This post is part of Marc H. Ellis’s “Exile and the Prophetic” feature for Mondoweiss. To read the entire series visit the archive page.
The Church and Society Council of the Church of Scotland just released a report, “The Inheritance of Abraham? A Report on the ‘Promised Land.’” It’s already causing quite a stir in the upper echelons of the Jewish world and no doubt in parts of the Christian world as well.
We’re back on the churches and BDS with its diverse forms and similar aims. These church documents are coming one after another now. In the main, they seek to end the occupation of East Jerusalem and the West Bank and to free Gaza from its prison-like reality.
Churches are still up for the Two-State solution, though “The Inheritance of Abraham” mostly emphasizes human and political rights. The document is short on specifying a particular resolution to the Israeli/Palestinian conflict.
Of course, there are flaws in this document. Ideologically-driven sensibilities skew its theological conclusions. No matter, it’s certainly a much more honest document than the one the Arab League presented in Washington a few days ago.
Christianity has come a long way. It has a long way to go. We all do.
How late to the game of justice the churches are. But, then, the Jewish community is moving in the opposite direction. It’s like the Jewish community wants to meet Christian history half-way and then some. Some Jews are becoming the type of Christians, Christians no longer want to be.
According to the Church of Scotland document, there are three ways of understanding the promises about land in the Bible: as a territorial guarantee, as a land held in trust and as a land with a universal mission.
Right from the beginning the trajectory of the document is obvious. If the Promised Land has anything to offer it’s a universal mission. Thus its theological conclusion:
From this examination of the various views in the Bible about the relation of land to the people of God, it can be concluded that Christians should not be supporting any claims by Jewish or any other people, to an exclusive or even privileged divine right to possess particular territory. It is a misuse of the Bible to use it as a topographic guide to settle contemporary conflictsover land.
In the Bible, God’s promises extend in hope to all land and people. Focused as they are on the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, these promises call for a commitment in every place to justice in a spirit of reconciliation.
I’m not going to bore you with the report’s specific Biblical arguments. Some are more sophisticated than others. Suffice it to say, they’re Christian to the core. Everything is filtered through Jesus Christ.
Christian triumphalism, even when it is supposedly limited to Christians, drives me up the proverbial wall. It’s in the Christian DNA, I suppose. No matter how far Christians stray from the notion that Christianity has the truth and that this particular truth will set more or less everyone free, it pops up again.
Until you get to liberation theology and beyond, Christian theology is about asserting Christianity’s self-evident truths. Like the tradition itself, Christian theology even on behalf of the poor and oppressed isn’t big on humility. Then again the oppressing powers aren’t big on humility either.
To me, Christian theology isn’t an end game. Contra “The Inheritance of Abraham,” people, including Jews settlers and Christian Zionists, can believe what they want to believe. Most of what we believe, including what we don’t believe so definitively, is as much a matter of upbringing and religious and cultural inheritance as it is conscious choice and critical evaluation.
All in all, it’s probably best to be an agnostic in most matters. Nonetheless, we have to take a stand on political issues. The Church of Scotland document does this when it sums up the Israel/Palestine situation and the responsibility of the churches as follows:
That the current situation is characterized by an inequality in power and therefore reconciliation can only be possible if the Israeli military occupation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem, and the blockade of Gaza, are ended.
The Israeli settlements in East Jerusalem and the West Bank are illegal under International Law.
The Church of Scotland, individuals and civil organisations should urge the UK government and the international community as a matter of urgency to put pressure on Israel to cease from the expansion of these settlements.
The Church of Scotland must remain in dialogue and fellowship with ecumenical partners to support concerns for justice and peace.
That the Church of Scotland should do nothing to promote the viability of the illegal settlements on Palestinian land.
The Church of Scotland should support projects which prioritise peacebuilding, poverty alleviation and the Palestinian economy.
That human rights of all peoples should be respected but this should include the right of return and /or compensation for Palestinian refugees.
That negotiations between the Government of Israel and the Palestinian Authority about peace with justice must resume at the earliest opportunity and the Church of Scotland should continue to put political pressure on all parties to commence such negotiations, and asking all parties to recognise the inequality in power which characterises this situation.
That there are safe rights of access to the sacred sites for the main religions in the area.
How should we judge “The Inheritance of Abraham” in political terms? Is it precise enough with a strength that calls out for action? If the actions the document urges were implemented would Palestinians be closer to justice? Or are these arguments, no matter the controversy engendered, only stop-gap measures that raise the temperature without any specific movement toward a solution?
Since no solution offered has gone anywhere, it may be wrong to ask of a church document more than it can deliver.
A few days ago Google recognized Palestine – virtually. Are church documents like “The Inheritance of Abraham” also providing a virtual recognition for a Palestine that still isn’t real?
Questions to ponder: Can the whole world recognize Palestine and still allow it to disappear? Or is there a cumulative moment when virtual recognition takes on a political force?
Tipping point, where art thou?
A big step would be if EU put its money where its mouth is, and joined BDS, instead of fostering tons of trade with Israel even while it opposes Israeli conduct and policy. Israel needs that trade a lot more than the EU. And Germany should quit gifting Israel nuclear capable subs; the German regime just gave Israel a 5th such sub, extending Israel’s nuclear bombing reach capability even farther across the whole world–including to USA. Of course the US still pretends it does not know if Israel even has a nuclear bomb stockpile. Uncle Sam is indeed a moron–but only when it comes to anything Israel. You can thank US congress and WH for that, and even more, the US political campaign finance system. It is spelling the end of any glory in the American flag.
I’m not going to bore you with the report’s specific Biblical arguments. Some are more sophisticated than others. Suffice it to say, they’re Christian to the core. Everything is filtered through Jesus Christ.
Imagine that, a Christian who filters everything through Jesus Christ! Whatever next? A Jew who filters everything through Judaism? Thank goodness no one could ever accuse you of that, Professor Ellis.
Is God humble? Sometimes Yes- He comes like a whispering voice. Other times No- He can be a pillar of fire.
Can Christian theology be like that too? One very old eastern chant says “We have found the true faith.” Is it humble for someone to sing that He has found the truth?
Yet one of the main saints is Doubting Thomas. Is it humble for the religion to say a person can have doubts while seeking the truth and still be Christian?
A proud religion and also the most humble?
Marc,
You write:
The Pentateuch predicts that Abraham would become the father of many nations. If Abraham becomes their father too, why would a land promise to Abraham be forever limited to only one nation no matter what?
The “just released report” is a replay of an earlier report released last September in Beirut by Pope Benedict XVI. The report actually was in the form of an Aposolic Exhortation that resulted from the Vatican’s 2010 Bishops’ Synod on Christianity in the Middle East. The initial draft that came out in 2010 at the end of synod included some of the elements mentioned in the report of the Church of Scotland about the “Promised Land” and the “Chosen People” and how both were being used to dispossess the Palestinians and justify the continued occupation.
Abe Foxman and the ADL objected strongly to the report in 2010 and must have succeeded since the wording of final Exhortation included a watered-down version of the initial conclusions, those that refused the exclusivity of the promise to any one people and the one that that pertained to one specific people as being the chosen one. The Vatican backtracked on the Chosen People by stating that the Jews are the Chosen People but that since Jesus was a Jew, he was automatically included and thereby all his followers also became chosen. The Vatican also backtracked in not including any referrence to the occupation in Palestine.
All this to say that no one should break out the champagne just yet; if Abe Foxman was able to twist some Vatican arms, he surely will be twisting some Scottish ones before he gives up.
Here’s the story as reported on the ADL site in 2010: