Chosen?: Reading the Bible Amid the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict by Walter Brueg

Description: Chosen? by Walter Brueggemann âœThe conflict is only â˜seemingly beyond solution, because all historical-political problems have solutions, if there is enough courage, honesty, and steadfastness.â In Chosen?, Walter Brueggemann explores the situation in modern-day Israel that raises questions for many... FORMAT Paperback LANGUAGE English CONDITION Brand New Publisher Description âœThe conflict is only â˜seemingly beyond solution, because all historical-political problems have solutions, if there is enough courage, honesty, and steadfastness.â In Chosen?, Walter Brueggemann explores the situation in modern-day Israel that raises questions for many Christians who are easily confused when reading biblical accounts of Gods saving actions with the Israelites. Are modern Israeli citizens the descendants of the Israelites in the Bible whom God called chosen? Was the promise of land to Moses permanent and irrevocable? What about others living in the promised land? How should we read the Bible in light of the modern situation? Who are the Zionists, and what do they say? In four chapters, Brueggemann addresses the main questions people have with regards to what the Bible has to say about this ongoing issue. A question-and-answer section with Walter Brueggemann, a glossary of terms, study guide, and guidelines for respectful dialogue are also included. The reader will get answers to their key questions about how to understand Gods promises to the biblical people often called Israel and the conflict between Israel and Palestine today. Author Biography Walter Brueggemann is William Marcellus McPheeters Professor Emeritus of Old Testament at Columbia Theological Seminary. An ordained minister in the United Church of Christ, he is the author of dozens of books, including Sabbath as Resistance: Saying No to the Culture of Now, Interrupting Silence: Gods Command to Speak Out, and Truth and Hope: Essays for a Perilous Age. Table of Contents Introduction1. Reading the Bible amid the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict 2. Gods Chosen People: Claim and Problem 3. Holy Land? 4. Zionism and Israel Q&A with Walter Brueggemann Glossary Study GuideIntroduction to the Study Guide Guidelines for Respectful Dialogue Session 1: Introduction and Reading the Bible amid the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict Session 2: Gods Chosen People Session 3: Holy Land? Session 4: Zionism and Israel and Q&A with Walter Brueggemann Additional Questionsâ"Based on âœQ&A with Walter Brueggemann Review "I commend this book to all those struggling with these questions and all who are concerned for peace and Justice in the Land called Holy." --Dr. Mitri Raheb, President of Diyar Consortium and Dar al-Kalima University College in Bethleham, President of the Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land, and Senior Pastor of the Evangelical Lutheran Christmas Church in Bethleham, Palestine "This important volume could be a "game changer" for pastors, congregational study, denominational policy, the academy, religious journals, and hopefully elected officials who continue to fail the Palestinians, Israelis, and their own constituents with decades of misguided Middle East policies." --Rev. Dr. Don Wagner, National Program Director, Friends of Sabeel-North America. "It is an evenhanded effort to enable a fresh conversation among all of us who share his unequivocal commitment to the strength and security of Israel with an equal commitment to a viable, secure future for the Palestinian community." - Rev. Vernon S. Broyles, III, Representative for Public Witness, Office of the General Assembly, Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) "Walter Brueggemann has done a great service to the Jewish people and to all who rely on the Hebrew Bible as a guide to life by demonstrating in this book that there is no straight line between these ancient holy texts and the oppression of the Palestinian people by an expansionist Zionist government in modern Israel. ? -- Rabbi Michael Lerner, editor of Tikkun magazine: A Quarterly Jewish and Interfaith Critique of Politics, Culture and Society, chair of the Network of Spiritual Progressives, and author of Jewish Renewal: A Path to Healing and Transformation and Embracing Israel/Palestine: A Strategy for Middle East Peace "No matter what you think about who Gods chosen people are, Professor Brueggemann is clear and starkly honest in his assessment of the untenable nature of the modern State of Israels treatment of the Palestinians...This book is a welcome refocusing of a faith lens that has been too often used in the past--especially in the context of the Israelis and Palestinians--to exclude and appropriate, rather than include and edify." --Dr. Peter Makari, Executive for the Middle East and Europe, Global Ministries of the United Church of Christ and Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), and author of Conflict and Cooperation: Christian-Muslim Relations in Contemporary Egypt. "This is a