by stephen mark dobbs
correspondent
American politics often features strange bedfellows supporting common causes, despite major differences in philosophy and social outlook.
In “Standing With Israel: Why Christians Support the Jewish State,” David Brog explores a prominent current example of a complicated marriage of convenience — the alliance of religious evangelicals (often labeled the “religious right”) with Jewish community supporters of the state of Israel.
Looking back over two millennia of ostracism and persecution of Jews in a mostly Christian-run world, this would not be logically expected. Jews have suffered in the name of Christianity since Roman times, in inquisitions, pogroms, ghettoes and the Holocaust. It is therefore daunting to realize that many modern-day Christians turn out to be among the most enduring friends of Israel.
The relationship of Judaism to Christianity is complex, but few aspects of that torturous history have been more paradoxical than Christian castigation of Jews as killers of Christ, while simultaneously recognizing the Jews as the “Chosen People” as conferred by Scripture. How does one reconcile Jews’ rejection of Christ with their historic role in the Second Coming?
Borg describes in detail the resolution of this paradox by development of “replacement theology,” the substitution of Christians for Jews as the Chosen People. For almost 2,000 years this theology has held sway, removing for Jews the promised protections of divine interest and destiny.
While even St. Paul argued for special status for the Jews, church fathers over the centuries created through replacement theology a systematic de-legitimation of the Jewish role in history. Lies, hatred and bigotry visited upon Jews created the libel that they had lost God’s favor.
With the Reformation and the Enlightenment, the durable tradition of anti-Semitism was for the first time countered by a new breed of theologians. Although Martin Luther remained virulently anti-Semitic, independent-minded church leaders continued to regard the Jews as God’s Chosen People. By the mid-19th century, Pastor John Nelson Darby and others argued that Jews played an indispensable role in the fulfillment of prophecy.
Borg does not suggest that there was any early Christian advocacy for, or support of, a Jewish homeland. Palestine was a backwater of the Ottoman Empire. The priorities of the Catholic Church did not include opening new doors to Christian-Jewish relations.
The origins of modern Christian Zionism can be traced to the emergence in America of dissident groups with unorthodox views. In the 19th century, mainstream Christianity was represented by such replacement theology ideologues as the fundamentalist Jonathan Edwards. But there were also dissident factions, such as the Plymouth Brethren Movement of the 1820s, an offshoot of the Anglican Church. The movement believed that Jews remained the “Israel” to whom so much was promised.
But if the Jews were chosen (and not replaced), whither the Church?
Pastor Darby’s solution: God has two plans, and uses Jews and Christians alike to achieve His aims. This philo-Semitic Christianity became known as “dispensationalism,” returning to Judaism the divine mission that replacement theology had stripped away.
Their core prediction was that the Jews would someday rebuild their nation in their ancient land, as the Bible promised. The launching of the Zionist movement by Theodor Herzl in 1896 confirmed the prediction and expectation.
The climax of the Zionist movement was establishing the modern state of Israel in 1948. As Brog writes, “Each step on the road to the birth of Israel electrified the rapidly expanding dispensationalist camp.” A literal historicism was popular: Here were the descendents of Abraham returning to their homeland in glory.
The evangelical Christian interest in Israel has increased enormously in contemporary times. An American Christian constituency that supports Israel has been influenced by popular books foretelling the Apocalypse and the role of the Jews and Israel. These include Hal Lindsey’s “The Late Great Planet Earth” and Tim La Hayes and Jerry Jenkins’ wildly popular “Left Behind” series, focusing on the apocalyptic end of the world in which Jews play a facilitating role (often by converting to Christianity).
But not all Jews have greeted Christian support with appreciation — some are suspicious of Christian motives and see support for Israel as a theological strategy of eventual conquest.
In addition, many Jews hold liberal positions on social issues that are often at odds with the evangelical and fundamentalist Christian community. The politicization of Christian social beliefs created a powerful voting bloc, the “moral majority,” in the 1970s. Differences on issues such as abortion, gay rights and prayer in schools were revealed even as television evangelists like Oral Roberts, Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson expressed undying support for the Jewish state.
Brog ends his book with a plea: “As the Jewish community faces the new dangers of a new century, it must break free from its fixation on past traumas,” he writes. “American Jews must look forward. The anti-Semites of past generations have been eclipsed in America by Christians who enthusiastically embrace the Jewish people and the Jewish state. As the Jews confront the latest threats to their existence, they will find standing alongside them Christian soldiers who passionately share their concern not despite their Christian faith, but because of it.”
This is a book that should be read by every thoughtful person concerned with the theme of Jewish survival. The author helps us understand and feel the deep affinity that exists among many Christians for Israel and the Jews.
I read this text filled with admiration and appreciation for that minority of our Christian brethren who throughout the centuries braved the virulence of anti-Semitism to speak up for the Jews. Today, in the 21st century, they are also defending the Jewish state.
“Standing with Israel: Why Christians Support the Jewish State” by David Brog (285 pages, Frontline, $19.99)
CopyrightJ, the Jewish news weekly of Northern California