Christian Zionism

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for Christians who belong to Zionist denominations in southern Africa, see Zionist Churches

Christian Zionism is a belief among some Christians that the return of the Jews to the Holy Land, and the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948, is in accordance with Biblical prophecy. This belief is primarily, though not exclusively, associated with Christian Dispensationalism, mainly in English-speaking countries outside Europe.

Christian Zionism, as a specifically theological belief, does not necessarily entail sympathy for the Jews as a nation or for Judaism as a religion. Since the biblical text is filled with references to Israel, it is common for Christian Zionists to emphasize the Jewish roots of Christianity, and even to promote Jewish practices and Hebrew terminology as part of their own practice; however, Christian Zionists commonly believe that to fulfill prophecy, a significant number of Jews will accept Jesus as their Messiah, and that in the last days, such Messianic Jews will practice a thoroughly Hebraic form of Christianity.

Many Christian Zionists believe that the people of Israel remain part of the chosen people of God, along with ingrafted gentile Christians. This has the added effect of turning Christian Zionists into supporters of Jewish Zionism, whilst providing one factor in an emerging sense of animosity towards Muslims in Western society.

1 Biblical roots
2 British ideas of restoration of the Jews
3 History and recent theological development
4 "Newspaper exegesis"
5 See also
6 Further reading
7 References
8 External links
- 8.1 Christian Zionist Churches and Organizations

[edit] Biblical roots

The Biblical foundations of Christian doctrines regarding the theological status of non-Christian Jews include prophetic and didactic texts. The prophetic texts are often interpreted as describing inevitable future events, and these events primarily involve Israel (taken to mean the descendants of the Biblical patriarch Jacob) or Judah (taken to mean the remaining faithful adherents of Judaism). People who take them at face value see these prophecies as requiring the presence of a Jewish state in Palestine, the central part of the lands promised to the Biblical patriarch Abraham in his covenant with God. This requirement is often interpreted as being fulfilled by the contemporary state of Israel. The didactic texts of the Epistles also include explanation of the events described in prophecy, and so complement and expand upon their significance.

Among the principal relevant prophetic texts are those found in the Jewish Bible or Old Testament in the Book of Daniel and the Book of Ezekiel, and those found in the New Testament in the Book of Revelation. These Old Testament books describe the Apocalypse, meaning literally the "unveiling", a vision of an eschatological event or end times. The Book of Revelation, or "Αποκάλυψις Ιοαννου" in the original Greek, puts forth an early Christian eschatological view which has been interpreted in many ways. The Roman Catholic study Bible cautions that Revelation is an allegory, as do the doctrines of most mainline Protestant denominations. Some Christians, including many evangelicals and fundamentalists, read Revelation as a prophetic script with a timetable to the future End Times. The contents of these books are discussed at the relevant articles, particularly in the article Book of Revelation.

Among the principal relevant Epistles are the New Testament books of Romans (especially chapter 15; q.v. "if the Gentiles have shared in their spiritual benefits, then they are obligated to minister to Jews in material needs.", and chapter 11; "a hardening in part has come to Israel until the full number of the Gentiles has come in, and thus will all Israel be saved"), and especially Hebrews, which elaborates the history of Judaism, relating the events of the Torah and Ketuvim as a "foreshadowing" of the Christian era, and describes the relationship of the Jewish people to God in a continuing context.

Christian schools of doctrine which consider other teachings to counterbalance these doctrines, or which interpret them in terms of distinct eschatological theories, are less conducive to Christian Zionism. Among the many texts which address this subject in counterbalance are the words of Jesus as for example in Matthew, "the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a nation producing the fruits of it", and the writer of Hebrews's discussion (echoed in 1 Peter) of the Christian church as fulfilling the role previously fulfilled by the faithful Jews and the Temple cult, and the doctrine of Paul, expressed in Galatians, that "in Christ there is neither Jew nor Greek".

Both pro-Zionist and anti-Zionist schools of Christian thought may be influenced and motivated by the description found in Revelation, in the message to the Church at Philadephia: "Behold, I give of the synagogue of Satan, of those who say they are Jews, and they are not, but lie. Behold, I will make them to come and worship before your feet, and to know that I have loved you." This description is often offensive to Zionist Jews who otherwise find some common ground with Christian Zionism in their support of an ethnic Jewish state in the Holy Land, but even so, it forms one of the foundational ideas underlying the doctrine and plays a definitive role in its eschatological script of prospective events.

