Christian Zionism is a belief among some
ChristiansChristianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as presented by the revelations in the New Testament....
that the return of the
JewThe Jews , also known as the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group originating in the Israelites or Hebrews of the Ancient Near East. The Jewish ethnicity, nationality, and religion are strongly interrelated, as Judaism is the traditional faith of the Jewish nation...
s to the
Holy LandThe Holy Land , generally refers to the geographical region of the Levant called Land of Canaan or Land of Israel in the Bible, and constitutes the Promised land...
, and the establishment of the
State of IsraelIsrael officially the State of Israel , is a developed state in Western Asia located on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea. It borders Lebanon in the north, Syria in the northeast, Jordan in the east, and Egypt on the southwest, and contains geographically diverse features within its...
in 1948, is in accordance with
BiblicalThe Bible contains the central religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. Modern Judaism generally recognizes a single set of canonical books known as the Tanakh, or Hebrew Bible, as it is written almost entirely in the Hebrew language, with some small portions in Aramaic...
prophecyA prophecy is the message that has been communicated to a prophet which the prophet then communicates to others. In general, this message can involve divine inspiration, revelation, or interpretation. More specifically, it may be a professed psychic prediction. Confusion often exists between the...
. It overlaps with, but is distinct from, the nineteenth century movement for the
Restoration of the Jews to the Holy LandChristian Restorationism, the Restoration of the Jews to the Holy Land was a nineteenth-century, Christian movement with both political and religious motivations....
, which had both religiously and politically motivated supporters. The term Christian Zionism was popularized in the mid-twentieth century. Prior to that time the common term was
Restorationism.
Some Christian
ZionistsZionism is the international political movement that originally supported the reestablishment of a homeland for the Jewish People in Palestine. The area was the Jewish Biblical homeland, called the Land of Israel...
believe that the "ingathering" of Jews in Israel is a prerequisite for the
Second ComingIn most Christian theologies, the Second Coming of Christ is the return of Jesus from Heaven to earth, an event expected to fulfill aspects of Biblical Messianic prophecy, such as the general resurrection of the dead, the Last Judgment of the dead and the living and the full establishment of the...
of Jesus. This belief is primarily, though not exclusively, associated with Christian
DispensationalismDispensationalism is a Protestant evangelical tradition and theology based on a biblical hermeneutic that sees a series of chronologically successive "dispensations" or periods in history in which God relates to human beings in different ways under different Biblical covenants. As a system...
. The idea that Christians should actively support a Jewish return to the Land of Israel, along with the parallel idea that the Jews ought to be encouraged to become Christian, as a means fulfilling a Biblical prophecy has been common in Protestant circles since the Reformation..
Many Christian Zionists believe that the people of Israel remain part of the
chosen peopleVarious groups and individuals have considered themselves chosen by God for some purpose such as to act as God's agent on earth...
of God, see also
Dual-covenant theologyDual-covenant theology is a term found in contemporary inter-religious dialogue that teaches that Jews may simply keep the Law of Moses, because of the "everlasting covenant" between Abraham and God expressed in the Hebrew Bible , whereas Gentiles must convert to...
, along with the ingrafted (based on Romans 11:17-24, Holy Bible) Gentile Christians. This has the added effect of turning Christian Zionists into supporters of
Jewish ZionismZionism is the international political movement that originally supported the reestablishment of a homeland for the Jewish People in Palestine. The area was the Jewish Biblical homeland, called the Land of Israel...
.
Historical Origins and Biblical Interpretations
Christian advocacy of the restoration of the Jewish arose following the translation of the Bible into the vernacular, principally in England, among the Puritans. A plain reading of such translated biblical texts, in some proponent's opinions, is interpreted as evidence that God still has a special relationship with Israel, especially Romans 11, which begins:
I say then, Hath God cast away his people? God forbid. For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin.
It continues with a parable of a grafted olive tree, the point of which is that God will restore the Jews to their land and to his favor.
The Biblical foundations of Christian doctrines regarding the theological status of Jews include prophetic and didactic texts. Some supporters of the restoration of the Jews interpret the prophetic texts 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 The Holy Land, the central part of the lands promised to the Biblical patriarch Abraham in his covenant with God. This requirement is sometimes interpreted as being fulfilled by the contemporary state of Israel. The didactic texts of the Epistles also include explanations 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 BibleThe Tanakh is a name for the Bible used in Rabbinic Judaism, also known as the Masoretic Text. The name "Tanakh" is a Hebrew acronym formed from the initial Hebrew letters of the Masoretic Text's three traditional subdivisions: The Torah , Nevi'im and Ketuvim —hence...
or
Old TestamentIn Christianity, the Old Testament is the collection of books that form the first of the two-part Christian Biblical canon. These works correspond to the Hebrew Bible , with some variations and additions. In the Eastern Orthodox Church the comparable texts are known as the Septuagint, from the...
in the
Book of DanielThe Book of Daniel is a book in both the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Old Testament. Originally written in Hebrew and Aramaic, it is set during the Babylonian Captivity, a period when Jews were deported and exiled to Babylon following the Siege of Jerusalem of 597 BC...
