The Wrath of Jonah: The Crisis of Religious Nationalism in the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict

by Rosemary Radford Ruether and Herman J. Ruether

Book Overview

The wrenching situation in the Middle East, recent events have shown, is as complex as it is volatile. In this immensely learned and clarifying volume-here updated and issued in paper for the first time-the Ruethers trace the tortured and contested history of Israel/Palestine from biblical times through the Diaspora, the development of Zionism, the creation of the modern state of Israel, and the subsequent conflict with Arab and Palestinian nationalism...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0800634799
• ISBN13: 9780800634797
• Release Date: March 2002
• Publisher: Fortress Press
• Length: 320 Pages
• Weight: 1.18 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

Read This!!!

I have been studying the Israeli-Palestinian conflict since my recent visit to Israel/Palestine, and I find myself returning again and again to the Ruethers' book as a sane touchstone and source of good facts in the malestrom of propaganda and high emotion that characterizes most publications on this subject. The book is thoroughly researched and sources are cited. While I cannot comment on the appropriateness of the Ruethers' theology to a Jewish reader, as some reviewers have done, I can applaud their even-handedness with both Israelis and Palestinians, criticizing where criticism is due and expressing hope where appropriate. Their criticism of Zionism qua Zionism is somewhat problematic, but then, as they amply demonstrate, Zionism's inherent implications are themselves highly problematic. I wouldn't ever want to see Israel disappear, and I deplore the violence that continues there sporadically, but I don't want the Palestinian people to disappear, either. We so rarely hear their story. Part of why I recommend this book so highly is that I was able to travel in both Israel and the Occupied Territories recently, and to talk with many groups of people - Israeli settlers, kibbutz-dwellers, Palestinians in Bethlehem, people of all three Abrahamic faiths. And what I saw with my own eyes was deeply disturbing to me, and begged for answers. There is a severe crisis of human rights in the Occupied Territories; many times I looked to the others traveling with me, and though neither of us could bring ourselves to say it, we were thinking the same awful thing: that Israel as a nation seems determined to minimize, humiliate, isolate, abuse, and ultimately "remove" the Palestinians. It was such a disturbing echo of the Jewish people's own worst history, that none of us could understand how Israel, of all the nations of the earth, could be doing all this. It takes a book like Rosemary & Henry's to uncover roots of this deeply intractable and alarming situation, and to correct the endemic American impression that the balance of power favors the Palestinians. I hate to say it, because growing up in a largely Jewish suburb of Chicago I was always inclined to favor Israel's version of events, but this is an honest book; it is a book badly needed, and should be read by practically everybody who cares about the Middle East.

A Succient History of Why the Conflict Between the Israel and Palestinians

If one is looking for a book to tell them the story of how we got where we are in the present day conflict between Israel and the Palestians,this is the book to read. It also has maps showing what territory is being discussed at different dates in the conflict. The book begins at the beginning, that is, how Zioniam was formed and for what purpose. The authors show how the Bible is used by both sides to cement their claims. For anyone wishing to understand what the problem is all about, this is the book you have been waiting for.

Telling the truth

The most misleading piece of misinformation about the Palestinian/Israeli conflict is that it cannot be understood: (1) Too complicated and (2) too ancient. This book dispells both myths and succeeds in covering the entire waterfront of the Middle East conflict in just 296 pages.#1: Rosemary Radford Ruether writes the obvious: To understand the Palestinian/Israeli conflict, one must begin by telling the truth. Surprisingly, the truth is information any informed Israeli, Palestinian, or American would agree upon. But it is information tha takes enormous effort to dig out and put together, because it is covered by layer upon layer of disinformation, clever semantics, guilt, fear, the self-interest of a few, and predjudice. But even given these formidable screens, the facts can be registered by the ordinary mind. The good news is, as of the publishing of THE WRATH OF JONAH, one does not have to dig it all out and put it together oneself. The Ruethers have done so in easily comprehended prose, concisely and comprehensively. The fact that they have been able to do so in so few pages testifies to the simplicity of the subject relative to its reputation.#2: A very large proportion of Americans believe Arabs and Jews have been in conflict thousands of years. But history of the conflict goes back only a century, and most important incidents only within the last fifty years! ...Another reason THE WRATH OF JONAH can survey its history in a short volume.Between them the authors bring expertise in both secular and religious causes and effects. Previously, even determined readers could not find both in the same place. The fun part of the book was how much I learned about twentieth century world history in general and about the last century's Jewish and American, Christian religious movements--taking place underneath my nose unnoticed. Surprising to most readers will be that one does not have to understand Islam to understand the Middle Eastern crisis. THE WRATH OF JOHAH is not partisan, yet it pulls no punches. It is compassionate to everyone caught in the tragedy, but it does not confuse justice with "even-handedness."The Ruethers even provide some common sense suggestions for real solutions. They, too, are not complicated, but you probably haven't seen them in print before.Unfortunately, matters in the region are worsening, and the authors provide little hope that common sense will prevail. Still, it is worth the read if only to resolve cognitive dissonance.