Abstract
Abuse of language and stereotyping have a romantic relationship. One glows in the presence of the other. Consequently, it is important to introduce my paper on the theological contribution of the Palestinian Kairos document by clarifying two important labels in my title: “Palestinian” and the “Kairos document.”1
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Notes
For further details about the ethnicities of the Palestinian community see Bernard Sabella, “Religious and Ethnic Communities,” Encyclopedia of the Palestinians (ed. Philip Mattar; New York: Facts on File, 2000).
My affirmation of a pre-Islamic Arab identity is not rooted in an Islamophobic attitude. Instead, it provides a wider perspective for understanding the history of Arab Muslims as well as Christians. Irfan Shahid has provided a well-documented study of Arab Christians before Islam, see Byzantium and the Arabs in the Fifth Century (Washington: Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, 2006), Rome and the Arabs: A Prolegomenon to the Study of Byzantium and the Arabs (Washington: Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, 1984), Byzantium and the Arabs in the Sixth Century (Washington: Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, 2009), and Byzantium and the Arabs in the Fourth Century (Washington: Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, 2006). See also J. Spencer Trimingham, Christianity among the Arabs in Pre-Islamic Times (New York: Seabury, 1979),
and Kenneth Cragg, The Arab Christian: A History in the Middle East (Louisville: John Knox, 1991).
Apart from direct quotations, I use the labels Older Testament and Newer Testament to refer to the two parts of the Protestant Bible. In addition, further information about the label “Arab” is found in Yohanna Katanacho, “The Label Arab in the Old Testament,” Middle East Association of Theological Journal 5 (2010), 1–11. See also the following references: 1 Kgs 10.15; 2 Chr. 9.14; 17.11; 21.16; 22.1; 26.7; Neh. 2.19; 4.7; 6.1; Isa. 13.20; 21.13 (twice); Jer. 3.2; 25.24 (twice); Ezek. 27.21. The label “Arab” appears in deuterocanonical books such as: 1 Macc. 5.39; 11.15, 17, 39; 12.31; 2 Macc. 5.8; 12.10, 11), as well as in the Newer Testament (Acts 2.11; Gal. 1.17; 4.25). In fact, John the Baptist lost his life defending an Arab woman. This woman was the wife of Herod Antipas and the daughter of Aretas IV who ruled the Nabatean Arabs from 9 B.C. to 40 A.D.
James E. Pritchard, Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1955), 278f.
See also Israel Eph‘al, The Ancient Arabs: Nomads on the Borders of the Fertile Crescent 9th-5th Centuries B.C. (Leiden: Brill, 1982), 1–3.
See also Jan Retsö, Arabs in Antiquity: Their History from the Assyrians to the Umayyads (London: Routledge, 2002), 105.
The South African Kairos document can be found at www.sahistory.org.za/pages /library-resources/officialdocs/kairos-document.htm. For further information see Musawenkosi Dalindlela Biyela, “Beyond the Kairos Document: Christology for a Post-Apartheid South Africa” (Diss. Luther Northwestern Theological Seminary, 1994), R. M. Petersen, “Time, Resistance and Reconstruction: Rethinking Kairos Theology” (Diss. University of Chicago, 1996), Des P. van der Water, “The Legacy of a Prophetic Moment: A Socio-Theological Study of the Reception and Response to the Kairos Document amongst Churches Faith-Communities and Individuals in South Africa and within the International Ecumenical Community Focusing on the English-Speaking Churches in South Africa with Special Reference to the United Congregational of Southern Africa” (Diss. University of Natal, 1998), and Charles Villa-Vicencio (ed.), Theology & Violence: The South African Debate (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1987).
For a study of the meaning of the word “kairos,” see Gerhard Delling, “kairos, ktl,” Theological Dictionary of the New Testament: Volume 3 (ed. Gerhard Kittel, Gerhard Friedrich, and Geoffrey Bromiley; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1995), 459–465.
For a survey of different Palestinian theological approaches see Yohanna Katanacho, “Palestinian Protestant Theological Responses to a World Marked by Violence,” Missiology: An International Review 36 (2008), 289–305. In this article, you will find four different Palestinian approaches: the biographies, the apologies, liberation theology, and reconciliation theologies (Sulah and Musalaha).
Miroslav Volf, “Theology, Meaning & Power: A Conversation with George Lindbeck on Theology & the Nature of Christian Difference,” The Nature of Confession: Evangelicals and Postliberals in Conversation (ed. Timothy R. Phillips and Dennis L. Okholm; Downers Grove: InterVarsity, 1996), 45.
Stanley Grenz and John Franke, Beyond Foundationalism: Shaping Theology in a Postmodern Context (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2001).
For a biblical response to Christian Zionist theology of the land, see Yohanna Katanacho, “Christ Is the Owner of Haaretz,” Christian Scholar’s Review 34 (2005), 425–441.
For a detailed study of Jerusalem as the city of God, see Yohanna Katanacho, “Investigating the Purposeful Placement of Psalm 86” (Diss. Trinity International University, 2007), 251–255;
see also Katanacho, “Jerusalem Is the City of God: A Palestinian Reading of Psalm 87,” The Land Cries Out: Theology of the Land in the Israeli-Palestinian Context (ed. Salim Munayer and Lisa Loden; Eugene: Wipf & Stock, 2012), 181–199.
For an insightful study of the word “Armaggedon,” see Gregory K. Beale, The Book of Revelation: A Commentary of the Greek Text (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1999), 838–841.
Moltmann argues that eschatology means the doctrine of Christian hope. It embraces both the object of hope as well as the hope inspired by it. See, for example, Jürgen Moltmann, The Theology of Hope: On the Ground and the Implications of a Christian Eschatology (trans. James W. Leitch; New York: Harper & Row, 1967), 16.
See also Timothy Harvie, Jürgen Moltmann’s Ethics of Hope: Eschatological Possibilities for Moral Action (Franham: Ashgate, 2009).
Dante Alighieri, The Divine Comedy of Dante Alighieri (trans. Henry Francis Cary; Whitefish: Kessinger, 2004), 13.
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© 2013 Jesper Svartvik and Jakob Wirén
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Katanacho, Y. (2013). The Theological Contribution of the Palestinian Kairos Document. In: Svartvik, J., Wirén, J. (eds) Religious Stereotyping and Interreligious Relations. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137342676_17
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137342676_17
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