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> You tell me; what exactly do you think "Zionism" means?
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Read about the Christian roots of Zionism:
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article4959.htm
Christians and Zion: British stirrings
Part 1 in a series of 5 articles on Christian Zionism: Part 1 - Part 2 -
Part 3 - Part 4 - Part 5
Donald Wagner
10/09/03 (Daily Star) The British have had a long-term fascination with
the
idea of Israel and its central role in biblical prophecy that dates back
to
their earliest recorded literature. The Epistle of Gildas (circa. 6th
century AD) and the Venerable Bede?s Ecclesiastical History (735 AD) both
saw the British as ?the new Israel,? God?s chosen people, who were
destined
to play a strategic role despite repeated invasions by their Nordic
neighbors. In the British perception of being an elect, these battles were
understood in the context of Israel?s battles against the Philistines,
Babylonians and others.
A clear resurgence of such themes was evident in the 16th century, perhaps
influenced by the Protestant Reformation and its emphasis on the Bible and
varied interpretations of its texts, now that Rome had lost its control
over
the new clergy and theologians. One of the early expressions of
fascination
with the idea of Israel was the monograph Apocalypsis Apocalypseos,
written
by Anglican clergyman Thomas Brightman in 1585. Brightman urged the
British
people to sup****t the return of the Jews to Palestine in order to hasten a
series of prophetic events that would culminate in the return of Jesus.
In 1621, a prominent member of the British Parliament, attorney Henry
Finch,
advanced a similar perspective when he wrote: ?The (Jews) shall repair to
their own country, shall inherit all of the land as before, shall live in
safety, and shall continue in it forever.? Finch argued that based on his
interpretation of Genesis 12:3, God would bless those nations that
sup****ted
the Jews? return. However, his idea did not find sup****t from fellow
legislators.
While these writers cannot be classified as Christian Zionists, they might
be viewed as proto-Christian Zionists, as they prepared the way for those
who would follow. Gradually their views receded, but the turbulence
following the American and French revolutions provoked significant
feelings
of insecurity across Europe. As the anxiety rose in the run-up to the
centennial year at the beginning of the 19th century, prophetic
speculation
concerning Jesus? return and related events was in the air.
During the decade that followed the year 1800, several Christian writers
and
preachers began to reflect on the events leading to Jesus? would-be
imminent
return, among them Louis Way, an Anglican clergyman. Way taught that it
was
necessary for the Jews to return to Palestine as the first stage prior to
the Messianic Age, and he offered speculation as to the timing of Jesus?
second coming. Within a short period of time, Way gained a wide reader****p
through his journal The Jewish Expositor, and counted many clergymen,
academics and the poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge as subscribers.
A number of influential proto-Christian Zionists emerged in the generation
that followed Way. John Nelson Darby (1800-81), a renegade Irish Anglican
priest, added several unique features to Way?s teachings, including the
doctrine of ?the Rapture,? whereby ?born again Christians? would be
literally removed from history and transferred to heaven prior to Jesus?
return. Darby also placed a restored Israel at the center of his theology,
claiming that an actual Jewish state called Israel would become the
central
instrument for God to fulfill His plans during the last days of history.
Only true (?born again?) Christians would be removed from history prior to
the final battle of Armageddon through the Rapture ? based on his literal
interpretation of 1 Thessalonians 4:16.
Darby?s extensive writings and 60-year career as a missionary consolidated
a
form of fundamentalism called ?premillennialism? (Jesus would return prior
to the Battle of Armageddon and his millennial rule on earth). Darby made
six missionary journeys to North America, where he became a popular
teacher
and preacher. The premillennial theology and its influence on Christian
fundamentalism and the emerging evangelical movement in the United States
can be directly traced to Darby?s influence.
