Gospel in the air : 50 years of christian witness through radio in the Arab world

Abstract

Gospel in the Air is the first study of Christian Arab radio since Protestants began broadcasting Christian programs to the Arab World in the 1950s. It describes 50 years of history of this particular form of ecumenical and evangelical Christian witness in the Arab World. This study is the result of archival research, hundreds of interviews, and listening to hundreds of programs as broadcast form 20-26 September 2004. It focuses on the question of how the broadcasts of the Protestants in the Arab World are a witness to the Christian gospel. The main question asked, is to what extent these programs are indigenous and contextually suitable for the audiences which the producers and broadcasters hope to reach. This book is of interest to those who work in the fields of mission history, missiology, and the Churches of the Arab World. It is also of importance to people with an interest in transnational radio broadcasting and in radio history of the Arab World. Jos M. Strengholt (1959) has a master’s degree in History of the Middle East from the University of Utrecht in The Netherlands (1987). He has worked in Egypt since 1988, first as a journalist for Dutch media, covering the whole Arab World, and since 1997 as the manager of a television production company. He therefore has a wealth of experience in the realm of communication in the context of the Arab World. Most of the programs that he produces are made for the benefit of the Churches in the Arab World. He wrote this doctoral study Gospel in the Air between 2002 and 2007.