, the book of
IsaiahIsaiah is the main figure in the Biblical Book of Isaiah, and is traditionally considered to be its author. He was an 8th-century BC Judean prophet. Part of his message was: "The land will be completely laid waste and totally plundered. The LORD has spoken this word."...
and the
Book of EzekielThe Book of Ezekiel is a book of the Hebrew Bible named after the prophet Ezekiel, a prophet from the sixth-century BC. This book records Ezekiel's preaching. His name means "God strengthens" or "May God strengthen". Ezekiel lived out his prophetic career among the community of exiled Judeans in...
, and those found in the
New TestamentThe New Testament is the name given to the second major division of the Christian Bible, the first such division being the much longer Old Testament, both terms being associated with Supersessionism...
in the
Book of RevelationThe Book of Revelation, also called the Revelation of St. John, the Apocalypse of John, and the Revelation of Jesus Christ, is the last book of the New Testament. It may be shortened to Revelation but never Revelations...
. These Old Testament books describe the
ApocalypseApocalypse is a term applied to the disclosure to certain privileged persons of something hidden from the majority of humankind. Today the term is often used to refer to the end of the world, which may be a shortening of the phrase apokalupsis eschaton which literally means "revelation at the end...
, meaning literally the "unveiling", a vision of an eschatological event or end times. The
Book of RevelationThe Book of Revelation, also called the Revelation of St. John, the Apocalypse of John, and the Revelation of Jesus Christ, is the last book of the New Testament. It may be shortened to Revelation but never Revelations...
, or "Αποκάλυψις Ιωάννου" in the original Greek, puts forth an early Christian eschatological view which has been interpreted in many ways. The Roman Catholic study Bible as well as the doctrines of most mainline Protestant denominations caution that Revelation is an allegory. However, some Christians, including many evangelicals and fundamentalists, read Revelation as a prophetic script containing a timetable to the future
End TimesThe End Time, End Times, or End of Days are the eschatological writings in the three Abrahamic religions and in doomsday scenarios in various other non-Abrahamic religions...
. The contents of these books are discussed in the relevant articles, particularly in the article
Book of RevelationThe Book of Revelation, also called the Revelation of St. John, the Apocalypse of John, and the Revelation of Jesus Christ, is the last book of the New Testament. It may be shortened to Revelation but never Revelations...
.
Among the principal relevant Epistles are the New Testament books of
RomansThe Epistle of St. Paul to the Romans, also known as Romans, is the sixth book in the New Testament. Biblical scholars agree that it was written by the Apostle Paul to explain that Salvation is offered through the Gospel of Jesus Christ...
(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
HebrewsThe Epistle to the Hebrews is one of the books in the New Testament. Although sometimes credited to the Apostle Paul, the letter is anonymous. It has carried its traditional title since Tertullian described it as Barnabae titulus ad Hebraeos....
, which elaborates the history of Judaism, relating the events of the
TorahThe term "Torah" , refers either to the Five Books of Moses or to the entirety of Judaism's founding legal and ethical religious texts...
and
KetuvimKetuvim is the third and final section of the Tanakh , after Torah and Nevi'im . In English translations of the Hebrew Bible, this section is usually entitled "Writings" or "Hagiographa." The Ketuvim are believed to have been written under the Ruach HaKodesh, a level less than that of prophecy.In...
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
MatthewThe Gospel of Matthew is one of the four canonical gospels in the New Testament. This synoptic gospel is an account of the life and ministry of Jesus of Nazareth...
, "the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a nation producing the fruits of it",
and the writer of
HebrewsThe Epistle to the Hebrews is one of the books in the New Testament. Although sometimes credited to the Apostle Paul, the letter is anonymous. It has carried its traditional title since Tertullian described it as Barnabae titulus ad Hebraeos....
's discussion (echoed in 1 Peter) of the Christian church as fulfilling the role previously fulfilled by the faithful Jews and the Temple, and the doctrine of Paul, expressed in
GalatiansThe Epistle to the Galatians, also known as Galatians, is the ninth book of the New Testament. It is a letter from Paul of Tarsus to a number of Early Christian communities in the Roman province of Galatia in central Anatolia...
, that "in Christ there is neither Jew nor Greek".
Though many Christian Zionists believe that conversion of the Jews to Christianity is a necessary adjunct of the
Second ComingIn most Christian theologies, the Second Coming of Christ is the return of Jesus from Heaven to earth, an event expected to fulfill aspects of Biblical Messianic prophecy, such as the general resurrection of the dead, the Last Judgment of the dead and the living and the full establishment of the...
or the
End of DaysEnd of Days is a 1999 action/horror film starring Arnold Schwarzenegger and directed by Peter Hyams. It also featured Robin Tunney, Rod Steiger, Kevin Pollak, CCH Pounder, Udo Kier, and Gabriel Byrne as Satan...
