ABSTRACT
This chapter proposes an explanation for the continued use of the whole canon in terms of what the scriptural object may be to Palestinian Christians, beyond a problem to be solved, deploying a broader concept of textuality and with reference to the episode described. The Christ at the Checkpoint Conference provides us with an important example of an ongoing conversation between Christian Zionists, their Western critics and Palestinian theologians. Consequently, an analysis of biblical use in Palestinian Christian social life must do more than consider particular Palestinian Christian interpretations of Naim Ateek's canonical problem. Father Butros's use of the Bible takes place within a Muslim majority society and, more importantly, within a Christian tradition with a long relationship with Islam. This relationship with Islam is of course significant to any attempt to construct a genuinely contextual theology, but if we wish to take account of more than discourse, it is worth considering that, in coexisting traditions of textual use.
