Jad Hatem

This article by Lebanese philosopher Jad Hatem examines Eastern Christian approaches to violence, drawing on contemporary Middle Eastern thinkers. Proceeding through comparative study, it successively analyzes the theology of non-violence of Metropolitan Georges Khodr, the anti-violent ethics of Coptic Patriarch Shenouda III, the liberation theology of Palestinian Episcopalian Naim Ateek, and the mystical meditation of Lebanese Jesuit Michel Hayek. The central idea is that Eastern Christian Churches, marked by a permanent condition of vulnerability assimilated to "Holy Saturday," have developed distinct theological responses to violence, oscillating between eschatological non-violence, personalist ethics, and political engagement. The contribution of the article lies in shedding light on the internal coherence of these Eastern approaches, rooted in a kenotic Christology and an ecclesiology of witness, distinct from Western traditions on just war.

This article by Lebanese philosopher Jad Hatem offers an analytical study of the spiritual thought of Archbishop Georges Khodr as it unfolds in his work *If I Were to Recount the Unfolding of Childhood*, a semi-autobiographical, semi-fictional narrative written in Arabic. The approach is philosophical and theological, drawing on references ranging from Pseudo-Dionysius to Berdyaev, from Soloviev to Jung. The central idea is that the face constitutes the preeminent form of theophany: superior to all other manifestations of the divine, it articulates human epiphany and divine revelation. The article successively examines the face as prosopopany, the loving and friendly relationship as an anticipation of the Kingdom, the theme of spiritual androgyny, the role of the icon in the divine-human face-to-face encounter, and the transfiguration of the body into word. The theological contribution lies in the illumination of an incarnational Christology that validates profane love without dissolving it into the sacred.