By Lani Lanchester

What does it mean to confess Christ in the land where he was born, crucified, and raised? In The Land of Christ: A Palestinian Cry, Rev. Dr. Yohanna Katanacho, theologian and Academic Dean at Nazareth Evangelical College, answers with honesty, courage, and hope.

This is not a detached academic study of “Holy Land theology.” It is a profoundly personal book, written by a Palestinian Christian who has lived the realities of occupation, war, and religious struggle. Katanacho begins by sharing this testimony: as a young man, he rejected Christianity because he was unconvinced of its justice. In a land where his enemies carried M-16s, how could “love your enemies” possibly make sense? A supernatural encounter with God led to belief but Katancho still wrestled deeply with this call to love his enemies. One evening, confronted by three soldiers who shoved rifles in his face, he found himself saying the words that startled them and himself: “I have a heart, here, that loves you.” From that moment on, Katanacho committed to a theology grounded in radical love.

That decision shapes every page of this book. For Katanacho, love is not sentiment but obedience. Out of that posture, he dares to ask the hardest questions: Does God want Palestinians to leave? Do they have a right to live in their ancestral land? What are the borders of the land, and who is Israel? His theological exploration of the Abrahamic covenant is the golden thread of the book. Digging into the Hebrew text of Genesis 12:1-3, he reasons that the divine promise is conditional: Abraham and his descendants are called to be a blessing so that all nations might be blessed. This imperative, so often mistranslated as future tense, is key. The covenant does not grant unconditional land ownership. Instead, it calls Israel, and by extension the Church to embody blessing for the world.

Katanacho goes further: the New Testament reframes the covenant entirely in Christ. As the second Adam, Jesus is entrusted with the whole earth. Christ is the true heir, and the “Land of Christ” is without borders. The promises to Abraham are fulfilled not in conquest, but in the cross, in which every nation is reconciled.

The book concludes with urgency. Katancho recalls the Kairos Palestine Document, a united plea from the churches of the Holy Land more than fifteen years ago. Palestinian Christians, now less than two percent of the population, beg the global church for solidarity, prayer, and action. As the document declares, “Jerusalem, city of reconciliation, has become a city of discrimination and exclusion.” and yet, Katanacho insists, hope remains: the way of Christ is still the way of love, justice, and peace. The Land of Christ: a Palestinian Cry is both theology and testimony, lament and hope. It is a book that refuses to separate the Bible from the land, or faith from justice. For Christians everywhere, it is a prophetic call to re-examine Scripture, to stand with the oppressed, and to live into the radical love of Christ.