, conversion of the Jews is not part of the theology of prominent Christian Zionists such as
John HageeJohn Charles Hagee is the American founder and senior pastor of Cornerstone Church in San Antonio, Texas, a non-denominational charismatic church with more than 19,000 active members...
and was not thought to be required by the nineteenth century restoration advocate
William Eugene BlackstoneDr. William Eugene Blackstone was an American evangelist and Christian Zionist influenced by Dwight Lyman Moody, and author of the Zionist Blackstone Memorial of 1891....
.
Both pro-Zionist and anti-Zionist schools of Christian thought may be influenced and motivated by the description found in
RevelationThe Book of Revelation, also called the Revelation of St. John, the Apocalypse of John, and the Revelation of Jesus Christ, is the last book of the New Testament. It may be shortened to Revelation but never Revelations...
, in the message to the Church at Philadelphia: "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. Nonetheless, it forms one of the foundational ideas underlying some support for Christian Zionism and plays a definitive role in its eschatological script of prospective events.
History and recent theological developments
Christian Zionism is a name applied primarily by opponents to the political implications of the views expressed by advocates of the restoration of the Jews who may subscribe to one of several theological systems, including dispensationalism and
Covenant TheologyCovenant theology is a conceptual overview and interpretive framework for understanding the overall flow of the Bible...
.
Christian support for the restoration of the Jews was brought to America by the Puritans who fled England. In colonial times,
Increase MatherIncrease Mather was a major figure in the early history of the Massachusetts Bay Colony and Province of Massachusetts Bay . He was a Puritan minister who was involved with the government of the colony, the administration of Harvard College, and most notoriously, the Salem witch trials...
and John Cotton,among others, favored restoration of the Jews, but it was not until the early 19th century that the idea gathered impetus.
Ezra StilesThe Rev. Ezra Stiles was an American academic and educator, a Congregationalist minister, theologian and author. He was president of Yale College .-Biography:...
at Yale was a prominent supporter of restoration of the Jews. In 1808, Asa McFarland, a Presbyterian, voiced the opinion of many that the fall of the Ottoman Empire was imminent and would bring about the restoration of the Jews. One
David AustinDavid C.H. Austin OBE is a rose breeder and writer who lives in Shropshire, England. His emphasis is on breeding roses with the character and fragrance of Old Garden Roses but with the repeat-flowering ability and wide colour range of modern roses like Hybrid Teas and Floribundas.His first rose,...
of New Haven spent his fortune building docks and inns from whence the Jews could embark to the Holy Land. In 1825
Mordecai Manuel NoahMordecai Manuel Noah was an American playwright, diplomat, journalist, and utopian...
, a Jew who wanted to found a national home for the Jews on Grand Island in New York as a way station on the way to the holy land, won widespread Christian backing for his project. Likewise, restorationist theology was the inspiration for the first American missionary activity in the Middle East.
As the demise of the Ottoman Empire appeared to be approaching, the advocacy of restorationism increased. At the same time, the visit of
John Nelson DarbyJohn Nelson Darby was an Anglo-Irish evangelist, and an influential figure among the original Plymouth Brethren. He is considered to be the father of modern Dispensationalism. He produced a translation of the Bible based on the Hebrew and Greek texts called The Holy Scriptures: A New Translation...
, the founder of dispensationalism, to the United States, catalyzed a dispensationalist movement and an evangelical revival. This was expressed at the
Niagara Bible ConferenceThe Niagara Bible Conference was held annually from 1876 to 1897, with the exception of 1884. In the first few years it met in different resort locations around the United States...
in 1878, which issued a 14 point proclamation, including the following text:
...that the Lord Jesus will come in person to introduce the millennial age, when Israel shall be restored to their own land, and the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord; and that this personal and premillennial advent is the blessed hope set before us in the Gospel for which we should be constantly looking." Luke 12:35-40; 17:26-30; 18:8 Acts 15:14-17; 2 Thess. 2:3-8; 2 Tim. 3:1-5; Titus 1:11-15).
The dispensationalist theology of
John Nelson DarbyJohn Nelson Darby was an Anglo-Irish evangelist, and an influential figure among the original Plymouth Brethren. He is considered to be the father of modern Dispensationalism. He produced a translation of the Bible based on the Hebrew and Greek texts called The Holy Scriptures: A New Translation...
which motivates one stream of American Christian Zionism is often claimed to be the foundation of American Christian Zionism. He first distinguished the hopes of the Jews and that of the church and gentiles in his ground-breaking series of 11 evening lectures in Geneva in 1840. His lectures were immediately published in French (L'Attente Actuelle de l'Eglise), English (1841), German and Dutch (1847) and so his teachings began their global journey. While there is no doubt that it had a great influence through the
Scofield BibleCyrus Ingerson Scofield was an American theologian, minister and writer.-Biography:Cyrus Scofield was born in Lenawee County, Michigan, but during the American Civil War he served for a year as a private in the 7th Tennessee Infantry, C.S.A.. By 1866 he was in St. Louis, Missouri working in his...
