Text,Tribulation and Testimony: The Bible in the Context of the Current Middle East

Abstract

In this article Clare Amos looks at some of the ways that the interpretation of the Bible has affected or might affect the current situation in Israel/Palestine. She explores the question using her own experience in the region as a backdrop. Particular attention is given to the dilemma confronted by Christian Palestinians in view of the way that the Old Testament has been used in some strands of Christian Zionism. She also looks in some detail at the story of Hagar and Ishmael in view of their important place in Islamic and Arab tradition. A distinctive reading of Gen. 15 and 16 is offered which suggests that the biblical writers ‘wrote in’ a demand for justice for Hagar and her descendants in the fabric of the covenant with Abraham. The author argues that the recovery of the importance of the ‘other’ (as in the work of Emmanuel Levinas) is important both for Christianity and Judaism.