Theologies Of Land

The Crosscurrents series highlights emerging theologies and biblical interpretations of the Majority World and minoritized communities. The first volume in the series elaborates theologies of land, a theme often missing or ignored by the churches and theologians, especially in the Global North. In this volume, four authors who represent Palestinian, First Nations, Latinx, and South African communities examine the intricate relationship among land(scape), migration, and identity. Together with a Malaysian Chinese, the authors deliberate on the complex issues arising out of political domination, as well as humanity’s conquest and abuse of land that create unjust space, landless people, and the broken landscape of God’s creation.

The land was one of the most vibrant symbols for the people of ancient Israel. In the land-gift, promise, and challenge-was found the physical source of Israel's fertility and life, and a place for the gathering of the hopes of the covenant people. In this careful treatment, Walter Brueggemann follows the development of his theme through the major blocks of Israel's traditions. The book provides a point of entrance both to the theology of the Old Testament and to aspects of the New Testament-even as it illuminates crucial issues of the contemporary scene. In this fully revised version, Brueggemann provides new insights, as well as updating the discussion, notes, and bibliography.

What part does the land of Canaan play in the biblical conception of “Israel”? To what extent does the religion promoted by the Hebrew Bible require that Israel live its communal life in the national homeland? And how does life in the land compare in importance with other elements presented as belonging to Israel’s ultimate destiny, such as, for example, adherence to the law? To what extent must the people of Israel take hold of and settle in the “entire land of Canaan” for them to fulfill their destiny? Might the land be shared with other peoples, or must non-Israelites be expelled and subjugated, or at least kept at a safe and isolated distance? Frankel asks these questions and others of the Hebrew Bible as a whole and of the biblical texts individually. He shows that all of these questions were addressed by various biblical authors and that diverse and even opposing answers were given to them. These issues are not completely new. Many of them have been addressed in recent times by various scholars and theologians who have taken a renewed interest in the “territorial dimension” of the Hebrew Bible. However, works of a predominantly theological or sociological orientation often suffer from a tendency to read the biblical texts holistically and to gloss over textual snags and inconsistencies. For Frankel, the snags and inconsistencies in the texts are of central importance. They allow him carefully to reconstruct the process of the growth of the texts in question and to reveal both their original forms and their final transformations at the hands of the editors. Frankel’s analysis shows that behind the present form of several biblical texts lie earlier versions that often displayed remarkably open and inclusive conceptions of the relationship between the people of Israel and the land of Canaan. Diachronic analysis of the biblical text is thus an essential component in this book’s attempt to retrieve something of the heated theological dynamic that animated the work of the authors and editors whose efforts were consummated in the formation of the Hebrew Bible. Frankel presents here many new and previously unrecognized biblical conceptions and traditions that have significant theological implications for the contemporary religious and political situation in the State of Israel. Once the biblical conceptions have been accurately identified, analyzed, and categorized, he opens a discussion of the possible relevance of these conceptions to the contemporary situation in which he lives.

This book addresses the impacts of the strikes by empires upon land and people, the traditions that fund and sanctify those ventures, and the spinoffs that they inspire. The contributors engage and interrogate these assaults on the land and people, and oblige theologians and biblical studies scholars to confront modern empires.

Theologies of Liberation in Palestine-Israel is a challenging collection of essays concerned with the development of contextualized theologies of liberation in Palestine and the indigenous Palestinian people's struggle for justice and liberation. The innovation of the work stems from the inclusion of indigenous perspectives within its remit and the introduction of new concepts such as civil liberation theology. The collection offers other ways to look at biblical discourses and their impact on the ongoing conflict, ways to live peacefully, ways to be ethical when visiting these conflicted lands, understandings of resource ethics, and even a new way to understand how we approach our understanding of liberation theology. Contributors includewell-known scholars from Muslim, Jewish, Christian, Palestinian- Israeli, Indian, American and British backgrounds. This work goes beyond typical academic collections; vast in scope, it will be informative not only to scholars and students but also to peace activists and policymakers. It should be of use not only in academic courses but also for practitioners of conflict resolution, peace, and reconciliation.

The topic "land" informs a variety of religious traditions. On the one hand, land can be understood as soil, ground, or territory in which people live. From this perspective, land is matter, defined by characteristics such as porosity, consistency, or boundaries. On the other hand, some traditions attach land to their particular identity. In this sense, land and identity become inseparable. These different understandings highlight that land is not just one firm object or territory. Instead, they challenge us to rethink concepts of land and space that implicate views of the divine, the other, and the earth and bring them into a conversation with our own respective traditions. Broad questions that inform this special issue of CrossCurrents are: How can theologies of land be brought into fruitful and constructive dialogue across religious traditions? What are the implications of those theologies for comparative theological studies? What might an emphasis on land offer to theologies of liberation? To efforts at decolonizing theology? In the March 2023 issue of CrossCurrents: "Comparative Theology On and In Place: An Introduction to the Special Issue" by Paul Hedges "Mosaic Tiles: Comparative Theological Hermeneutics and Christian-Jewish Dialogue About the Land" by Domenik Ackermann "The Paradoxes of Place: Cultivating Particularity and Planetarity Amid Climate Catastrophe" by O'neil Van Horn "The Batak-Christian Theology of Land: towards a Postcolonial Comparative Theolog" by Hesron H. Sihombing "Spirit(s) and the Land: A Comparative Theological Exploration of Two Contemporary Indigenous Visions" by Michelle Voss Roberts "Conclusion" by Domenik Ackermann "For Jane, On Her Nephew's Birthday", and "For Jane, Three Days After Her Brother's Passing", poetry by Shannon Hardwick "Little Syria, at the Brooklyn Academy of Music" reviewed by Richard McCallum "Rafael Lozano-Hemmer: Drawings in Smoke" by Irina Sheynfeld "Impossible Voyages: Wangechi Mutu at Storm King" reviewed by Irina Sheynfeld

Empires rise and expand by taking lands and resources and by enslaving the bodies and minds of people. Even in this modern era, the territories, geographies, and peoples of a number of lands continue to be divided, occupied, harvested, and marketed. The legacy of slavery and the scapegoating of people persists in many lands, and religious institutions have been co-opted to own land, to gather people, to define proper behavior, to mete out salvation, and to be silent. The contributors to People and Land, writing from under the shadows of various empires—from and in between Africa, Asia, the Americas, the Caribbean, and Oceania—refuse to be silent. They give voice to multiple causes: to assess and transform the usual business of theology and hermeneutics; to expose and challenge the logics and delusions of coloniality; to tally and demand restitution of stolen, commodified and capitalized lands; to account for the capitalizing (touristy) and forced movements of people; and to scripturalize the undeniable ecological crises and our responsibilities to the whole life system (watershed). This book is a protest against the claims of political and religious empires over land, people, earth, minds, and the future.

In this New Studies in Biblical Theology volume, Oren Martin demonstrates how, within the redemptive-historical framework of God's unfolding plan, the land promise to Israel advances the place of the kingdom that was lost in Eden, anticipating the even greater land, prepared for all of God's people, that will result from the person and work of Christ.