Naim Ateek
نعيم عتيق
Born: Beisan, Palestine
Domain: Civil Society & Religion
Recognition: GLOBAL
Biography
Naim Stifan Ateek, born in Beisan in 1937, is a Palestinian Anglican priest and the founding theologian of Palestinian liberation theology. His family was expelled from Beisan during the Nakba of 1948, an experience of dispossession that lies at the heart of his theological reflection on justice, land, and the meaning of scripture in the context of occupation. Ateek was the first to articulate a systematic Palestinian theology of liberation in his 1989 book 'Justice, and Only Justice: A Palestinian Theology of Liberation,' which reframed biblical interpretation from the perspective of an oppressed and displaced people. The work became a foundational text for Christians around the world grappling with the Palestinian question. In 1994 he founded the Sabeel Ecumenical Liberation Theology Center in Jerusalem, a grassroots movement among Palestinian Christians that links faith to the pursuit of justice and nonviolence. Through Sabeel and its international 'Friends of Sabeel' networks, Ateek built a global platform connecting Palestinian Christian witness to churches in Europe, North America, and beyond. His subsequent books, including 'A Palestinian Christian Cry for Reconciliation,' deepened a theology centered on nonviolence, reconciliation, and the dignity of all peoples. His work has been both influential and contested, drawing wide engagement in ecumenical and academic circles. Ateek remains one of the most internationally recognized figures of Palestinian Christianity, having given the small but historic Palestinian Christian community a distinctive theological voice in global religious discourse.
Why This Person Matters
Ateek founded Palestinian liberation theology and the Sabeel center, giving Palestinian Christians a globally influential theological voice rooted in justice and nonviolence.