We are very pleased to announce the Vincent Harding Memorial Visiting Speaker – Rev. Dr. Mitri Raheb . He is the founder and president of Dar al-Kalima University College of Arts and Culture in Bethlehem, and the co-founder of Bright Stars of Bethlehem. Rev. Dr. Raheb is recognized as the most widely published Palestinian theologian. To date, he is the author and editor of 40 books, and his books and numerous articles have been translated so far into eleven languages. Rev. Dr. Raheb served as the senior pastor of the Christmas Lutheran Church in Bethlehem from June 1987 to May 2017 and as the President of the Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land from 2011-2016. He was elected in 2018 to the Palestinian National Council and to the Palestinian Central Council. A social entrepreneur, Rev. Dr. Raheb has founded several NGO?s including the Christian Academic Forum for Citizenship in the Arab World (CAFCAW). He is a founding and board member of the National Library of Palestine and a founding member and author of Kairos Palestine.

Professor Vincent Harding (1931-2014) was an accomplished and highly respected theologian, historian, author, and civil rights leader. He served as a speech writer to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr ., and was in the vanguard of promoting black studies as an academic discipline at colleges and universities throughout the country. Dr. Harding taught for 23 years as Professor of Religion and Social Transformation at the Iliff and was much loved by his students, colleagues, and the community.