Pax Americana: Palestine and the Middle East in the Trump Era

Peace between Israel and the Arab world appears to be progressing like never before. It started with the UAE, followed by Bahrain and Morocco, and then with Sudan. A “new” Middle East is finally becoming a reality. Yet, on the other hand, the colonization of Palestinian land is progressing at full speed ever since President Trump recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and moved the American Embassy there. During both the Embassy move and the so-called Abraham Accords with Arab countries and throughout the Trump era, biblical language has been employed. This paper will examine these political developments and biblical connotations. At the heart of the issue lies the question of what constitutes real peace. This paper argues that ‘the deal of the century’ was a form of Pax Romana rather than Pax Christi.

Aftermath Friendship: an Indonesian Feminist Theological Perspective on Trauma and Interreligious Peace

This article offers an Indonesian Christian feminist theological voice on religion’s contribution to peace as a risky interreligious practice of friendship following religious violence—thus, an aftermath friendship. I argue that aftermath friendship is a relevant feminist theological metaphor for the capacity and the role of women in negotiating difference and practicing healing from within the wounded interreligious relationship caused by religious violence. It is a practice of simultaneously building and recovering interreligious friendships that have been ruptured, for example, by the trauma of a religiously related attack on a church building. This article brings into dialogue women’s aftermath narratives that are embedded in the ruptured interreligious landscape, the biblical concept of friendship, and feminist trauma theology to unveil the polyphonic features of interreligious peace, friendship, and healing.

Towards a Future of Reconciliation

This article explores the hope for unity and reconciliation within the divided Chinese Catholic Church from three aspects: The Second Vatican Council as well as the reformation of the Chinese society as an initiative for dialogue; the overlapping membership between the registered church and the unregistered church as a bridge for dialogue; and public theology in Chinese society as a ground for dialogue. Thus, the article concludes that despite the many obstacles in the way of reconciliation, the hope for the Chinese Church to achieve reconciliation with the Chinese government is sure; and, at the same time, the road to unity for the Catholic Church in China is long and full of challenges.

Earthing Theology

The encounter of Aboriginal Australians with European settlers led to appalling injustices, in which Christian churches were in part complicit. At the root of these injustices was the failure to comprehend the Aborigines’ relationship to the land. In their mythic vision, known as The Dreaming, land is suffused with religious meaning and therefore sacred. It took two hundred years for this to be acknowledged in British-Australian law (Mabo judgement, 1992). This abrogated the doctrine of terra nullius (the land belongs to no-one) and recognized native title to land, based on continuous occupation and ritual use. But land disputes continue, and at a deeper level, there is little appreciation of the Indigenous spirituality of the land and the significance it could have for reconciliation with First Nations and the ecological crisis. Aboriginal theologies can help Christians to appreciate the riches of this spirituality and work towards justice.

Raging for Liberative Reconciliation

While anger is generally viewed as problematic, for oppressed communities like Dalits and African Americans, it plays a key role in asserting their agency and dignity. While these two communities with many similarities and interactions have challenged oppressive structures in multiple ways, anger, arising, not from hatred (as it has often been misunderstood and misrepresented), but from discomfort and dissatisfaction about their condition, has been an important means of fighting against systems that render them vulnerable and expendable. Keeping this in mind, this essay seeks to identify prophetic anger in Dalit and Black theologies and argue that rage is essential to work towards liberative and emancipatory reconciliation rooted in self-love.

Framings of Religion, Conflict and Peace

The dominant discourse on the interplay of religion, conflict, and peace is constructed on a Western liberal peace agenda which marginalises many voices for just peace. In analysing the role of Christianity in conflict and peace in Asia, the authors of this issue have adopted a critically self-reflective methodology by listening to the deep yearnings of the afflicted ones in conflict zones in West Asia, South Asia, South East Asia and East Asia. These seven articles critique not only exclusionary politics and religious identities, but also identify alternative theological practices for just peace while contributing to the public debate on the role of religion in both conflict and peace.

Mobilising Social Movement for Peace

Informed by the resource mobilisation theory, this article conducts a case study on Christianity in Korea, in order to explore the nexus between religion and social movements, and how this nexus could contribute to peace, rather than violence. Given its geopolitical dimensions, involving nuclear weapons and the legacy of the Cold War, the role of religion in the Korean conflict has been under-researched. Nonetheless, Christianity has influenced the Korean conflict, with its association with anticommunism, as well as with peace movements. This article argues that Christian ecumenical organisations in the context of the Korean conflict utilised their social resources for peace and reconciliation, when they rediscovered the just peace tradition in Christianity. This article contributes to theoretical and practical discussions surrounding religion, war, and peace, by conceptualising just peace in the Christian tradition, and by adding empirical substance to the nexus between ecumenism and social movement for just peace.