Christian Zionism: Navigating the Jewish-Christian Border

Christian Zionism

Navigating the Jewish-Christian Border

Faydra L. Shapiro

Foreword by Brad H. Young

Table of Contents

Title Page

Preface: On Borders (a True Story)

Acknowledgments

Foreword: by Brad H. Young

1: Introduction

2: Fieldwork in the Jewish-Christian Zone: Three Scenes

3: Standing with Israel: Religion and Politics

4: Ambivalent Love: Christian Zionists on Jews and Judaism

5: Jewish and Christian Responses to Christian Zionism

6: I Walk the Line: Navigating the Jewish-Christian Border

7: Mapping the No-Man’s Zone

8: Conclusion: Riffing off Torah

Bibliography

Christian Zionism

Navigating the Jewish-Christian Border

Copyright © 2015 Faydra L. Shapiro. All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in critical publications or reviews, no part of this book may be reproduced in any manner without prior written permission from the publisher. Write: Permissions. Wipf and Stock Publishers, 199 W. 8th Ave., Suite 3, Eugene, OR 97401.

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ISBN 13: 978-1-62564-292-9

Cataloguing-in-Publication Data

Shapiro, Faydra L.

Christian Zionism : navigating the Jewish-Christian border / Faydra L. Shapiro.

xii + 166 p. ; 23 cm. Includes bibliographical references.

ISBN 13: 978-1-62564-292-9

EISBN 13: 978-1-4982-8017-4

1. Christian Zionism history. 2. United States history. 3. Religion and politics. I. Title.

DS150.5 S50 2015

Manufactured in the U.S.A. 09/30/2015

Special permission has been granted by Taylor and Francis (www.tandfonline.com) to use material published in the following articles by the author: The Messiah and Rabbi Jesus: Policing the Jewish-Christian border in Christian Zionism, Culture and Religion: An Interdisciplinary Journal, 12:4 (2011) 463–77; ‘Thank you Israel, for supporting America’: the transnational flow of Christian Zionist resources, Identities: Global Studies in Culture and Power, 19:5 (2012) 616–31; To The Apple of God’s Eye, Journal of Contemporary Religion, vol. 23(2008) 307–20.

Permission has been granted to use material published in Jews Without Judaism: The Ambivalent Love of Christian Zionism, Journal for the Study of Antisemitism 4 (2013) 401–19.

For Shauli

Preface: On Borders (a True Story)

Once upon a time there was a small, modern Orthodox Jewish community in northern Israel. One day, a group of Christians from Europe arrived, eager to donate a significant sum of money to help the community to build a charming picnic and play area. The community was divided, unsure about the implications of accepting such donations.

Meetings were held, voices were raised, debates raged, concerns were expressed, until finally an agreement was reached that satisfied everyone.

The donation would be accepted, but the community insisted the picnic area would have to be situated just outside the entry gate to the community.

A happy compromise indeed.

Few noticed when, years later, that controversial Christian gift turned out to be flourishing well within the boundaries of the community.

The gate had been moved.

Acknowledgments

It’s difficult to write acknowledgments for a work that has followed me around for so long. I imagine I’ve worn out the patience of innumerable friends, family members, and colleagues (at two institutions!) hearing about this topic over the years. I won’t even try to name you all.

This research was supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada and by Wilfrid Laurier University. In Israel, this research was also supported by the Galilee Center for Studies in Jewish-Christian Relations at the Max Stern College of Emek Yezreel. I am grateful to my colleagues in both institutions, especially Ron Grimes and Paul Freston at Wilfrid Laurier, and to Yaacov Azuelos at the Galilee Center for Studies in Jewish-Christian Relations. I have also relied on the substantial encouragement of Yaakov Ariel and Adele Reinhartz at different stages. I owe special thanks to my parents for their unflagging belief that this project would indeed see the light of day. And for taking me to that Baptist tent revival way back when.

My sincere, deep thanks go out to my informants, for so freely giving of yourselves and sharing your beliefs, practices, fears, and hopes with me. You taught me so much about so many things. Christian Zionism was a great topic for us to start with.

Dr. Brad Young gave generously of his most precious time to write the foreword. To have such a first-rate scholar and truly fine person contribute to this modest effort is deeply humbling.

To Yoel, Elisheva, Ariel, Eliav, Avigail, and Tiferet—ah, the awkward business of thanking a gaggle of children. Thank you for your long stories, your sticky kisses, and for insisting on chocolate cake. Thank you for taking up huge amounts of my time with your love. Thank you for making the world a better place just by being in it.

