Looking at the development of the Dispensationalist movement, the modern State of Israel, and Christian Zionism, the authors show that the current form of Christian Zionism is not true to its roots. Christian Zionism seeks to support Israel both because it sees the existence of state of Israel as essential to their view of the end times and as a means of fighting anti-Semitism. This favor for Israel becomes problematic when justice for Palestinians is ignored and Israel’s favor from God is interpreted to mean the state can do no wrong. Looking back to the foundations of Christian Zionism, it becomes evident that its current state is flawed not in theology but in praxis. A return to balance where justice is sought for both the Israeli and Palestinian is needed in order for the movement to continue to provide healing and a check on the peace process.
Mischief Making in Palestine: American Protestant Christian Attitudes Toward the Holy Land, 1917 – 1949
From the late 19th century, different groups of American Christians shifted their theo-political perspective toward Jews and Arabs in Palestine based on emerging theological ideologies, political actions, and other considerations. However, contemporary scholarship has vastly oversimplified the historic attitude of American Christians toward the Jewish Zionist movement and the land of Palestine. Religious historians have considered the question of American Protestant Christian attitudes toward the Holy Land and its people from a dualistic perspective. When considering the relationship between American Christians and Israel, scholars have incorrectly bifurcated the engagement of American Protestants and Catholics into two categories – pro-Zionists and anti-Zionist. This paper shows how American Christian attitudes of Protestant conservatives, evangelicals, fundamentalists, and liberals are much more complex than previously studied. Cannon argues that American Christian beliefs and actions toward Israel/Palestine are influenced and determined by racial ideology, theological assumptions, an imperialistic framework, and different Christian understandings about
justice.
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Evangelical Responses to the Middle East Crisis
The influences shaping American Evangelical’s relationship with Israel over the years are varied and complex. Brad Harper offers a helpful introduction to the history of this relationship by way of a number of key figures, events, and movements. The emergence and growing popularity of Dispensationalism in America during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries meant, for many, cause for reexamination of the present-day Israel’s place in redemptive history. Many saw contemporary events, particularly the reestablishment of the state of Israel in 1948, as literal fulfillment of biblical prophecies, pointing toward the imminent great tribulation and the second coming of Christ. Harper then examines recent statements made by some of today’s Evangelical leaders who have adopted a dispensational premillenial view of biblical eschatology in order to illustrate how myopic support of Israel’s claims to the Holy Land can be problematic, if not completely contrary to the gospel of Jesus Christ. Harper urges for a more comprehensive biblicism, one that recognizes God’s love, will, and plan for all peoples, and applies the implications of such a recognition to all involved in the conflict in the Middle East: Arab and Israeli, Christian and Muslim.
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Seeking Peace at Home and Abroad: An Interview with Rabbi Daniel Isaak
As the senior rabbi at Congregation Neveh Shalom, in Portland, Oregon, and a past president of the Oregon Board of Rabbis, Rabbi Daniel Isaak offers his perspective on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as he dialogs with Paul Louis Metzger about the current conditions in the Middle East and possibilities for future peace. Rabbi Isaak briefly explains the broad span of positions among the Jewish community and considers the significance of the conflict for supporters of Israel in America. Rabbi Isaak and Metzger then discuss what individuals and communities here can do to support peace, cultivate empathy toward both Palestinians and Israelis, and communicate solidarity with those directly involved in the conflict.