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Faith in the Face of Empire, Part 1

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Erin Grimm

I am reading Mitri Raheb’s Faith in the Face of Empire on Palestinian theology. The biggest thing I have gotten from it is the move to not have an exceptionalist interpretation of the Bible. As Raheb persuasively and yet also briefly argues, the entire Old Testament and especially the New Testament are designed to undermine any sense of essentialist fragmentation that would stand in the way of peace.

Jesus was always uniting diverse constituents in a way that would promote peace. Raheb tries to do the same, while also arguing that Palestine has always at the nexus of empires. It is a very good book that I highly recommend.

About Christian Minus Christianity

Christian Minus Christianity is a budding community created to challenge imperialism, nationalism, and racism in many forms of US-American Christianity. It is a work of contextual theology created from the perspective of a white Christian of conscience.

Palestinian theologian Dr. Yousef Kamal AlKhouri, academic dean of Bethlehem Bible College, wrote about this project:

“I do think it’s important to dismantle imperial Christianity in a form, and for the reign of God to liberate the oppressed and God’s entire creation from systems of supremacy, exploitation, and destruction. I also believe that every theologian and Christian are doing theology from their own context, wherever they are. All theologies are contextual.”