This book reveals and counteracts the misuse of biblical texts and figures in political theology, in an attempt to decolonialize the reading of the Old Testament. In the framework of Critical Theory, the book questions readings that inform the State of Israel's military apparatus. It embraces Martin Buber’s pacifist vision and Edward Said’s perspective on Orientalism, influenced by critical authors such as Amnon Raz Krakotzkin, Ilan Pappé, Shlomo Sand, Idith Zertal, and Enrique Dussel’s.
This book reveals and counteracts the misuse of biblical texts and figures in political theology, in an attempt to decolonialize the reading of the Old Testament. In the framework of Critical Theory, the book questions readings that inform the State of Israel's military apparatus. It embraces Martin Buber's pacifist vision and Edward Said's perspective on Orientalism, influenced by critical authors such as Amnon Raz Krakotzkin, Ilan Pappé, Shlomo Sand, Idith Zertal, and Enrique Dussel's.
At the crossroads of ethics, poetics and politics, this innovative book outlines a series of notes to decolonize political theology. The author proposes counter-hegemonic forms of reading, which deconstruct domination by embracing fragility. The book opens with a diapason of prejudicelessness as a decolonial key, focusing on prejudices that hinder critical attention to a colonial political theology that perpetuates hatred. The first set of notes aims to ‘de-orientalize the Semite’ by reading midrashic and biblical texts in the present context, the second seeks to decolonize language by exploring the power of translation, and the third ponders decolonial theo-logics to outline a justice of the other. Connecting a number of fields, authors, and epistemologies, the book addresses the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and brings together Jewish thought, continental philosophy, and Latin American perspectives. It engages with a range of thinkers, including Benjamin and Arendt, and features an interview with Enrique Dussel as well as a foreword by Gil Anidjar. This is an important methodological proposal for interdisciplinary and intercultural political theology and a valuable contribution towards rethinking the paradigm of political theology beyond its Eurocentric and colonialist premises.
This work offers a reconstruction of the politics of ancient Israel within the wider political environment of the ancient Near East. Gottwald begins by questioning the view of some biblical scholars that the primary factor influencing Israel's political evolution was its religion.
“David”—a name mentioned nearly a thousand times in the Bible! Shepherd boy, musician, singer-songwriter, prophet and king (and part-time priest!), husband and father, and a God-gifted genius at close, hand-to-hand combat. An extraordinary man. This close reading of the life of David—all the way from where teenage David is first introduced (1 Sam 16) to his death (1 Kgs 2)—gives an opportunity to see the wonderful, the awful, and the (shockingly) ugly elements of his life. There are some difficult texts and difficult lessons. Significant matters arise, such as the nature of prayer, the importance of forgiveness, abuse, the nature of leadership, death and enemies, understanding patriarchy in biblical texts, spiritual gifts, and evil spirits. Readers will discover that these texts speak loudly and clearly to the issues of our day. Beginning with the Former Prophets (1 and 2 Samuel, 1 Kings) for the narrator’s point of view, this book also examines the Psalms to give an understanding of what was happening for David on the inside. Undertaken as a devotional exercise, the aim of these studies is always that of seeing Jesus more clearly and living more securely in the shadow of his wing.
On the famous mappa mundi, housed in Hereford Cathedral, Jerusalem is at the center of the world. For Jews, Christians, and Muslims, this holy city represents not merely a physical focus for their faith, but a theological and spiritual emblem: simultaneously a very earthly city and a uniquely celestial kingdom. How has this insignificant city become such a critical location in geopolitics and psychogeography? I'm Talking about Jerusalem explores the many and varied meanings and resonances of "Jerusalem"--in history, prophecy, theology, literature, imagery, and myth. "Jerusalem" appears 806 times in the Bible. For the Jews, Jerusalem is not simply a significant physical place, past and present, but a religious concept transcending time. For Christians, it is the site of Jesus's last days--and of countless Christian structures, relics, and remains. Islamic tradition has celebrated the city with seventeen names; it was a key stage in Muhammad's night journey and became Islam's third holiest place of pilgrimage. For all three Abrahamic religions, Jerusalem is a major pilgrimage destination. Aldous Huxley wrote, "We have each of us our Jerusalem"--a vision of what life might be. I'm Talking about Jerusalem considers Jerusalem as a political goal and eternal home; its place in Jewish, Christian, and Islamic eschatology; and as a metaphor for all we yearn for in this world and the next. A place of perfection and conclusion, a golden city, a paradise to be attained after death.
Throughout the history of European imperialism the grand narratives of the Bible have been used to justify settler-colonialism. "The Zionist Bible" explores the ways in which modern political Zionism and Israeli militarism have used the Bible - notably the Book of Joshua and its description of the entry of the Israelites into the Promised Land - as an agent of oppression and to support settler-colonialism in Palestine. The rise of messianic Zionism in the late 1960s saw the beginnings of a Jewish theology of zealotocracy, based on the militant land traditions of the Bible and justifying the destruction of the previous inhabitants. "The Zionist Bible" examines how the birth and growth of the State of Israel has been shaped by this Zionist reading of the Bible, how it has refashioned Israeli-Jewish collective memory, erased and renamed Palestinian topography, and how critical responses to this reading have challenged both Jewish and Palestinian nationalism.
Abraham Lincoln did not take his family Bible to the White House. And the reason he did not use the Bible in his first inaugural address was not because it failed to arrive in his baggage. Freed concentrates on what Abraham Lincoln himself says instead of what others say about him, which yields insights into understanding Lincoln's speech before the Young Men's Lyceum, his reply to the "Loyal Colored People of Baltimore," and his Second Inaugural Address. The author shows that much of what has been written about Lincoln's knowledge of the Bible and its influence on his thought is myth. Although his language was replete with vocabulary from the Bible, Lincoln's knowledge of it was superficial, and he did not use the Bible to promote religion. He was always a politician, but with a moral sensitivity. With the Declaration of Independence and the US Constitution, he used the Bible to help him achieve his political ambitions and to support the emancipation of slaves. A unique book on a subject never treated so thoroughly, this is a must-read for all Lincoln admirers.
The Oxford Handbook of Postcolonial Biblical Criticism is a comprehensive treatment of a relatively new form of scholarship-one of the most compelling and contested theories to emerge in recent times, and a topic that actively seeks to expand the ways in which the Bible can be studied, interpreted, and applied. Generally speaking, postcolonialism aims to critique and dismantle hegemonic worldviews and power structures, while giving voice to previously marginalized peoples and systems of thought. This approach, often varied in form, has inevitably engaged with the text and reception of the Bible, a scripture that Western colonizers introduced to-and often imposed upon-their colonial subjects. With a globally diverse list of contributors, the Handbook aims to cover the perspective and context of the authors of the Bible, as well as the modern experiences of imperialism, resistance, decolonization, and nationalism. Moreover, the volume includes both a theoretical overview and an exploration of how the field intersects with related areas, such as gender studies, race, postmodernism, and liberation theology.