Christian Zionism is the direct product of this unusual and recent Western
form of Protestant theology. Found primarily in North America and England,
it is now ex****ted around the globe via satellite television, the
internet,
best-selling novels such as the Left Behind series, films and a new breed
of
missionaries. These unique doctrines were found among fringe movements in
Christianity throughout the ages, which most Catholic, Eastern Orthodox
and
Protestant churches regarded as extreme and marginal, if not heretical.
One of the influential British social reformers to be influenced by
premillennial theology was Lord Shaftesbury, a conservative evangelical
Christian who was intimately linked to leading members of the British
Parliament. In 1839, Shaftesbury published an essay in the distinguished
literary journal the Quarterly Review, titled ?The State and Restoration
of
the Jews,? where he argued: ?(T)he Jews must be encouraged to return (to
Palestine) in yet greater numbers and become once more the husbandman of
Judea and Galilee.? Writing 57 years before Zionist thinkers Max Nordau,
Israel Zangwill and Theodor Herzl popularized the phrase, Shaftesbury
called
the Jews ?a people with no country for a country with no people.? The
saying
was curiously similar to that of the early Zionists, who described
Palestine
as ?a land of no people for a people with no land.? Gradually,
Shaftesbury?s
views gained acceptance among British journalists, clergy and politicians.
One of the most im****tant figures in the development of Christian Zionism
was the Anglican chaplain in Vienna during the 1880s, William Hechler, who
became an acquaintance of Herzl. Hechler saw Herzl and the Zionist project
as ordained by God in order to fulfill the prophetic scriptures. He used
his
extensive political connections to assist the Zionist leader in his quest
for an international sponsor of the Zionist project. Hechler arranged
meetings with the Ottoman sultan and the German kaiser, but it was his
indirect contacts with the British elite that led to a meeting with the
politician Arthur Balfour. That meeting in 1905 would eventually lead to
Balfour?s November 1917 declaration on a Jewish homeland, which brought
the
Zionists their initial international legitimacy. Balfour?s keen interest
in
Zionism was prepared at least in part by his Sunday school faith, a case
put
forth by Balfour?s biographer and niece, Blanch Dugdale.
Then-British Prime Minister David Lloyd-George was perhaps even more
predisposed to the Zionist ideology than Balfour. Journalist Christopher
Sykes (son of Mark Sykes, co-author of the Sykes-Picot Agreement of 1916),
noted in his volume Two Studies in Virtue that Lloyd-George?s political
advisers were unable to train his mind on the map of Palestine during
negotiations prior to the Treaty of Versailles, due to his training by
fundamentalist Christian parents and churches on the geography of ancient
Israel. Lloyd-George admitted that he was far more familiar with the
cities
and regions of Biblical Israel than with the geography of his native Wales
?
or of England itself.
British imperial designs were undoubtedly the primary political motivation
in drawing influential British politicians to sup****t the Zionist project.
However, it is clear that the latter were predisposed to Zionism and to
enthusiastically sup****ting the proposals of Herzl and leading Zionist
officials such as Chaim Weizmann due to their Christian Zionist
backgrounds.
Balfour?s famous speech of 1919 makes the point: ?For in Palestine we do
not
propose even to go through the form of consulting the wishes of the
present
inhabitants of the country?The four great powers are committed to Zionism,
and Zionism, be it right or wrong, good or bad, is rooted in age-long
traditions, in present needs, in future hopes, of far profounder im****t
than
the desires and prejudices of 700,000 Arabs who now inhabit that ancient
land.?
The phrases ?rooted in age-long traditions? and ?future hopes? were
perhaps
grounded in Balfour?s British imperial vision, but they were also
buttressed
by his understanding of Bible prophecy, which undergirded his bias toward
the Zionist project as well as his grand designs for Britain?s colonialist
policy.
Donald Wagner is professor of religion and Middle Eastern studies at North
Park University in Chicago and executive director of the Center for Middle
Eastern Studies. He wrote this commentary, the first of five on Christian
Zionism running this week, for THE DAILY STAR
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