Pre-Work

This week we will continue our conversation on theology by looking at liberatory responses to injustice in Palestine. In class, we will break into discussion groups based on what pre-work you have completed. Please choose one of the following to read before sunday.

Mild: Open Letter

In 1985, Christians fighting apartheid in South Africa published the Kairos Document. The document sparked intense discussion and debate and pointed a way forward for the church in the struggle against apartheid. In December of 2009, an ecumenical group of Palestinian Christians published the Kairos Palestine Document urging Christians around the world to take up the struggle against Israeli apartheid and settler colonialism.

On November 1st, Kairos Palestine and Kairos South Africa issued an open letter to churches in the west about the ongoing genocide in Gaza.

Medium: Toward a Decolonial Reading of the Bible

In the last chapter of Decolonizing Palestine Rev. Dr. Mitri Raheb tackles reading the bible from a decolonial lens. In the excerpt, Raheb reads 1 Kings:21 and Matthew 5:5 to demonstrate a “hermeneutic of Palestinian liberation.”

Spicy: Chosen People?

This excerpt of Decolonizing Palestine includes the last chapter of the book which discusses the problem and possibility of election. It covers the idea of ‘chosen people’ how it presents a problem for Palestinians and what a decolonial understanding of election might look like.