Christian neighbor-love recast as territorial conquest is a religious act of love

Evidence

Insofar as Rosenzweig never refers to love of the enemy, it may be equally difficult to affirm or to deny that an echo of the peculiar “hastening of the Kingdom,” that is the love of the enemy operates here. Is not Christianity one of those sects that seek to bring the kingdom of God by extending love, the love of neighbor, to the less than neighbor? But more than to Christendom and its rapport with the neighbor and with the enemy, we will have to attend to this conversion of the act oflove into a purposive act, the violent attempt to bring about God’s kingdom upon the earth by extending the love of neighbor to the next neighbor, an act of love manque that inevitably dashes with the conquest and occupation of the land, this “advance along a broad front” that covers “the face of the earth bit by bit,” “conquering, occupying” (and yes, even inspiring the neighbor. But toward what?), that is the true and truly religious act oflove. — Gil Anidjar, The Jew, the Arab, 483

Categorization

• XREF: Ties Christian expansion to colonial land occupation, echoing the book’s overarching argument that religion, enmity, and political conquest are inseparable.