[edit] British ideas of restoration of the Jews

Main article: Zionism#British influence

Ideas of the restoration of the Jews in the Land of Israel entered the British public discourse in the 19th century. ^[1] Not all such attitudes were favorable towards the Jews; they were shaped in part by a variety of Protestant beliefs, ^[2] or by a streak of philo-Semitism among the classically educated British elite, ^[3] or by hopes to extend the Empire. (See The Great Game)

At the urging of Lord Shaftesbury, Britain established a consulate in Jerusalem in 1838, the first diplomatic appointment in the Land of Israel. In 1839, the Church of Scotland sent Andrew Bonar and Robert Murray M'Cheyne to report on the condition of the Jews in their land. Their report was widely published ^[4] and was followed by a "Memorandum to Protestant Monarchs of Europe for the restoration of the Jews to Palestine." In August 1840, The Times reported that the British government was considering Jewish restoration. ^[1] The Treaty of Paris (1856) granted Jews and Christians the right to settle in Palestine and opened the doors for Jewish immigration.

[edit] History and recent theological development

Main articles: End times and Dispensationalism

Christian Zionism is a name applied to the political implications of a theological belief. Most people and groups who are called Christian Zionist subscribe to the theological belief self-consciously, but the political implications are a by-product.

In America, a strong advocate of the return of the Jews to Palestine was William Eugene Blackstone, who in 1891 lobbied President Benjamin Harrison by a petition signed by many prominent Americans, in a document that became known as the Blackstone Memorial.

The founder of modern Christian Zionism was William Hechler (1845-1931), an English clergyman of German descent who lived in Vienna at that time when Theodor Herzl published his Judenstaat. The contemporary theology which results in the most representative stream of Christian Zionism, was popularized by the 19th century evangelical Cyrus Scofield (1843-1921), who promoted the doctrine that Jesus could not return to reign on Earth until certain events occurred. In the interim, prior to these last days events, Scofield's system taught that the Christian church was primarily for the salvation of the Gentiles, and that according to God's plan the Jewish people are under a different dispensation of God's grace, which has been put out of gear so to speak, until the last days (the common name of this view is, dispensationalism), when the Christian Church will be removed from the earth by a miracle (called the Rapture).

Scofield writing in the 1900s said that, in those last days, the Bible predicts the return of the Jews to the Holy Land and particularly to Jerusalem. Scofield further predicted that, Islamic holy places would be destroyed, and the Temple in Jerusalem would be rebuilt - signalling the very end of the Church Age when the Antichrist would arise, and all who seek to keep covenant with God will acknowledge Jesus as their Messiah in defiance of the Antichrist.

Charles Taze Russell was another early Christian advocate of Zionism.

[edit] "Newspaper exegesis"

With the Jewish settlement of Palestine thereafter, and the establishment of a modern Jewish state on May 14, 1948, dispensationalism (already popular among American Christian fundamentalists) enjoyed an immediate boost of credibility. It seemed to many that biblical prophecy was being explained by the headlines of the newspaper, sparking intense interest in events of the Middle East, which has continued unabated. Modern Christian Zionism is a politically potent consequence of this religious interest in the modern state of Israel, as contemporary events are interpreted in light of their understanding of biblical prophecy.

The role of certain Christians in supporting the establishment of Israel following World War II is well known; and it is regarded by some critics as, in part, a kind of self-willed fulfillment of prophecy. Given this, some are alarmed by what else Christian Zionists envision being done to bring about the conversion of the Jews and the end of the world. As an example, Hal Lindsey, one of the most popular American promoters of dispensationalism, has written in one of his books about the end times: "the valley from Galilee to Eilat (a town in southern Israel) will flow with blood and 144,000 Jews would bow down before Jesus and be saved". According to Lindsey, the rest of the Jews, and presumably all nations surrounding Israel, will perish in "the mother of all Holocausts", a great battle of religion called Armageddon. Such beliefs asserted as inevitable fact, and a basis for human action, are often criticized in alarmed tones.

In United States politics, Christian Zionism is important because it mobilises an important Republican constituency; fundamentalist and evangelical Protestants who support Israel. The Democratic Party, which has the support of most American Jews, is also generally pro-Israel, but with less theological underpinnings.