, Christian support of the restoration of the Jews preceded the publication of the Scofield Reference Bible (first published by OUP, 1917) for nearly a century, and many prominent Christian Zionists and Christian Zionist organizations such as the
International Christian Embassy JerusalemThe International Christian Embassy Jerusalem is a Christian Zionist organisation based in Jerusalem, Israel. It was founded in 1980 by evangelical Christians to express their support for the State of Israel and the Jewish people...
do not subscribe to
dispensationalismDispensationalism is a Protestant evangelical tradition and theology based on a biblical hermeneutic that sees a series of chronologically successive "dispensations" or periods in history in which God relates to human beings in different ways under different Biblical covenants. As a system...
.
The tycoon
William Eugene BlackstoneDr. William Eugene Blackstone was an American evangelist and Christian Zionist influenced by Dwight Lyman Moody, and author of the Zionist Blackstone Memorial of 1891....
was inspired by the conference to publish the book
Jesus is Coming, which took up the restorationist cause, and also absolved the Jews of the need to convert to Christianity either before or after the return of the
MessiahMessiah literally means "anointed "...
. His book was translated and published in Yiddish. In 1891 he lobbied President
Benjamin HarrisonBenjamin Harrison was the 23rd President of the United States, serving one term from 1889 to 1893. Harrison was born in North Bend, Ohio, and moved to Indianapolis, Indiana at the age of 21, where he became a prominent state politician...
for the restoration of the Jews, in a petition signed by over 400 prominent Americans, that became known as the
Blackstone MemorialThe Blackstone Memorial was a petition written by William Eugene Blackstone, a Christian Restorationist, and presented to the President of the United States, Benjamin Harrison, in favor of the delivery of Palestine to the Jews, and signed by a number of leading American citizens...
.
In the United States, dispensationalist Christian Zionism was popularized by the evangelical
Cyrus ScofieldCyrus Ingerson Scofield was an American theologian, minister and writer.-Biography:Cyrus Scofield was born in Lenawee County, Michigan, but during the American Civil War he served for a year as a private in the 7th Tennessee Infantry, C.S.A.. By 1866 he was in St. Louis, Missouri working in his...
(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
RaptureThe Rapture is a future event in Christianity relating to the return of Jesus. The primary passage describing the rapture is 1 Thessalonians 4:15-17, in which Paul cites "the word of the Lord" about the return of Jesus to gather his saints...
).
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
JerusalemJerusalem is the capital of Israel and its largest city in both population and area, with a population of 747,600 residents over an area of if disputed East Jerusalem is included...
. 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 the covenant with God will acknowledge Jesus as their Messiah in defiance of the Antichrist.
Charles Taze RussellCharles Taze Russell , or Pastor Russell, was a prominent early 20th century Christian Restorationist minister from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA and founder of what is now known as the Bible Student movement, from which Jehovah's Witnesses emerged.Beginning in July, 1879 he began publishing a...
was another early Christian advocate of Zionism - but with an altogether different prophetic programme to orthodox
TrinitarianThe word trinitarian is used in several senses:*Ideas or things pertaining to the Holy Trinity.*A person or group adhering to the doctrine of Trinitarianism, which holds God to subsist in the form of the Holy Trinity....
dispensationalists.
British Christian Zionist views
Ideas favoring the restoration of the Jews in the Palestine or Land of Israel entered the
BritishThe British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates, and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom, that had originated with the overseas colonies and trading posts established by England in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. At its height it was...
public discourse in the 1830's, though British reformationists had written about the restoration of the Jews as early as the 16th century, and the idea had strong support among Puritans. Not all such attitudes were favorable towards the Jews; they were shaped in part by a variety of Protestant beliefs,
or by a streak of
philo-SemitismPhilo-Semitism, Philosemitism, or Judeophilia is an interest in, respect for, and appreciation of the Jewish people, their historical significance and the positive impacts of Judaism in the history of the western world, in particular, generally on the part of a gentile...
among the classically educated British elite,
or by hopes to extend the Empire.
(See The Great GameThe Great Game is a term used for the strategic rivalry and conflict between the British Empire and the Russian Empire for supremacy in Central Asia. The classic Great Game period is generally regarded as running approximately from the Russo-Persian Treaty of 1813 to the Anglo-Russian Convention of...
)
At the urging of
Lord ShaftesburyAnthony Ashley Cooper, 7th Earl of Shaftesbury , styled Lord Ashley from 1811 to 1851, was an English politician and philanthropist, one of the best-known of the Victorian era.-Life:...
, Britain established a consulate in
JerusalemFor Christians, Jerusalem's place in the life of Jesus gives it great importance, in addition to its place in the Old Testament, the Hebrew Bible.-Jerusalem in New Testament and early Christianity:...
in 1838, the first diplomatic appointment to Palestine. In 1839, the
Church of ScotlandThe Church of Scotland , known informally by its Scots language name, The Kirk, is a Presbyterian church, decisively shaped by the Scottish Reformation....
sent
Andrew BonarAndrew Alexander Bonar, a minister of the Free Church of Scotland; born Edinburgh May 29, 1810, youngest brother of Horatius Bonar; died Glasgow December 30, 1892....
,
Robert Murray M'CheyneRobert Murray M'Cheyne was a minister in the Church of Scotland from 1835 to 1843. He was born at Edinburgh, was educated at the University of Edinburgh and at the Divinity Hall of his native city, where he was taught by Thomas Chalmers...
