“One of the most striking challenges I encounter in theology is its rigidity and binary thinking” – 5in10 with Abeer Khshiboon

Abeer Khshiboon is a scholar specializing in intersections of religiosities, indigeneities, and postcolonial studies. She received her first MA in Education from the University of Haifa, a second MA in Jewish Theology from the School of Jewish Theology at the University of Potsdam. Her doctoral research at the Theological Faculty, Humboldt University of Berlin deals with the historical trauma of Christian internally displaced Palestinians, which deepened her appreciation for local cultures of remembrance and resilience. Khshiboon challenges the epistemic violence perpetuated in Nakba Denialism, in the dismissal of the Holy Land as a living homeland, and in the imperial historiography of Western Christendom and Zionism. Her work explores Palestinian narratives obscured or distorted by the colonial-patriarchal political-economic order, rooted in otherizing epistemologies and practices, such as Orientalism, anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, and anti-Arabness. She has been a Minerva PhD-Fellow from 2021 – 2024. In the academic year 2024/25, she is a EUME Fellow at the Forum Transregionale Studien.

1. How would you explain your research to someone who is not an expert?

My research acknowledges that the prevailing portrayal of Jesus is that of the Roman Empire and seeks to explore whether the natives of Palestine and the Levant have another Jesus in mind—in prayers, in culture, in politics, and in their collective memory.

2. What intrigued you when you started your academic journey?

The total dismissal of the Holy Land as a homeland of natives. Theology is a field stuck in time, history, and doctrines, with a problematic culture of remembering the genocidal history of Europe and Western-Christian imperial powers. It is often unwilling or incapable of recognizing Christianity as an epistemological hegemony rather than just another religion among religions. Between the universality of Christianity and the locality of Palestine, I discovered an abyss of untapped research potential waiting to be explored.

A major breakthrough in my academic journey has been transitioning from a Master’s in Education in Haifa to a second Master’s in Jewish Theology in Germany. This shift profoundly shaped my perspective on the often-obscured continuities between history and theology, Arabness and Jewishness, the Oriental and the Orientalist. My work now bridges pedagogical-psychological ethics with critical theory through Indigenous ethnographic methods (among others), offering a unique lens into what might be called inter-Semitic dialogue.

3. What were formative encounters or challenges?

One of the most striking challenges I encounter in theology is its rigidity and binary thinking, often reflecting a medieval-like atmosphere resistant to critical engagement or evolution. This entrenched binarity is especially evident in how authority over key areas—Judaism, biblical studies, the Jewish Jesus, Jewish studies, traditions, law, and theologies—is centralized within a specific, elitist group of European Jewish scholars. Their scholarship frequently aligns with contemporary Zionist narratives, conflating the modern state of Israel with Biblical Israel and equating anti-Zionism with anti-Semitism. This conflation not only undermines academic freedom and restricts intellectual diversity but also perpetuates Eurocentric paradigms that silence indigenous and marginalized ways of thinking and being. Encountering and resisting this dominant framework has been both a profound challenge and a formative experience, sharpening my commitment to decolonizing religious discourse and reclaiming suppressed narratives.

4. What do you consider to be the role of the humanities and social sciences in times of upheaval, fragmented publics, and authoritarian transgressions?

The humanities and social sciences have an indispensable role in times of upheaval—they act as custodians of memory and critical reflection. In fragmented publics and under authoritarian transgressions, these disciplines remind us of the power of narrative: whose stories are told, whose are erased, and how we might retrieve the silenced. They challenge hegemonies by excavating histories and ways of knowing that resist domination, offering tools to imagine futures beyond the confines of violence and oppression. In this sense, they are not merely academic pursuits but acts of care and solidarity, illuminating the fractures in our systems while holding space for collective renewal. For me, theology becomes a tool for unsettling imperial systems, while ethnography becomes a method of amplifying indigenous voices, bridging the individual with the collective in pursuit of justice.

5. What book, article, film, exhibition or song would you recommend, and why?

If I were to recommend something, I’d start with a novel that influenced research: Der Schatten des Galiläers by Gerd Theißen (1986). Originally published in German, this book delves into the world of Jesus through the lens of a fictional narrative. It was translated into English as The Shadow of the Galilean by John Bowden (1987), bringing its insights to a wider audience. It’s a powerful work that bridges rigorous scholarship with accessible storytelling. I recommend the third impression with James D. G. Dunn’s preface (2001).

For an article, I’d suggest Gil Anidjar’s On the Political History of Destruction (2019). I find this to be a brilliant piece by Anidjar, whose work, in general, is highly thought-provoking. He offers a sharp lens into the intersections of politics, race, and religion, trying to piece together fragments of past and present that Europe and its colonies—the Global North—have systematically left out of history.

When it comes to films, I’d highlight two that focus on Christian Palestinians under the settler colonial regime of Israel, on both sides of the Green Line. Wajib by Annemarie Jacir (2017) provides an intimate look at family and community life in today’s Nazareth, while The Wanted 18 by Amer Shomali and Paul Cowan (2014) combines animation and documentary to tell the story of Palestinian resistance in Beit Sahour, a village in the West Bank, during the first Palestinian Intifada.

And for music, I’d recommend Ikhlaa’ Naa’laka Ya Moussa by Rola Azar. This hauntingly beautiful song brings to life the figure of Moses as the prophet of the covenant of social justice. Moses remains a central figure in the collective imagination of Palestine and the region, even after Jesus, the Roman destruction of the Second Temple, and throughout Islam, where he occupies and seems to guide much of the Quran’s message.

---

Literary Publications

Little Happinesses, a Collection of Short Stories. ( سعادات صغيرة–مجموعة قصصيّة ),

Amman: Al-Ahilyya, 2014. (Recommended by the Young Writer of the Year Awards

2011; A.M. Qattan Foundation).

The Stranger, a Short Story (originally published in Little Happinesses under فسحة فرح),

translated by: Nashwa Gowanlock. The Common, Issue 23, May 2022.

https://www.thecommononline.org/the-strange

---

Citation: “One of the most striking challenges I encounter in theology is its rigidity and binary thinking” – 5in10 with Abeer Khshiboon, in: TRAFO – Blog for Transregional Research, 05.12.2024, https://doi.org/10.58079/12u6p

---

---