This book is dedicated to Shaul Katzenstein, my partner in all the best adventures. For listening to all my stories and laughing at the right bits.

Foreword

Dr. Faydra Shapiro has written a sensitive overview of Christian Zionism from the perspective of an Orthodox Jewish researcher of comparative religions. This is no small accomplishment in and of itself. Her book will prove to be a major resource in the future. Her book creates hope for the future of Jewish and Christian relationships but also uncovers difficult concerns that have not been adequately understood or examined. She refuses to accept the naïve media narrative of Christian Zionism as an aberration of Christian faith which is riveted to a bloodthirsty end-of-the-world belief system that is an impediment to peace in the Middle East. Instead she has studied the primary sources of Christian belief. Moreover, she has initiated contact directly with Christian Zionists and Christian evangelical ministries that provide humanitarian relief as well as moral and political support for the modern state of Israel. One result of her research calls into question the motivation for Christian support of Israel as rooted primarily in a complicated eschatology. The notion that eschatology is the only basis for Christian support of Israel deserves serious scrutiny. Even media savvy journalists who never went to Sunday school will have a hard time understanding distinctions within Christian theology, especially when it comes to beliefs concerning the end times, where denominations, popular books, and leading educators frequently disagree. Dr. Shapiro is a scholar of comparative religions. By way of contrast, Dr. Shapiro views Christian support for Israel as being a conviction of belief derived from Scripture study. Devoted Christians identify with the ethical monotheism cherished by both the Christian and Jewish communities. Christians from the United States who treasure freedom and democracy greatly admire the State of Israel, where individual liberties are written into laws in a tough neighborhood of the world—one where dictators and radical Islam dominate much of the political realm. Christians, Muslims, and Jews enjoy religious freedom in Israel unlike any other country in the Middle East. Many evangelical Christians have traveled to Israel and their support for Israel is based in part on direct personal experience in the land and with the people. Certainly the Jewish and Christian communities share many common values. Nonetheless the Jewish people have been persecuted by Christians for many centuries. This troubling history of hostility makes trust very difficult.

Two major questions must be asked: Is it possible for the Jewish community to trust evangelical Christians who support Israel? Is a new and meaningful relationship possible?

It is an honor to be asked to write a foreword to this amazing book by Dr. Shapiro, who has pioneered a fresh approach. Her creative and original book will prove to be a classic in the discipline of Jewish and Christian relations. Christian Zionism may be defined for what it is. Zionism holds that the Jewish people have a right to live in their national homeland. A Christian is a committed follower of the teachings of Jesus Christ within the historic beliefs of the early church in faith and practice. A Christian Zionist joins these two beliefs together. President Harry Truman was a member of the Baptist church in his home state of Missouri and had a business partner who was Jewish. Baptists are conservative Christians who emphasize personal Bible study and prayer. They often have some form of dispensational theology, which Dr. Shapiro defines in her book. Against the enormous anti-Israel influence of the State Department, President Truman caused the United States to vote to recognize Israel as a sovereign nation in the historic 1948 United Nations vote. Later he explained his support for Israel as the right thing to do. Christians overwhelmingly believe that supporting Israel is the right thing to do.

Dr. Shapiro writes this new book based upon her research and personal encounters within the heart of conservative Christian support for Israel. Her viewpoint is rooted in her personal experience and informed research. She highlights the qualitative significance of replacement theology. In many ways, the Catholic Church views itself as the true Israel. The Presbyterian Church views itself as the chosen of God. So it is within many denominations. Israel is not a recognizable entity within Christian theology. The church has replaced Israel. The Jewish people are rejected. This teaching is not accepted by dispensational-minded Christians who believe that Israel is an entity in the plan of God. Covenantal theology also often rejects this idea of replacement. The Jewish people’s covenants are irrevocable. In the future, the divine plan will unfold mysteriously with both the church and Israel as recognizable entities. Dr. Shapiro discusses the importance of replacement theology in the complex interrelationships between the church and the synagogue. Many evangelical Christians read the Apostle Paul’s teachings in Romans 9, 10, and 11 as affirming the divine call for Israel as eternally valid. The church is engrafted into the tree. The root nourishes the branch. All Christians and Jews will learn much by interacting with Dr. Shapiro’s insightful analysis. She makes the complexities of Christian religious and political thought understandable for the non-Christian. She also helps Christians understand how Jewish people view Christianity. Hers is a very important interfaith study in comparative religions.

