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December 30, 2013 Monday
The Victim, the Vulnerable, and the Pretender to the Throne
Chicago
Chicago Theological Seminary has issued the following news release:
Christians begin Holy Week on Sunday and will immerse themselves in
texts that evoke the deeply contested geography of Jerusalem. Sadly,
this is a geography often locked in time for many U.S. Christians. It
remains First Century Common Era time, making invisible those who
struggle for the peace of the city today. Even so-called Holy Land
tours treat the city as a museum filled with curious artifacts of
ancient and medieval piety. It is left to the daily press to remind us
Jerusalem is no longer simply a Jewish city under Roman occupation,
but a rich and volatile mosaic of Israeli Jews, native born and recent
immigrant, Arabs, both Muslim and Christian, and small but vibrant
communities of Armenian and Greek Christians struggling to bear
witness not just to memory, but also to hope. To the many holy places
recalling events in the Hebrew and Christian scriptures are added
equally holy sites for Muslims, chief among them the Dome of the Rock,
and the al-Aqsa Mosque.
But today, as it has always been, Jerusalem is more than holy sites.
It is home to people caught up in the seemly endless and conflicting
narratives of vulnerability and victimization. For Palestinians,
Jerusalem represents the increasingly elusive symbol of a Palestinian
state with the eastern portion of their city as a national capital.
But life in Jerusalem for Palestinians is increasingly the life of a
victim, successive losses to Israel in 1948 and 1967 rendering them
stateless, a people under occupation. Home demolitions and expanding
settlements, the building of the separation barrier and life under
harsh border controls that bar most Palestinians from entering the
city or even visiting their holy sites create what Palestinians
experience as the relentless `Judaizing' of their future capital,
eroding what little hope remains for a viable state. Is it any wonder
in the face of all of this that Palestinians distrust the peace
process, especially one brokered by Israel's chief foreign benefactor
and military supplier?
The narrative of Palestinian victimization is real but, of course, it
is not the only one, for along with it is the narrative of Israeli
vulnerability. Rooted in a history of anti-Semitism at times nurtured
by the very Holy Week texts Christians cherish, and culminating in the
Holocaust, a narrative symbolized today by Yad Vashem, this narrative
of vulnerability is fueled by continued terrorist attacks, hostile
neighbors and, of course, the specter of Iran as a nuclear state. West
Bank and East Jerusalem Palestinians, living under the boot of Israeli
military occupation can be forgiven for finding this narrative of
vulnerability bewildering, just as rockets from Lebanon or Gaza
encourage many Israelis to view Palestinians as deserving victims.
Along with these narratives there is a third, that of fundamentalist
Christian Zionism, which views the geography of Jerusalem as little
more than a stage for the end times when Christ will return as the
pretender to a heavenly throne situated in a new Jerusalem. Because a
restoration of Israel in its ancient land is a crucial step in this
narrative, Christian Zionism today panders to Israel's narrative of
vulnerability and is indifferent, not only to Palestinians' narrative
of victimization, but often to the very presence and witness of
Palestinian/Arab Christians. In the end, of course, both Arab and
Israeli are vulnerable and victim to a narrative that ends in a
Kingdom dominated by Christ, rendering Muslims and Jews ultimately
irrelevant. This narrative might be relegated to theological debate
were it not for the fact that its adherents wield powerful influence
in the United States Congress, warping U.S. foreign policy in ways
that make real peacemaking difficult if not impossible. How else can
one explain the harsh rebuke of Secretary Clinton and President Obama
from members of Congress for vigorously criticizing Israel's
willingness to embarrass the vice-president of its staunchest ally
during his recent state visit?
Today these three narratives benefit only short term interests. For
the long term, they support continued occupation and gradual creation
of facts on the ground that make a Palestinian state impossible,
privileging injustice for the sake of security. They nurture dangerous
despair and bitter resentment in an Arab population that will
eventually far outnumber Israeli Jews trapped as perpetual and
increasingly insecure occupiers in their own land. They render the
United States impotent as a useful peacemaker.
Holy Week offers no political road map to peace. But it does call into
question the presuppositions that trap us in these narratives. In Holy
Week lordship is defined as servanthood. Vulnerability is embraced as
the way to reconciliation. Victims ultimately become those graced with
redemption. Perhaps in Holy Week we can view the competing narratives
both compassionately and critically, reading contemporary Jerusalem as
something more than an historical artifact or a contemporary mess.
Perhaps we can commit ourselves to becoming acquainted with Israelis
and Palestinians who refuse to be trapped by these deadly narratives,
offering solidarity even in the face of intimidation by those who are
served by the tragic status quo. Perhaps we can rekindle our own hope
as a first step toward commitment, a commitment to follow the Way of
Sorrows as the road to the Empty Tomb.
