Divergent and Emergent Political Theologies of Peace Amongst Jewish Israelis

Abstract

ABSTRACT In this article, I consider the emergent political theology of a peace from within the religious Zionist community. Given the dismal state of the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, it is surprising that the last decade has seen the spontaneous emergence of several grassroots Israeli peace initiatives, and even more surprising that many of these initiatives have emerged from the religious Zionist community rather than the Israeli peace camp. The article presents ethnographic data on the scriptural interpretations of one of these initiatives, the Citizens Accord Forum. The article illustrates their hermeneutic labor on questions of Jewish sovereignty and questions of non-Jews within the Jewish state. The article considers how this alternative political theology is emerging between two far more hegemonic political paradigms: the “religious right” and the “secular left.”