My Friend George

Spirituality Column #65
February 5, 2008
Current in Carmel (IN) newspaper

My Friend George
By Bob Walters

We are, each one of us, unique.

Our Carmel neighbor George Bebawi (beh-BOW-ee), I think you’ll agree, is a little more unique than the rest of us.

Born in Cairo, Egypt, in 1940 to an Egyptian Christian physician and a Hungarian Jewish homemaker, George was raised from the age of 5 by his Hungarian Jewish refugee grandmother Sara … in an Islamic Cairo neighborhood.

As a Jew he studied the Torah and the Talmud in Hebrew, and also memorized the Arabic Koran – all of it – in order not to be too different from his Muslim neighbors and friends.

In his late teens George and his grandmother converted to Christianity, and George studied and became a priest in the Coptic Church, the Christian orthodox sect unique to Egypt.

In 1965 George won a scholarship to Cambridge University in England where by 1970 he completed his MLit and PhD in theology and philosophy. He also studied psychotherapy with Britain’s legendary Frank Lake.

George’s native language is Arabic, but he can speak and/or translate in Hebrew, Greek, Syriac, Aramaic, Latin, Coptic, German and English … and a couple of others I forget. His first “job” at Cambridge was translating the Coptic Bible into German. Because he is distrusting of modern Bible versions, for his Bible classes George typically translates straight from the Greek or Hebrew.

He is among the world’s most recognized scholars on Eastern Christianity, and has taught major world religions at universities in the Middle East, at St. John’s College, Nottingham, England, and Cambridge, from which he retired in 2004. That’s when he moved here to Carmel to marry May Rifka, an American of Lebanese descent.

George is an expert on Judaism, Islam, Buddhism and other religions. He was first assistant to the Coptic Bishop of Cairo. He worked in the Vatican. While at Nottingham he taught Christian meditation to Buddhist monks. He once publicly debated the Dalai Lama in Birmingham, England. He knows exactly what is so miserably wrong with The DaVinci Code … and can explain it.

And he loves to laugh. Recently deceased pastor Russ Blowers, who never missed George’s weekly Wednesday lectures at East 91st Street Christian Church, called George “a completely free man in Christ” … which is to say that George’s deep, passionate, joyous and spiritually profound faith in Christ is free from legalism and sectarian convention.

George is one very smart and unique dude, and it is impossible to ignore the pure power of the Holy Spirit when you’re around him.

Walters (rlwcom@aol.com) should probably write a book about this guy. Until then, see georgebebawi.com.  [Update 1-10-13 - Or come to his class at E91 Wednesday's 6:30-7:45 p.m..  It's free and open, and George is currently teaching 1 Corinthians. Contact me for details, or just show up!]