For more information please visit: http://www.ctschicago.edu
From: Baghdasarian
December 30, 2013 Monday
The Victim, the Vulnerable, and the Pretender to the Throne
Chicago
Chicago Theological Seminary has issued the following news release:
Christians begin Holy Week on Sunday and will immerse themselves in
texts that evoke the deeply contested geography of Jerusalem. Sadly,
this is a geography often locked in time for many U.S. Christians. It
remains First Century Common Era time, making invisible those who
struggle for the peace of the city today. Even so-called Holy Land
tours treat the city as a museum filled with curious artifacts of
ancient and medieval piety. It is left to the daily press to remind us
Jerusalem is no longer simply a Jewish city under Roman occupation,
but a rich and volatile mosaic of Israeli Jews, native born and recent
immigrant, Arabs, both Muslim and Christian, and small but vibrant
communities of Armenian and Greek Christians struggling to bear
witness not just to memory, but also to hope. To the many holy places
recalling events in the Hebrew and Christian scriptures are added
equally holy sites for Muslims, chief among them the Dome of the Rock,
and the al-Aqsa Mosque.
But today, as it has always been, Jerusalem is more than holy sites.
It is home to people caught up in the seemly endless and conflicting
narratives of vulnerability and victimization. For Palestinians,
Jerusalem represents the increasingly elusive symbol of a Palestinian
state with the eastern portion of their city as a national capital.
But life in Jerusalem for Palestinians is increasingly the life of a
victim, successive losses to Israel in 1948 and 1967 rendering them
stateless, a people under occupation. Home demolitions and expanding
settlements, the building of the separation barrier and life under
harsh border controls that bar most Palestinians from entering the
city or even visiting their holy sites create what Palestinians
experience as the relentless `Judaizing' of their future capital,
eroding what little hope remains for a viable state. Is it any wonder
in the face of all of this that Palestinians distrust the peace
process, especially one brokered by Israel's chief foreign benefactor
and military supplier?
The narrative of Palestinian victimization is real but, of course, it
is not the only one, for along with it is the narrative of Israeli
vulnerability. Rooted in a history of anti-Semitism at times nurtured
by the very Holy Week texts Christians cherish, and culminating in the
Holocaust, a narrative symbolized today by Yad Vashem, this narrative
of vulnerability is fueled by continued terrorist attacks, hostile
neighbors and, of course, the specter of Iran as a nuclear state. West
Bank and East Jerusalem Palestinians, living under the boot of Israeli
military occupation can be forgiven for finding this narrative of
vulnerability bewildering, just as rockets from Lebanon or Gaza
encourage many Israelis to view Palestinians as deserving victims.
Along with these narratives there is a third, that of fundamentalist
Christian Zionism, which views the geography of Jerusalem as little
more than a stage for the end times when Christ will return as the
pretender to a heavenly throne situated in a new Jerusalem. Because a
restoration of Israel in its ancient land is a crucial step in this
narrative, Christian Zionism today panders to Israel's narrative of
vulnerability and is indifferent, not only to Palestinians' narrative
of victimization, but often to the very presence and witness of
Palestinian/Arab Christians. In the end, of course, both Arab and
Israeli are vulnerable and victim to a narrative that ends in a
Kingdom dominated by Christ, rendering Muslims and Jews ultimately
irrelevant. This narrative might be relegated to theological debate
were it not for the fact that its adherents wield powerful influence
in the United States Congress, warping U.S. foreign policy in ways
that make real peacemaking difficult if not impossible. How else can
one explain the harsh rebuke of Secretary Clinton and President Obama
from members of Congress for vigorously criticizing Israel's
willingness to embarrass the vice-president of its staunchest ally
during his recent state visit?
Today these three narratives benefit only short term interests. For
the long term, they support continued occupation and gradual creation
of facts on the ground that make a Palestinian state impossible,
privileging injustice for the sake of security. They nurture dangerous
despair and bitter resentment in an Arab population that will
eventually far outnumber Israeli Jews trapped as perpetual and
increasingly insecure occupiers in their own land. They render the
United States impotent as a useful peacemaker.
Holy Week offers no political road map to peace. But it does call into
question the presuppositions that trap us in these narratives. In Holy
Week lordship is defined as servanthood. Vulnerability is embraced as
the way to reconciliation. Victims ultimately become those graced with
redemption. Perhaps in Holy Week we can view the competing narratives
both compassionately and critically, reading contemporary Jerusalem as
something more than an historical artifact or a contemporary mess.
Perhaps we can commit ourselves to becoming acquainted with Israelis
and Palestinians who refuse to be trapped by these deadly narratives,
offering solidarity even in the face of intimidation by those who are
served by the tragic status quo. Perhaps we can rekindle our own hope
as a first step toward commitment, a commitment to follow the Way of
Sorrows as the road to the Empty Tomb.
For more information please visit: http://www.ctschicago.edu
From: Baghdasarian