Book Review

Hanna Massad, Pastor from Gaza

Reviewed by J. Nelson Jennings

Published in Global Missiology, www.globalmissiology.org, April 2019

Massad, Hanna (2018). Pastor from Gaza. CMG Publishing, 145 pp., ISBN: 978-0692137765.

This is a remarkable and unique book. Where else can you find a personal, inspirational, informative, and gripping series of accounts by a Christian born and raised in Gaza, who remains committed to serving there despite ongoing obstacles and hardships? Especially since I know Hanna Massad personally, I can wholeheartedly recommend this readable book to anyone interested in Gaza and related matters. The book’s approach is not only from an explicitly Christian perspective but also from a posture of humane concern about finding constructive ways forward in what normally appears to be a hopeless and intractable situation.

Massad’s readable prose starts with his background as a Palestinian, giving readers his own perspective of history in connection with his family’s personal experience. Tragedies in the Gazan Christian community are described, as is Massad’s life with his wife Suhad, their children, and their courageous service. Suhad makes her own written contributions as well, giving the book even more of a personal touch to the wider issues that inevitably enter into the story. The plight of Christians and refugees in the Middle East is not whitewashed, all the while exhibiting compassion and understanding for all inhabitants of the region, be they Jewish, Arab, or otherwise.

The book can be used for small group discussion as well as for personal education and inspiration. Accounts are neither sensationalized nor softened in their reality and impact on real life people. Paperback and electronic versions are readily available.