The Constitution of Christian Communal Boundaries and Spheres in Jordan

Geraldine Chatelard (1)

1 IFPO - Institut Français du Proche-Orient

In a historical perspective, and with a focus on the years immediately following independence, this article aims to clarify how Christian communal spheres were constituted in Jordan between the inception of the state in 1921 and the early 1970s. This is accomplished by exploring the dynamic relations between the Hashemite state and the two main Christian communities present in Jordan (the Greek Orthodox and the Roman Catholics) through secondary sources, several of them produced by members of these communities, and through interviews conducted in Jordan between 1996 and 1998. Beyond historiography, this article reflects on the factors that shaped different boundaries for the Orthodox and Catholic spheres with a view to understanding their respective openness or closeness toward the Jordanian Muslim-majority society at large.

Mots clés: Jordan; Church; State; Orthodox; Catholics

Mots clés: Jordanie; Église; État; Orthodoxes; Catholiques

Domaines: Histoire; Sociologie

Geraldine Chatelard. The Constitution of Christian Communal Boundaries and Spheres in Jordan. Journal of Church and State, 2010, pp.1-17. ⟨10.1093/jcs/csq079⟩. ⟨halshs-00511949⟩