God, Faith, Empire, and Palestine

God, Faith, Empire, and Palestine October 21, 2018

Believing that there is something more powerful than the empire is an important and necessary step towards questioning it. God questions the omnipotence of empire. As well, seeing God on the other side of the empire queries and challenges the morality of the empire, which is a key link in its weakening. Faith in God becomes a strong factor in mobilizing people against the empire. Whereas armies might not dare to challenge the empire because of the power imbalance, faith n God can provide the necessary motivation to go against the empire even if doing so mean’s sacrificing one’s life. The empire thus provokes God and God becomes a factor in dismantling the empire. Phenomenologically, this has been seen repeatedly throughout history.

Mitri Raheb, Faith in the Face of Empire: The Bible through Palestinian Eyes (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis, 2014), 85-86.


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