groundbreaking and terribly important book, because of the authority Brueggemann brings and because theological investigation is the key that will free Palestinians as well as Israelis from the current tragic impasse...As ever, Brueggemanns voice, his compassion, and his courage are a beacon, shining a light where it most needs to be shone." -- Mark Braverman, author, Fatal Embrace: Christians, Jews, and the Search for Peace in the Holy Land, Executive Director, Kairos USA "This book is written for Christians and Jews who take seriously Gods promises to Israel in the Hebrew Scripture but who are troubled by how contemporary Palestinians are being treated by modern Israelis...It is simply the best book on its subject that I have read. --Dr. Duncan Hanson, area supervisor for the Middle East, Europe and India for the Reformed Church in America "This may be the best guide yet to help the church talk about a matter of enormous importance for our generation." --Gary M. Burge, Professor of New Testament, Wheaton College & Graduate School and author of Jesus and the Land: The New Testament Challenge to Holy Land Theology. "Brueggemann offers an honest critique of a belief system that reduces faith to a self-serving ideology and warns against a Christian reading of the Bible that reduces it to an ideological prop for the state of Israel. While he does not critique the texts that are used to justify the oppression of the Palestinians, nor offer a solution to the Palestine-Israel conflict based on justice and international law, I do think the book is very useful for American Christians to read and discuss." --Naim Ateek Long Description eoeThe conflict is only e~seemingly beyond solution, because all historical-political problems have solutions, if there is enough courage, honesty, and steadfastness.eIn Chosen? , Walter Brueggemann explores the situation in modern-day Israel that raises questions for many Christians who are easily confused when reading biblical accounts of Gods saving actions with the Israelites. Are modern Israeli citizens the descendants of the Israelites in the Bible whom God called chosen? Was the promise of land to Moses permanent and irrevocable? What about others living in the promised land? How should we read the Bible in light of the modern situation? Who are the Zionists, and what do they say? In four chapters, Brueggemann addresses the main questions people have with regards to what the Bible has to say about this ongoing issue. A question-and-answer section with Walter Brueggemann, a glossary of terms, study guide, and guidelines for respectful dialogue are also included. The reader will get answers to their key questions about how to understand Gods promises to the biblical people often called Israel and the conflict between Israel and Palestine today. Review Quote "Walter Brueggemann has done a great service to the Jewish people and to all who rely on the Hebrew Bible as a guide to life by demonstrating in this book that there is no straight line between these ancient holy texts and the oppression of the Palestinian people by an expansionist Zionist government in modern Israel. ? Rabbi Michael Lerner, editor of Tikkun magazine: A Quarterly Jewish and Interfaith Critique of Politics, Culture and Society, chair of the Network of Spiritual Progressives, and author of Jewish Renewal: A Path to Healing and Transformation and Embracing Israel/Palestine: A Strategy for Middle East Peace Excerpt from Book The seemingly insolvable conflict between the state of Israel and the Palestinian people requires our best thinking, our steadfast courage, and a deep honesty about the politically possible. The conflict is only "seemingly" beyond solution, because all historical- political problems have solutions if there is enough courage, honesty, and steadfastness. The conflict is not a fixed, unchanging situation; rather, it is a dynamic historical reality that is dramatically changing and being redefined over time. As a result, it is imperative that our thinking not be settled in a fixed position but that it be regularly reevaluated in response to the changed and changing realities on the ground. If we should settle for a fixed solution, then we will have arrived at an ideology, which is quite unhelpful for real problems on the ground. In my own thinking, which is much influenced by my work as a Scripture scholar, I begin with a focus on the claim of Israel as Gods chosen people. That conviction is not in doubt in the Bible. It is a theological claim, moreover, that fits with compelling persuasiveness with the reality of Jews in the wake of World War II and the Shoah. Jews were indeed a vulnerable people whose requirement of a homeland was an over- riding urgency. Like many Christians, progressive and evangelical, I was grateful (and continue to be so) for the founding and prospering of the state of Israel as an embodiment of Gods chosen people. That much is expressed in my earlier book entitled The Land. I took "the holy land" to be the appropriate place for the chosen people of the Bible which anticipates the well-being of Israel that takes land and people together. Of