Ulrich Duchrow - Böcker

The issue of private property and the rights it confers remain almost undiscussed in critiques of globalization and free market economics. Yet property lies at the heart of an economic system geared to profit maximization. The authors describe the historically specific and self-consciously explicit manner in which it emerged. They trace this history from earliest historical times and show how, in the hands of Thomas Hobbes and John Locke in particular, the notion of private property took on its absolutist nature and most extreme form - a form which neoliberal economics is now imposing on humanity worldwide through the pressures of globalization. They argue that avoiding the destruction of people‘s ways of living and of Nature requires reshaping our notions of private property. They look at practical ways for social and ecumenical movements to press for alternatives.

This volume provides a historical context for the present escalation of hostilities between Palestinians and the State of Israel. It brings together interdisciplinary chapters written by international specialists in the field of interreligious engagement. It presents Jewish and Palestinian perspectives as well as the South African perspective regarding apartheid, international law, antisemitism, and the suppression of the Palestinian voice in Germany and the USA.It further delves into the historic and ongoing dispossession of the Palestinian experience, and discusses the ethnic cleansing carried out by Israel and supported by the Western powers, particularly the U.S. The volume ultimately offers theological and hermeneutic alternatives to prevailing understandings of the Bible as supporting modern Jewish hegemony in historic Palestine. It's an important read for scholars working in the intersection of religion, politics and power.