettre en relief la relation entre le management et le leadership. Elle étudie l'impact du leadership sur le fonctionnement d'une institution confessionnelle, en l'occurrence l'Église maronite. L'objectif consiste à proposer à cette organisation confessionnelle des moyens lui permettant d'améliorer sa performance et ses résultats dans un environnement en pleine mutation qui lui impose beaucoup de défis. Le but fondamental de l'Église maronite est spirituel et religieux. Les multiples objectifs que l'Église maronite s'efforce de réaliser sont constamment placés sous le signe de cette spiritualité religieuse. Dans un monde en proie à des crises d'ordre politique, social, économique et à des questionnements d'ordre éthique, les hommes ont un besoin immense de ces valeurs abstraites mais ils exigent aussi des réalisations et un travail concret de la part de l'Église. Cette combinaison de valeurs offertes pourrait prendre corps dans l'Église maronite grâce à un leadership proactif qui initierait une révolution innovante dans un processus stratégique capable d'adapter les mentalités dans l'Église. La vue systémique du management de Peter DRUCKER est la pierre angulaire de cette étude. L'approche du leadership que nous avons développée vise à montrer que le phénomène managérial trouve son identité dans un contexte organisationnel et peut aussi se développer dans le cadre d'une communauté confessionnelle et organisationnelle.

Compte-rendu de Ussama Makdisi, Artillery of Heaven, American Missionaries and the Failed Conversion of the Middle East, Cornell University Press, New York, 2008, 262 pages.

International audience; [The specifics of the Lebanese state to officially hold multireligious character of this country, with a system of representative democracy taking it into account. Examination of geodemographic context then raises questions about possible unit features justifying the national character of this Mediterranean country. Although the analysis led to advocate a true Lebanese sovereignty, the latter is in an international and domestic context marked by constant and trends which impact on the Lebanese political balance.]; Les spécificités de l'État libanais tiennent au caractère officiellement pluriconfessionnel de ce pays, avec un système de démocratie représentative le prenant en compte. L'examen du contexte géodémographique permet ensuite de s'interroger sur les éventuels traits unitaires justifiant le caractère national de cet État méditerranéen. Même si l'analyse conduit à plaider en faveur d'une véritable souveraineté libanaise, cette dernière se situe dans un contexte international et interne marqué par des constantes et des évolutions exerçant des effets sur les équilibres politiques libanais.

Shi’i religious leadership lacked the institutional structure that existed for the Maronite community and to a lesser degree for the Sunni community. However, one can argue that the ’Amilis did exert pressure during the Mandate period to seek religious equality that led to the development of institutions, initially the Ja‘fari Court. The success of this can be viewed through a trajectory that began with the official recognition of the sect in 1926 and led in 1961 to the creation of the Higher Islamic Shi’i Council (al-Majlis-al-Islami al- Shi‘i al-A’la). The latter was achieved predominantly through the efforts of Sayyid Musa al-Sadr, who clearly understood the nature of Lebanese communitarianism. This trajectory includes the institutionalization of religious posts (judges, muftis, teachers), making Sunni and Shi‘i religious officials’ salaries equal, as well as the establishment of Shi’i funded schools such as al-Ja‘fariyya in Tyre. The establishment of this Council marks the concluding phase of official Shi’i communitarian integration modeled on the Maronite Church. The progression was made from a purely community-based religious title to sectarian religious leaders.

International audience; [The specifics of the Lebanese state to officially hold multireligious character of this country, with a system of representative democracy taking it into account. Examination of geodemographic context then raises questions about possible unit features justifying the national character of this Mediterranean country. Although the analysis led to advocate a true Lebanese sovereignty, the latter is in an international and domestic context marked by constant and trends which impact on the Lebanese political balance.]; Les spécificités de l'État libanais tiennent au caractère officiellement pluriconfessionnel de ce pays, avec un système de démocratie représentative le prenant en compte. L'examen du contexte géodémographique permet ensuite de s'interroger sur les éventuels traits unitaires justifiant le caractère national de cet État méditerranéen. Même si l'analyse conduit à plaider en faveur d'une véritable souveraineté libanaise, cette dernière se situe dans un contexte international et interne marqué par des constantes et des évolutions exerçant des effets sur les équilibres politiques libanais.