Rereading Tawfiq Canaan's Life and Work: An Autobiography Revisited

This essay reinterprets Palestine’s religious and cultural landscape in the early twentieth century and, specifically, how this was lived and experienced by the Palestinian Christian population. It does so by revisiting the life and work of Lutheran physician and ethnographer Tawfiq Canaan (1882–1964) through his recently published autobiography. This newly available source chronicles Canaan’s Lutheran upbringing, medical career, and engagement with Western intellectual traditions, shedding light on how these facets of his life intersected. Together, they provide a valuable lens for examining the broader social, religious, and cultural dynamics of Palestine during the late Ottoman and Mandatory periods. Ultimately, as the essay argues, Canaan’s life and work reveal aspects of the rich religious worlds of Palestinians that are deeply intertwined with Palestinian culture and were common to – and often shared between – other religious communities. This perspective contributes to a more nuanced and holistic understanding of Palestinian (Christian) identity, emphasizing the organic nature of Palestinian lived religion.