Chosen?: Reading the Bible Amid the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict - Softcover

Brueggemann, Walter

Softcover

ISBN 10: 066426154X ISBN 13: 9780664261542

Publisher: Westminster John Knox Press, 2015

Synopsis

"The conflict is only 'seemingly' beyond solution, because all historical-political problems have solutions, if there is enough courage, honesty, and steadfastness."

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 God's 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 God's promises to the biblical people often called Israel and the conflict between Israel and Palestine today.

About this title

About the Author:

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; Introduction to the Old Testament, Second Edition; Mandate to Difference; and From Whom No Secrets Are Hid.

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 God's chosen people are, Professor Brueggemann is clear and starkly honest in his assessment of the untenable nature of the modern State of Israel's 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, Brueggemann's 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 God's 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

About this edition

• Publisher: Westminster John Knox Press
• Publication date: 2015
• ISBN 10: 066426154X
• ISBN 13: 9780664261542
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 114