Yet in the Dark Streets Shining — a book to inspire every believer in Christ to trust God, pursue justice, and persevere in love
Book Brief
This is the heartbreaking and inspiring account of a boy who grew up to become a spiritual and community leader in Bethlehem. Bishara Awad was just a child when his father was killed in the Israeli-Arab war of 1948. His Christian family was forced to flee their Jerusalem home and become destitute refugees, with Bishara and his siblings growing up in orphanages. In time, they learned the deepest meaning of forgiveness and became beacons of hope in their community. In 1979, Bishara launched Bethlehem Bible College, the first Bible college in the West Bank. This is the story of one remarkable Christian community told through the life of one remarkable man—a story that is as riveting as it is historically important.
Yet in the Dark Streets Shining: A Palestinian Story of Hope & Resilience in Bethlehem, by Bishara Awad and Mercy Aiken, Cliffrose Press, 2021, paperback, 217 pp. Available for purchase through Internet booksellers.
Interview with Mercy Aiken (co-author)
After twenty years of working in various Christian ministries and churches, Mercy’s faith in Christ was looking for fresh inspiration. She first came to Bethlehem in 2015 as a volunteer at Bethlehem Bible College and immediately fell in love with the community. As she watched their faith flourish in very difficult circumstances, Palestinian Christians became a source of hope. She spent the next few years coming and going from the college as a volunteer, where she developed a close friendship with Bishara Awad. Today Mercy continues to serve the Bethlehem community and is completing a master’s degree in Theology and Culture with an emphasis in Peacemaking at St. Stephen’s University (New Brunswick). She is the Relationships Manager at Network of Evangelicals for the Middle East and regularly leads tours to the Holy Land. She is honored that she was able to write Yet in the Dark Streets Shining with Bishara Awad in 2021.
The editors of ChristianZionism.org asked Gary Burge, professor of theology at Calvin Theological Seminary (Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA), to interview Mercy Aiken. To view the interview (click here): Mercy Aiken interview.
Book review by Fred Martin
“Headlines grab our attention; editorials provoke our thinking; but biographies touch our hearts,” writes Fred Martin in his incisive review of In the Dark Streets Shining. This biography, explains Martin, is “Bishara Awad’s moving story of learning how to live out his faith in Jesus as a Palestinian.” It is the “narrative of one man’s life as well as the history of the ongoing conflict in Palestine and Israel, but it does more than inform. It will inspire every believer in Christ to trust God, pursue justice, and persevere in love.”
Fred Martin graduated summa cum laude from Vanderbilt University with his B.A degree. He received both his Master of Divinity and Doctor of Divinity degrees from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. Ordained by the Evangelical Free Church of America, he served as pastor of a church in northern Minnesota for 36 years. He now resides in Eugene, Oregon. He is the author of “American Evangelicals & Modern Israel: A Plea for Tough Love.”
To view Fred’s book review (click here): Fred Martin review of In the Dark Streets Shining.