Indecenting Palestinian Liberation Theology- Saint Barbara and Palestinian Women Martyrs

In this paper, I bring together the indecent theology of Marcella Althaus-Reid and the annually celebrated story of Saint Barbara in Palestine. In this transformative encounter, I attempt to draw out one possible indecent decolonial option for Palestinian theology, one that is be able to reflect on Palestinian women’s experiences of gender violence sponsored by the state of Israel and by relating the Christian Palestinian tradition. Thus, I argue that the story of Saint Barbara is a story of a Palestinian woman martyr, murdered by her family under the accusation of tainting the family’s honor, carried out hand in hand with the state authorities. Moreover, I challenge the masculine view of martyrdom in Palestinian Liberation Theology as male heroic glorification by indecenting the tradition of Saint Barbara and uncovering female martyrdom as defiant and subversive, hence, confronting the gender and sexual oppression of Israeli society and Palestinian Christianity.