, Alexander Black and
Alexander KeithAlexander Keith was a Canadian politician and brewmaster. He was mayor of the city of Halifax, Nova Scotia, a Conservative member of the provincial legislature, and the founder of the Alexander Keith's brewing company.Keith was born in Halkirk, Caithness, Highland, Scotland, where he became a...
on a mission to report on the condition of the Jews in their land. Their report was widely published 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.
An important, though often neglected, figure in British support of the restoration of the Jews was
William Hechler (1845-1931), an English clergyman of German descent who was Chaplain of the British Embassy in
ViennaVienna is the capital of the Republic of Austria and also one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.7 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre. It is the 10th largest city by...
and became a close friend of
Theodor HerzlTheodor Herzl Theodor Herzl Theodor Herzl ' onMouseout='HidePop("84197")' href="http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/David_Pawson">David Pawson
J. David Pawson is a prominent contemporary Bible teacher based in Great Britain. He is the author of more than thirty books , which, together with a much larger number of audio and video tapes of his teachings, are throughout the globe.-Biography:According to his autobiography, David Pawson's...
, a prominent Christian Zionist in the
United KingdomThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of Ireland, and many small islands...
, puts forward the case that the return of the Jews to the Holy Land is a fulfilment of scriptural prophecy, and that Christians should support the existence of the Jewish State (although not unconditionally its actions) on theological grounds. He also argues that prophecies spoken about Israel relate specifically to Israel (not to the church, as in "replacement theology"). However, he criticises
DispensationalismDispensationalism is a Protestant evangelical tradition and theology based on a biblical hermeneutic that sees a series of chronologically successive "dispensations" or periods in history in which God relates to human beings in different ways under different Biblical covenants. As a system...
, which he says is a largely American movement holding similar views. Pawson was spurred to write this book by the work of
Stephen SizerThe Reverend Dr Stephen Robert Sizer is the incumbent at Christ Church, Virginia Water, an Anglican parish in Surrey, England. In addition to his parish ministry, he has a number of external roles and is known internationally as an author and speaker specialising in topics relating to the land of...
, an evangelical Christian who rejects Christian Zionism. A debate can be heard between the two on
Pawson/Sizer debate.
Recent political analysis and developments
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 an intense interest in events in 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 relationship to biblical prophecy.
The role of certain Christians in supporting the establishment of Israel following
World War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including all great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
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 LindseyHarold Lee "Hal" Lindsey is an American evangelist and Christian writer. He is a Christian Zionist and dispensationalist author. He currently resides in the Palm Springs area of Southern California.-Biography:...
, one of the most popular American promoters of dispensationalism, has written in
The Late Great Planet Earth that per
Book of EzekielThe Book of Ezekiel is a book of the Hebrew Bible named after the prophet Ezekiel, a prophet from the sixth-century BC. This book records Ezekiel's preaching. His name means "God strengthens" or "May God strengthen". Ezekiel lived out his prophetic career among the community of exiled Judeans in...
(39:6-8) that after Jews fight off a "
RussianRussia , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia . It is a semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
" invasion, Jews will see this as a miracle and covert to Christianity. Their lives will be spared the great fire that God will put upon Russia and people of the "coastlands." And, per
Book of ZechariahThe Book of Zechariah is a book of the Bible Old Testament and Jewish Tanakh attributed to the prophet Zechariah.-Historical Context:Zechariah’s ministry took place during the reign of Darius the Great , and was contemporary with Haggai in a post-exilic world after the fall of Jerusalem in 586/7 BC...
(13:8,9), one third of Jews alive who have converted will be spared.
In
United States politicsPolitics of the United States takes place in the framework of a presidential, federal republic where the President of the United States , United States Congress, and judiciary share federal powers, and the federal government shares sovereignty with the state governments...
, Christian Zionism is important because it mobilises an important Republican constituency: fundamentalist and
evangelicalEvangelicalism is a Protestant Christian movement which began in Great Britain in the 1730s.Most adherents consider its key characteristics to be: a belief in the need for personal conversion ; some expression of the gospel in effort; a high regard for biblical authority; and an emphasis on the...
Protestants who support Israel. The Democratic Party, which has the support of most American Jews, is also generally pro-Israel, but with fewer 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
evangelicalEvangelicalism is a Protestant Christian movement which began in Great Britain in the 1730s.Most adherents consider its key characteristics to be: a belief in the need for personal conversion ; some expression of the gospel in effort; a high regard for biblical authority; and an emphasis on the...
Christians. There has historically been a somewhat antagonistic relationship between these two communities, largely based on the generally liberal/progressive social policy tendencies of the Jewish community with the more 'rugged individualist' leanings of the American Protestant communities, more so than any theological dispute. Their mutual reverence for the texts of the Hebrew Bible has brought them together, however, as has their common ground against generally leftist pro-Palestinian and/or anti-Israeli factions in American politics.
