Shadia Qubti

My spirituality has emerged from the margins of my society. As a Palestinian among majority Israeli population. As a Palestinian Christian among a majority Palestinian Muslim minority. And as an evangelical among a predominantly traditional Christian community. And lastly, as a committed peacemaker in an intractable conflict setting. As a minority member, my faith is my source of hope and resilience – despite or because of our circumstances, God is with us. It is only fitting that I would enroll in the Masters in Indigenous and Interreligious Studies program in Vancouver School of Theology. On one hand, I wanted to study theology and on the other hand, I want to learn from other minority contexts. VST offered me the best combination of both of my desires – the richness of its theological content as well as the diversity of fellow students who come from different ethnic, religious, and theological backgrounds than myself.

I hope to utilize my education at VST to seek possibilities to further my academic career. I also hope to use this time to shape my own process theological convictions. My experience working in peacemaking in Israel and Palestine evokes existential questions: namely what is our hope for the future, or where is God in the midst of our suffering. My lived experience was consumed by survival and reaction, and I feel this is an opportunity to contemplate, reflect, and respond. As an example, here is a podcast episode I co-produced that highlights the impact of COVID-19 on Palestinian men and women living under occupation, or as we called the podcast, Women Behind the Wall.

Find Shadia’s podcast at www.womenbehindthewall.com.

Shadia Qubti is a Palestinian Christian who has worked in peace building and advocacy initiatives for 15 years. She is particularly focused on amplifying the voices and perspectives of women and other minorities in a variety of ways, one of which was in the Women Behind the Wall podcast. Shadia was born and raised in Nazareth. She studied International Relations and English Language at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, and Conflict Resolution and Nonviolent Action at Trinity Dublin College in Ireland.