Sociologically, Christian Zionism can be seen as a product of the peculiar circumstances of the United States, in which the world's largest community of Jews lives side by side with the world's largest community of evangelical Christians. While there has historically been a somewhat antagonistic relationship between these two communities, their mutual reverence for the texts of the Hebrew Bible has brought them together, as has their perception that the political left has pro-Palestinian and/or anti-Israeli tendencies.

The mobilisation of evangelicals has tended to bolster the so-called neo-conservative policies of the Republicans, because Christian Zionists tend to favor a muscular foreign policy and have less sympathy for Palestinian claims than do the Democrats.

Examples of Christian leaders combining political conservatism with Christian Zionism are Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson, leading figures of the Christian Right in the 1980s and 1990s. Falwell said in 1981: "To stand against Israel is to stand against God. We believe that history and scripture prove that God deals with nations in relation to how they deal with Israel." They cite part of Genesis 27:29 Those who curse you [Israel] will be cursed, and those who bless you will be blessed. (HCSB) as prooftext.

The government of Israel has given official encouragement to Christian Zionism, allowing the establishment in 1980 of an "International Christian Embassy" in Jerusalem. The main function of the embassy is to enlist worldwide Christian support for Israel. The embassy has raised funds to help finance Jewish immigration to Israel from the former Soviet Union, and has assisted Zionist groups in establishing Jewish settlements in the West Bank.

The Third International Christian Zionist Congress, held in Jerusalem in February 1996, issued a Proclamation which said:

God the Father, Almighty, chose the ancient nation and people of Israel, the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, to reveal His plan of redemption for the world. They remain elect of God, and without the Jewish nation His redemptive purposes for the world will not be completed.

Jesus of Nazareth is the Messiah and has promised to return to Jerusalem, to Israel and to the world.

It is reprehensible that generations of Jewish peoples have been killed and persecuted in the name of our Lord, and we challenge the Church to repent of any sins of commission or omission against them.

The modern Ingathering of the Jewish People to Eretz Israel and the rebirth of the nation of Israel are in fulfilment of biblical prophecies, as written in both Old and New Testaments.

Christian believers are instructed by Scripture to acknowledge the Hebraic roots of their faith and to actively assist and participate in the plan of God for the Ingathering of the Jewish People and the Restoration of the nation of Israel in our day.

The Proclamation said nothing about the necessity for the Jews to accept Jesus as the Messiah, and while it explicitly condemned Islam as a false religion ("We are convinced from a biblical stand-point that the Muslim concept of "Allah" is an anti-Jewish and anti-Christian distortion of how God revealed Himself to the Patriarchs, Kings and Prophets of Israel, and how God has revealed Himself through our Lord"), it made no comment on the failure of Judaism to recognise Jesus as the Messiah.

Popular interest in Christian Zionism was given a boost around the year 2000 in the form of the Left Behind series of novels by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins. The novels are built around the prophetic role of Israel in the apocalyptic End Times.

[edit] See also

[edit] Further reading

David Ben-Ariel. Beyond Babylon: Europe's Rise and Fall (Publish America: 2005) - focuses on British-Israelites, Jews and Israel in prophecy.
Stephen Sizer. Christian Zionism: Road map to Armageddon? (InterVarsity Press: 2004) - In-depth analysis of the historical, theological and political claims and influences of the movement.
Lawrence Jeffrey Epstein. Zion’s call: Christian contributions to the origins and development of Israel (Lanham : University Press of America, 1984)
Michael J. Pragai. Faith and fulfilment: Christians and the return to the Promised Land (London, England : Vallentine, Mitchell, 1985)
Irvine H. Anderson. Biblical interpretation and Middle East policy : the promised land, America, and Israel, 1917-2002 (Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 2005)
Paul Charles Merkley. The Politics of Christian Zionism 1891 – 1948 (London: Frank Cass, 1998)
Gorenberg, Gershom. The End of Days: Fundamentalism and the Struggle for the Temple Mount (New York: The Free Press, 2000).
Boyer, Paul. "John Darby Meets Saddam Hussein: Foreign Policy and Bible Prophecy," Chronicle of Higher Education, supplement, February 14, 2003, pp. B 10-B11.
William L. Hull. "The Fall and Rise of Israel" (Zondervan Publ. 1954).