The mobilisation of evangelicals has tended to bolster the so-called neo-conservative policies of the Republicans, because Christian Zionists tend to favor a hawkish 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 FalwellJerry Lamon Falwell, Sr. was an American evangelical Christian pastor, televangelist, and a conservative commentator. He was the founding pastor of the Thomas Road Baptist Church, a megachurch in Lynchburg, Virginia...
and
Pat RobertsonMarion Gordon "Pat" Robertson is a televangelist from the United States. He is the founder of numerous organizations and corporations, including the American Center for Law and Justice , the Christian Broadcasting Network , the Christian Coalition, Flying Hospital, International Family...
, leading figures of the
Christian RightThe Christian right, also known as the Religious Right and the Evangelical Bloc, is a term used predominantly in the United States of America to describe a spectrum of right-wing Christian political and social movements and organizations characterized by their strong support of conservative social...
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 Book of Genesis (27:29)
Those who curse you [Israel] will be cursed, and those who bless you will be blessed. (
HCSBThe Holman Christian Standard Bible is a modern English Bible translation from Holman Bible Publishers. The first full edition was completed in March 2004, with the New Testament alone having been previously published in 1999.- Beginnings :...
) as prooftext.
The government of Israel has given official encouragement to Christian Zionism, allowing the establishment in 1980 of the
International Christian Embassy JerusalemThe International Christian Embassy Jerusalem is a Christian Zionist organisation based in Jerusalem, Israel. It was founded in 1980 by evangelical Christians to express their support for the State of Israel and the Jewish people...
. 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 UnionThe Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. The name is a translation of the , tr. Soyuz Sovetskikh Sotsialisticheskikh Respublik, abbreviated СССР, SSSR. The common short name is Soviet Union, from , Sovetskiy Soyuz...
, and has assisted Zionist groups in establishing Jewish settlements in the
West BankThe West Bank is a landlocked territory and is the eastern part of the Palestinian territories; on the west bank of the River Jordan in the Middle East. To the west, north, and south, the West Bank shares borders with the state of Israel, which maintains the security of this area. To the east,...
.
The Third International Christian Zionist Congress, held in Jerusalem in February 1996, issued a
Proclamation which said:
- God
God is a deity in theistic and deistic religions and other belief systems, representing either the sole deity in monotheism, or a principal deity in polytheism....
the Father, Almighty, chose the ancient nation and people of Israel, the descendants of AbrahamAbraham is the founding patriarch of the Israelites, Ishmaelites, Midianites and Edomite peoples, as described in the book of Genesis. He is widely regarded as the patriarch of Jews, Christians, and Muslims....
, IsaacIsaac or Ishak ) was the only child of Abraham and Sarah, and the father of Jacob and Esau, described in the Hebrew Bible. He is regarded as one of the three patriarchs of the Jewish people...
and JacobJacob , also known as Israel , was the third Biblical patriarch and ancestor of the twelve tribes of Israel, named after ten of his twelve sons, as well as the two sons of his son Joseph.The Bible says...
, 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.
Popular interest in Christian Zionism was given a boost around the year 2000 in the form of the
Left BehindLeft Behind is a series of 16 best-selling novels by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins, dealing with Christian dispensationalist End Times: pretribulation, premillennial, Christian eschatological viewpoint of the end of the world. The primary conflict of the series is the members of the Tribulation...
series of novels by
Tim LaHayeTimothy F. LaHaye is an American evangelical Christian minister, author, and speaker. He is best-known for the Left Behind series of apocalyptic fiction, which he co-wrote with Jerry B. Jenkins. He has written over 50 books, both fiction and non-fiction...
and
Jerry B. JenkinsJerry Bruce Jenkins is an American novelist and biographer. He is best known as co-author of the Left Behind series of books with Tim LaHaye, Jenkins has written over 150 books, including romance novels, mysteries, and children's adventures, as well as non-fiction. His works usually feature...
.. The novels are built around the prophetic role of Israel in the apocalyptic
End TimesThe End Time, End Times, or End of Days are the eschatological writings in the three Abrahamic religions and in doomsday scenarios in various other non-Abrahamic religions...
.
Jerusalem Declaration on Christian Zionism
The
Latin Patriarchate of JerusalemThe Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem is the title possessed by the Latin Rite Catholic Archbishop of Jerusalem. The Archdiocese of Jerusalem has jurisdiction for all Latin Rite Catholics in Israel, Palestine, Jordan and Cyprus. In Jerusalem, the Catholic community is the largest Christian community,...
(Catholic), the Syrian Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem, the
Episcopal Church of Jerusalem and the Middle Eastand the
Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land, have recently joined together in order to proclaim and to publish the
Jerusalem Declaration on Christian ZionismThe Jerusalem Declaration on Christian Zionism is a document signed by the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem , the Syrian Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem, the Episcopal Church in Jerusalem and the Middle East and the Middle East and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land on...
(August 22, 2006).
http://www.voltairenet.org/article144310.html
Criticism by Churches in the U.S.A.
