Abstract
Two complementing but not identical phenomena have resurfaced lately in the Christian world: philo-semitism and orientalism. Most growth has been among the evangelical forms of Christianity mushrooming in much of Latin America. In its simplest form, philo-semitism is “support or admiration for the Jewish people by non-Jews” (Rubinstein and Rubinstein), while orientalism (Said) serves as a colonial framework that is used to understand the unfamiliar and the strange in order to make the people of the Middle East appear different and threatening. This general process of stereotyping is one that, according to Said, serves as a tool for colonialism. In time, however, this colonial stance has not only impacted the regional territories, but transpired to other—more distant—colonial subjects, who adopt it as a self-redeeming narrative. Both philo-semitism and orientalism appear to have diverse motivations, especially when straddling global north and south. While studies in the USA and Europe have been numerous, it has become increasingly obvious that these phenomena are much more widespread and diverse, and cannot be interpreted purely in North American nor European terms. To this end, this fieldwork-based research note focuses on the orientalist and philo-semitic hermeneutics that have jointly flourished in Puerto Rico, a growing tendency among some evangelical congregations in this still colonial Latin American island.
Notes
This theological reasoning was learned through sermons and biblical studies conducted at the church. Key audiovisual material was used in one of the biblical studies that I attended. This material was part of a series of lectures offered by a Puerto Rican evangelist called Julio E Ribas. Ribas is part of a ministry called “Momentos Proféticos,” or Prophetic Times.
Similar cases of philo-semitic instrumentalization of the Jewish people within North America and Europe have been extensively argued as being expressions of antisemitism in disguise (see, for example, Goldstein 1985; Altfelix 2000; Sherwood 2004; Hirsh 2007; Shafir 2012). However, a broader comparative discussion needs to take place in order to determine if the same is true for contexts within the global south, such as Puerto Rico. This is a new area of inquiry.
See Caraballo Cueto (2016)
See Allyn (2019)
See Hinojosa et al. (2018)
See Pasch et al. (2019)
Maria is by far the most destructive hurricane to hit Puerto Rico in modern times, as the previous costliest hurricane on record for the island was Georges in 1998, which caused approximately 5 billion dollars of damage.
This quote from the Book of Revelations (21: 4) was alluded to during one of the worship prayers..
It is important to note that philo-semitism is to be differentiated from “Christian Zionism,” which means geopolitical activism in favor of the state of Israel and its territorial expansion, including attempts to influence the foreign policy of one’s own nation–state. While certain contexts educe a combination of both stances, Christian Zionism is beyond the scope of this text..
The links between the Middle East and the Caribbean are many. These predate modern migrations, and go back to the times of the Spanish conquest. Puerto Rico—like almost all of Latin America—was colonized by “new Christians,” a good part of which was crypto-Jews or Muslims who had important ties to this “eastern” part of the world.
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Minimal institutional funding for this research was provided by the University of Puerto Rico (Ref. No. 091043216).
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The author has received some institutional funding by the University of Puerto Rico. The author declares that there is no conflict of interest.
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Caraballo-Resto, J.F. Ritualizing Orientalism and Philo-Semitism: the Task of Making God Exist in Puerto Rico. Int J Lat Am Relig 4, 75–82 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s41603-019-00093-z
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s41603-019-00093-z