Suchergebnisse

The failure of the left in Britain to achieve its objectives in the past, and the rapidly changing nature of popular involvement in politics in recent years, both suggest the need for a reappraisal of socialist strategy in the 1980s. The Popular and the Political explores the need to redefine socialism in terms which extend beyond 'statism', which has been the mark of both the social democracy of the last two Labour government and the Marxist left, and which reflect the changing nature of contemporary Britain.The essays presented here consider social policy in a wide range o

Studying the Bible in Jerusalem raises unique exegetical questions. The establishment of the state-for-Jews (Judenstaat) inevitably led to the expulsion of Arabs, while Jerusalem itself remains a major issue of the Israeli-Palestinian dispute. The conflict has international implications also, highlighted since 11 September 2001. The killings on that day precipitated the 'War on Terrorism' and the USA's 'Civilizing Crusade', with more to come. The 'Christian Right' in the US, with its characteristic interpretation of the Bible, has considerable influence over US policy. The establishment biblical academy, however, shows few signs of moral perturbation arising from the fact that the Bible is alleged to justify the political arrangements in the Holy Land. This article argues that biblical scholars, in addition to attending to the original contexts of the biblical authors, ought to engage in a moral evaluation of their writings, particularly those land traditions that continue to fuel violence, not least in the Land of the Bible itself. Biblical scholars have the moral responsibility to engage in real, contemporary issues with a view to helping construct a better world.

Even for secular Zionists, Jewish claims to exclusive title to 'the land of Israel' rest on the Bible. Although Political Zionism was an assault on Judaism, its settlement policy today has no more ardent supporters than Religious Zionists. The Bible salves whatever pangs of conscience they might have about the expulsion of the Palestinians: normal rules of morality are suspended, and ethnic cleansing is applauded. However, the Bible's land traditions pose fundamental moral questions, relating both to their content—they mandate the ethnic cleansing of Canaan—and to the ways they have been deployed in favour of various colonial enterprises, including Zionism. Nevertheless, neither has been sufficient to bother the biblical academy to the point of critical opposition. Academics have an ethical responsibility, and are accountable to a wider public. This essay proposes that a moral exegesis of the Bible and an ethical evaluation of its interpretation, not least as it refers to the Holy Land, is indispensable today.

The biblical claim of the divine promise of land is integrally linked with a divine mandate to exterminate the indigenous people. The narrative has supported virtually all Western colonizing enterprises (e.g. in Latin America, South Africa, Palestine), resulting in the suffering of millions of people, and loss of respect for the Bible. According to modern secular standards of human and political rights, what the biblical narrative calls for are war-crimes and crimes against humanity. In this provocative and compelling study, Prior protests at the neglect of the moral question in conventional b