The General Assembly of the
National Council of ChurchesThe National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA is an ecumenical partnership of 35 Christian faith groups in the United States...
in November 2007 approved a resolution for further study which stated that the "theological stance of Chistian Zionism adversely affects:
- justice and peace in the Middle East, delaying the day when Israelis and Palestinians can live within secure borders
- relationships with Middle Eastern Christians [prior reference to the Jerusalem Declaration on Christian Zionism]
- relationships with Jews, since Jews are seen as mere pawns in an eschatological scheme
- relationships with Muslims, since it ignores the rights of Muslims
- interfaith dialogue, since it views the world in starkly dichotomous terms"
The
Reformed Church in AmericaThe Reformed Church in America is a Mainline Reformed Protestant denomination that was formerly the Dutch Reformed Church and known as the Reformed Protestant Dutch Church of North America. The denomination has about 270,000 members and has congregations in both the U.S. and Canada...
at its 2004 General Synod found "the ideology of Christian Zionism and the extreme form of dispensationalism that undergirds it to be a distortion of the biblical message noting the impediment it represents to achieving a just peace in Israel/Palestine." The Mennonite Church published an article that referenced what is called the ongoing illegal seizure of additional Palestinian lands by Israeli militants, noting that in some churches under the influence of Christian Zionism the "congregations 'adopt' illegal Israeli settlements, sending funds to bolster the defense of these armed colonies." As of September 2007, listed among American churches that have criticized Christian Zionism: the
United Methodist ChurchThe United Methodist Church is a Methodist Christian denomination which traces its roots back to the evangelical, holiness, revival movement of John and Charles Wesley within the Anglican Church. As such, the church's theological orientation is decidedly Wesleyan. It contains both liturgical and...
, the
Presbyterian Church (USA)The Presbyterian Church or PC is a mainline Protestant Christian denomination in the United States. Part of the Reformed family of Protestantism, it is the largest Presbyterian denomination in the U.S...
, and the
United Church of ChristThe United Church of Christ is a mainline Protestant Christian denomination principally in the United States, generally considered within the Reformed tradition. The UCC formed in 1957 with the union of the Evangelical and Reformed Church and the Congregational Christian Churches...
.
*
Prominent Christian Zionists
- Arthur Balfour
Arthur James Balfour, 1st Earl of Balfour, KG, OM, PC, DL was a British Conservative politician and statesman...
- John Nelson Darby
John Nelson Darby was an Anglo-Irish evangelist, and an influential figure among the original Plymouth Brethren. He is considered to be the father of modern Dispensationalism. He produced a translation of the Bible based on the Hebrew and Greek texts called The Holy Scriptures: A New Translation...
- William Blackstone
Sir William Blackstone was an English judge, jurist and professor who produced the historical and analytic treatise on the common law entitled Commentaries on the Laws of England, first published in four volumes over 1765–1769...
- Tom DeLay
Thomas Dale DeLay in Laredo, Texas is a former member of the U.S. House of Representatives who represented Sugar Land, Texas from 1984 until 2006. He was Republican House Majority Leader from 2003–2005, when his legal problems forced him to step down. In 2005, a Texas court charged DeLay with...
- Jerry Falwell
Jerry Lamon Falwell, Sr. was an American evangelical Christian pastor, televangelist, and a conservative commentator. He was the founding pastor of the Thomas Road Baptist Church, a megachurch in Lynchburg, Virginia...
- John Hagee
John Charles Hagee is the American founder and senior pastor of Cornerstone Church in San Antonio, Texas, a non-denominational charismatic church with more than 19,000 active members...
- Alan Keyes
Alan Lee Keyes is an American conservative political activist, author and former diplomat, and perennial candidate for public office. He ran for President of the United States in 1992, 1996, 2000, and 2008, and was a Republican nominee for the U.S. Senate in 1988, 1992, and 2004. Keyes served in...
- William Kelly
William Kelly or Bill Kelly may refer to:*Bill Kelly , American baseball player*Bill Kelly , American football player*Bill Kelly , college football coach in the United States...
of Guernsey and Blackheath
- Charles Henry Mackintosh
Charles Henry Mackintosh was a Christian preacher, writer of Bible commentaries, and magazine editor.-Early life:...
- Pat Robertson
Marion Gordon "Pat" Robertson is a televangelist from the United States. He is the founder of numerous organizations and corporations, including the American Center for Law and Justice , the Christian Broadcasting Network , the Christian Coalition, Flying Hospital, International Family...
- David Pawson
J. David Pawson is a prominent contemporary Bible teacher based in Great Britain. He is the author of more than thirty books , which, together with a much larger number of audio and video tapes of his teachings, are throughout the globe.-Biography:According to his autobiography, David Pawson's...
- Orde Wingate
See also
- Christian Zionism in the United Kingdom
*This article is about the role of Christian Zionism in the United Kingdom in the 21st century.*For the history of Christian Zionism in the United Kingdom predating the 21st century see Christian Zionism and Dispensationalism...
- Zionism
Zionism is the international political movement that originally supported the reestablishment of a homeland for the Jewish People in Palestine. The area was the Jewish Biblical homeland, called the Land of Israel...
- Restoration of the Jews to the Holy Land
Christian Restorationism, the Restoration of the Jews to the Holy Land was a nineteenth-century, Christian movement with both political and religious motivations....
