“Remember What Amalek Did to You”

The Political Power of Religious Narratives

Résumé

This article offers a critical analysis of how religion is used on African American Christian Zionist tours of the State of Israel to advance the goal of bringing African American Christians and Black churches into the religious-political project of Christian Zionist advocacy. It draws on participant observation data from a 2016 African American denominational delegation to Israel to analyze the racial and political salience of religious narratives about ostensible “enemies” and “others” – especially the biblical Amalek narrative. Since October 7, 2023, such Biblical narratives of elimination and annihilation have been deployed by Israeli political and military leaders and some of their American Christian supporters to defend and undergird support for extreme and sustained state violence directed at Palestinians in Gaza and elsewhere. This article shows that this rhetorical strategy is not an innovation post-October 7, but rather a longstanding feature of efforts to build global solidarities linking American Christians and the State of Israel. In focusing specifically on the dissemination and reception of biblical narratives of annihilation among African American Christians visiting Israel, the article further explores the role of race in these processes and analyzes the interpretive malleability of religious narratives to serve political purposes across racial, religious, and national lines.