Palestinian Liberation Theology. Seeking Social Justice Through a De-Zionization of the Holy Scriptures

This proposal focuses on the development of a Palestinian Liberation Theology as a consequence to the establishment of the sovereign State of Israel. In particular, the paper examines the ecumenical efforts set forth by Sabeel a liberation theology movement established in 1990 near Jerusalem. This center addresses both the question of promoting an inclusive non-Zionist interpretation of the scriptures and using the Bible as a tool for justice, peace, and nonviolence. This proposal will thus discuss the agency of this Christian movement, which operates both at individual level by offering a fresh interpretation of the Bible and its message to the believers, as well as at community level by establishing a modality of behavior for the Arab Christian communities in the context of the Arab-Israeli conflict. We suggest that the development of a Palestinian Liberation Theology represents a creative religious action enacted by a Christian minority in order to address the theological and social challenges raised by the establishment of a sovereign state which uses the Hebrew Bible, shared in part both by the Christians and the Jews, to legitimize it’s presence and expansion.