course, much has changed since then in the linkage between the state of Israel and the destiny of the chosen people of God: The state of Israel has evolved into an immense military power, presumably with a nuclear capacity. There is no doubt that such an insistence on military power has been in part evoked by a hostile environment in which the state of Israel lives, including periodic attacks by neigh- boring states. The state of Israel has escalated (and continues to escalate) its occupation of the West Bank by an aggressive development of new settlements. The state of Israel has exhibited a massive indifference to the human rights of Palestinians. Thus, it seems to me that the state of Israel, in its present inclination and strategy, cannot expect much "positive play" from its identity as "Gods chosen people." As a consequence, my own judgment is that important initiatives must be taken to secure the human rights of Palestinians. This changed stance on my part is reflected in the new edition of my book on the land. It is a change, moreover, that is featured in the thinking of many critics who have been and continue to be fully committed to the security of the state of Israel, as am I. This rethinking is important both for political reasons and for more fundamental interpretive issues. A change in attitude and policy is important to help resolve the conflict. It is clear enough that the state of Israel will continue to show little restraint in its actions toward Palestinians as long as U.S. policy gives it a "blank check" along with commensurate financial backing. Such one-sided and unconditional support for the state of Israel is not finally in the interest of any party, for peace will come only with the legitimation of the political reality of both Israelis and Palestinians. As long as this issue remains unaddressed, destabilization will continue to be a threat to the larger region. It will not do for Christian readers of the Bible to reduce the Bible to an ideological prop for the state of Israel, as though support for Israel were a final outcome of biblical testimony. The dynamism of the Bible, with its complex interactions of the chosen people and other peoples, is fully attested, and we do well to see what is going on in the Bible itself that is complex and cannot be reduced to a simplistic defense of chosenness. The Bible itself knows better than that! It is my hope that the Christian community in the United States will cease to appeal to the Bible as a direct support for the state of Israel and will have the courage to deal with the political realities with- out being cowed by accusations of anti-Semitism. It is my further hope that U.S. Christians will become more vigorous advocates for human rights and will urge the U.S. government to back away from a one-dimensional ideology for the sake of political realism. It seems to many of us that the so-called two-state solution is a dead possibility, as Israel in its present stance will never permit a viable Palestinian state. We are required to do fresh thinking about human rights in the face of the capacity for power coupled with indifference and cynicism in the policies of the state of Israel, which is regularly immune to any concern for human rights. I have not changed my mind an iota about the status of Israel as Gods chosen people or about urgency for the security and well-being of the state of Israel. Certainly the Christian West continues to have much to answer for with its history of anti-Semitic attitudes and policies. None of that legacy, however, ought to cause blindness or indifference to political reality and the way in which uncriticized ideology does enormous damage to prospects for peace and for the hopes and historical possibilities of the vulnerable. The attempt to frame the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in terms of anti-Semitism is unpersuasive. More courage and honesty are required amid the realities of human domination and human suffering. As the hymn writer James Russell Lowell wrote in reference to the U.S. Civil War, "New occasions teach new duties." The current conflict, with its escalation of cynical violence, is a new occasion. New duties are now required. Details ISBN066426154X Author Walter Brueggemann Short Title CHOSEN Language English ISBN-10 066426154X ISBN-13 9780664261542 Media Book Format Paperback Year 2015 Imprint Westminster/John Knox Press,U.S. Subtitle Reading the Bible Amid the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict Place of Publication Louisville Country of Publication United States Illustrations Illustrations Publication Date 2015-09-09 UK Release Date 2015-09-09 AU Release Date 2015-09-09 NZ Release Date 2015-09-09 US Release Date 2015-09-09 Pages 114 Publisher Westminster/John Knox Press,U.S. Alternative 9781611646122 DEWEY 261.26 Audience General We've got this At The Nile, if you're looking for it, we've got it. With fast shipping, low prices, friendly service and well over a million items - you're bound to find what you want, at a price you'll love! TheNile_Item_ID:95067681;

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