ABSTRACT

The rise of liberal democratic polities, based on maximizing the free choices of individuals, has produced societies that are battlegrounds of private and group interests. Nation-states have come to function as giant interest groups, turning international politics into a constant struggle to secure national advantage. The history of using election to justify empire building and violence toward the enemy is dark and tragic. The first assumption that must be challenged is that the election of God's people necessitates the creation of an opposing category of the "rejected." The biblical account of Abraham's election mitigates against making the land the determining factor in Jewish identity. Israel was a people before it had land, and thus the Jews have been able to sustain their identity in diaspora. God's election of Israel carries with it the promise to bring peace through the ingathering of the nations.