- The Jerusalem Connection
The JerUSAlem Connection, International is a 501 - non-profit organization whose main objective is toinform, educate and activate Christian and Jews to support Israel and the Jewish people. TJCI accomplishes this goal in large part through the publication of its magazine and weekly online...
- End times
The End Time, End Times, or End of Days are the eschatological writings in the three Abrahamic religions and in doomsday scenarios in various other non-Abrahamic religions...
- Christianity and Judaism
- Dispensationalism
Dispensationalism is a Protestant evangelical tradition and theology based on a biblical hermeneutic that sees a series of chronologically successive "dispensations" or periods in history in which God relates to human beings in different ways under different Biblical covenants. As a system...
- Christianity and Biblical prophecy
- Christian right
The Christian right, also known as the Religious Right and the Evangelical Bloc, is a term used predominantly in the United States of America to describe a spectrum of right-wing Christian political and social movements and organizations characterized by their strong support of conservative social...
- Lost Ten Tribes
- Anglo-Israelism
- Anti-Semitism
Antisemitism is prejudice against or hostility towards Jews, often rooted in hatred of their ethnic background, culture, or religion....
- Supersessionism
Supersessionism and replacement theology are uniquely Christian interpretations of New Testament claims, viewing God's relationship with Christians as being either the "replacement" or "completion" of the promise made to the Jews and Jewish Proselytes...
- Judeo-Christian
Judeo–Christian is a term used in the United States, broadly to describe a body of concepts and values thought to be held in common by Judaism and Christianity...
- Christianity and anti-Semitism
Antisemitism has been described as primarily hatred against Jews as a race with its modern expression rooted in 19th century racial theories, whilst anti-Judaism is described as hostility to Jewish religion but in Western Christianity it effectively merged into antisemitism during the 12th...
- Jewish Christians
Jewish Christians or Messianic Jew is a term with two meanings, a historical one and a contemporary one.The historical term refers to Early Christians of or attracted to Jewish culture...
- A land without a people for a people without a land
"A land without a people for a people without a land" is a widely-cited phrase associated with the reintroduction of a Jewish state in the land of Israel....
- Messianic Judaism
Messianic Judaism is a religious movement that differs from mainstream Christianity and from Judaism by combining elements of each into a single faith....
- Mormonism and Judaism
Latter-day Saints believe themselves to be either direct descendants of the House of Israel, or adopted into it. As such, Judaism is foundational to the history of Mormonism ; Jews are looked upon as a covenant people of God, held in high esteem, and are respected in the Mormon faith system...
- David Hocking
David Hocking, a Christian Bible teacher, was born in Long Beach, California in 1941, and raised in Southern California. David Hocking is recognized as one of the preeminent church leaders in the protestant, evangelical movement of Southern California, in the past 40 years.At the height of his...
- Roger Rusk
Roger Rusk was survived by his wife Ruth, who is now also deceased. His brother was the US secretary of state Dean Rusk. A noted Bible scholar, fluent in Hebrew and Greek, he wrote many influential essays, applying scientific principles and deep historical knowledge to analysing the contents of...
- Stephen Sizer
The Reverend Dr Stephen Robert Sizer is the incumbent at Christ Church, Virginia Water, an Anglican parish in Surrey, England. In addition to his parish ministry, he has a number of external roles and is known internationally as an author and speaker specialising in topics relating to the land of...
- Left Behind
Left Behind is a series of 16 best-selling novels by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins, dealing with Christian dispensationalist End Times: pretribulation, premillennial, Christian eschatological viewpoint of the end of the world. The primary conflict of the series is the members of the Tribulation...
- John Hagee
John Charles Hagee is the American founder and senior pastor of Cornerstone Church in San Antonio, Texas, a non-denominational charismatic church with more than 19,000 active members...
- God's Learning Channel
God's Learning Channel is a Judeo-Christian television network which is based in the Southwestern United States. Based on the Messianic Judaism movement, it describes itself as "teaching the Torah and the true roots of Christianity", and its programming features a mixture of Christian and Jewish...
- Blackstone Memorial
The Blackstone Memorial was a petition written by William Eugene Blackstone, a Christian Restorationist, and presented to the President of the United States, Benjamin Harrison, in favor of the delivery of Palestine to the Jews, and signed by a number of leading American citizens...
- Gathering of Israel
The Gathering of Israel is the promise given by Moses, in the Hebrew Bible, to the People of Israel before his death, prior to their entrance to Eretz Israel...
- International Fellowship of Christians and Jews
The International Fellowship of Christians & Jews is a worldwide organization whose goal is "to promote understanding and cooperation between Jews and Christians and to build broad support for the State of Israel and other shared concerns."...
- Vanity Fair editor Craig Unger on the Bush family feud, neoconservatives and the Christian right
- Dual-covenant theology
Dual-covenant theology is a term found in contemporary inter-religious dialogue that teaches that Jews may simply keep the Law of Moses, because of the "everlasting covenant" between Abraham and God expressed in the Hebrew Bible , whereas Gentiles must convert to...
- Christians United for Israel
External links