Rania Hendy is from Cairo, Egypt. She received a Langham Scholarship in 2018 and has recently graduated with her PhD from Asbury Theological Seminary, Kentucky (US). She is a Professor in the Old Testament at the Evangelical Theological Seminary in Cairo (ETSC) and is the first evangelical woman in Egypt and the Middle East to have a PhD in this field!
Pursuing her calling against the odds
She graduated from a Masters of Divinity in 2005, and her Master’s of Theology in 2007 and felt called to further her studies with a PhD. She knew it was going to be a challenge, she shares, “The tuition is extremely high for us. I always felt the need to do my PhD, but I knew that it was impossible because a married woman here in Egypt cannot leave her family and go for a long time to study. Nobody would understand that.”
Rania’s son was unable to study in Egypt, so the option was to send him abroad to study. She shares, “I started to dream, ‘What if we can go together, me and my son?’ This way the extended family especially, would understand that I’m going with my son to take care of him. That would be acceptable for the family.”
She was given the contact of Langham Partnership, and after what she thought was a phone call to ask for a college recommendation she was sent the application to apply for a Scholarship. The opportunity to apply for the scholarship was an answered prayer. She shares, “I started to pray in this direction and I said, Lord, it’s really hard to leave my husband all of that time. So I need real confirmation from you, to clarify for me and my husband that this is the right direction and this is the right time. And Langham was one of the great confirmations from the Lord.”
God opened the doors
Rania continues, “God started to show me things like that and do miracles with me. So first of all, I started to apply for places close to each other, university and seminary. I applied for Asbury Seminary and my son for Asbury University which is across the street, and the first answer was both of us got accepted! The second answer was the Langham scholarship. After starting my application, I was like, ‘Lord, are you serious?’ I didn’t know anything about Langham. It was like God was telling me that I have a call for you and I will fulfill everything, all your needs according to my riches in glory. I was so blessed by their scholarship.”
Rania studied the Old Testament, and for her dissertation she wrote about Isaiah from chapters 40 to 55. Her PhD is titled, “Second Isaianic mirroring of the creative imagination of Yahweh in light of the philosophical imagination of Samuel Taylor Coleridge”. Rania shares, “Isaiah had a very highly imaginative mind as they described him. But they don’t explain ‘What do they mean by imaginative mind?’ So I took it from there and started to study about the philosophy of imagination. I came across Samuel Taylor Coleridge… he’s a Christian philosopher and he wrote about imagination from a Christian perspective. I used his perspective to reflect on Isaiah’s imagination.”
After almost six years of study, Rania graduated in 2024. “God’s grace was amazing to sustain me to finish in this time. I benefited a lot from the program because I was able to be exposed to many different areas in the Old Testament.”
Using her gifts to inspire the next generation of women and men
Since completing her studies, God has opened many opportunities for Rania. She shares, “Having a PhD does not only enable me to lecture in the seminary, but it opens many doors. From the time I returned back, I have been invited to many seminars outside of the seminary, involved in panel discussions and in big conferences. So having a PhD is I think it’s very crucial because people appreciate you more, appreciate your knowledge more. I think also for me, I feel like (which is God’s grace on me) being a woman in Egypt, so specialised in the Old Testament, which people see is really difficult…this is very appreciable for many people around me. I try to be a role model for other women. Our seminary is not small, we have over 700 students studying… but we have a lot of women now. I try to inspire them, but also inspire men when I tell the story about how my husband was supporting me, because he felt like we, together, are fulfilling God’s call.”
She continues, “When I first started to discuss the idea of going to the USA to study my PhD with my husband, I was so touched when he said. ‘I don’t think that God was surprised to know that you’re married when he called you. He knew. He knows that you’re married, so his calling to you is also my calling.’ In Egypt it’s rare to see examples of men encouraging women and supporting them to excel and to do the hard things like that. I am so thankful and grateful for my husband. I’m praying that God may use me in people’s life in general, whether women or men, to see our example and I tell them, men, please encourage your women because they have the potential to serve God in a tremendous way and you play a huge part in their lives.”
Rania is grateful for the Langham scholarship, not just financially as she would not have been able to complete her PhD without it, but also for the care and support with the provision of a mentor during her studies. She shares, “I’m really so grateful…I wouldn’t have been able to impact so many lives as I’m doing now. Langham doesn’t only support me financially, they’ve been supporting me spiritually as well. I have a mentor and he’s been with me during the whole process, encouraging me, praying with me, coming to visit me every year at Asbury. It’s kind of like they are trying to take care of everything, including your own spiritual life because the journey is hard; psychologically, physically, spiritually, so that’s the holistic pastoral care. I’m so blessed to be part of Langham.”
Prayer Points
- Thank God for Rania and her obedience to God’s call on her life and for the impact she is having in Egypt. Pray for more opportunities to teach and share her story.
- Thank God for the Langham Scholar program that is supporting many people in the Majority World to further their Biblical Studies.