By studying the Bible, many Christians come to value Israel’s eternal significance. The Hebrew Scriptures of the Older Testament mention Israel about 2,400 times. In the text, Israel refers to the children of Abraham through family background. The descendants of Abraham are also joined together by a monotheistic and ethical faith tradition. The Hebrew Bible teaches this covenantal connection between the people, the land, and the faith. The New Testament, sacred to Bible-believing Christians, mentions Israel nearly eighty times with arguably the same meaning for Israel as that derived from the Old Testament. Israel means the children of Abraham in every Christian context of the New Testament. Moreover, Jesus is born in Bethlehem of Judea rather than in Athens, Greece, or Rome. Likely Jesus would feel more at home in a yeshiva of Jewish learning than in a theological seminary at the Vatican in Rome. After all, Jesus attended synagogue, prayed in the temple, and worshiped on Shabbat. Jesus spoke about the fulfillment of the times of the Gentiles and the renewal of Israel much like other Hebrew prophets such as Jeremiah and Isaiah. In fact, in the last book of the New Testament, called Revelation, Jesus comes again as the Lion of Judah (Rev 5:5). The thoroughgoing Jewishness of Jesus in the New Testament cannot be denied. Jesus does not return in the second coming as a Baptist, a Catholic, a Methodist, or a Presbyterian.

Jesus’ title, the Lion of Judah, possesses a strong Jewish overtone. In spite of years of Christian teachings of triumphalism and replacement theology, it should not be surprising that many students of the Bible uphold the eternal covenantal relationship between God and Israel. In this interpretation of Scripture, God keeps covenant with his people even when they sin. The ethical monotheism of Jesus and the early church is derived from the legacy of Israel. The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob is compassionate and forgiving. Dr. Shapiro is right in looking to Bible learning as a foundation for Christian support of Israel. Moreover, the evangelical author of the classic book The Hiding Place, Corrie Ten Boom, talked about her father’s love for the Jewish people. He hid Jews from the Nazis and as a result, died in a concentration camp. Corrie Ten Boom and her family are towering heroes in the eyes of Bible-believing Christians because they risked everything to save Jewish people from persecution during the Nazi occupation of Europe. Corrie Ten Boom’s father probably derived his view of the Jewish people from Bible study. Christian Zionism is based more on a reading of Scripture than a reading of end times events. All Christians believe that Jesus is coming again. This will end human suffering and make what is wrong in the world right. The Christian belief in the final judgment actually came from Judaism. The Apostles’, Nicene, and Athanasian Creeds include the provision, He [Jesus] will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead and His kingdom shall have no end. Catholics and Anglicans end the prayers of the eucharistic service by affirming, Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again.The creeds of the church and historic Christianity teach about the end of the world and the last judgment. However, Christian belief in the second coming of Christ is not a very good explanation for Christian Zionism even if you read it in the newspaper.

The real question is how Christian theology treats the true Israel issue. Dr. Shapiro offers a valuable contribution to this discussion. Dispensationalists and other evangelical Christians see Israel as a living entity essential for their understanding of ethical monotheism and the divine plan of salvation history. Dispensationalists are often found in Bible and Baptist churches in the great variety of different evangelical churches. They share similar theological beliefs about Israel with Holy Spirit renewal churches. Renewal movement churches like interdenominational charismatic fellowships or Word of Faith churches as well as traditional Pentecostal churches like the Assemblies of God or neo-Pentecostal ministries often consider the restoration of Israel as a fulfillment of their own faith aspirations. Blessing the children of Abraham will cause them to share in the blessings of Abraham (Gen 12:3). They affirm the eternal dimension of the covenant of Abraham (Gen 17:8). The restoration of Israel to the land of promise is a sure sign of divine faithfulness to the teachings of Scripture.

Some Christians of all denominations believe that the church has replaced Israel. Christian Zionists who also come from all denominations believe that the existence of the Jewish people as an entity demonstrates divine faithfulness to the biblical covenants. But on the question of Israel, Christian Zionists see support of Israel as a force for good in a troubled area of the world. Corrie Ten Boom’s father and likely many other Christians who faithfully read their Bibles daily support Israel because they believe that it is the right thing to do. It is something that is urgent and necessary. Famous and highly revered Bible scholar David Noel Freedman wrote a book The Unity of the Bible, in which he presented the thesis that a unifying theme throughout the Old Testament is the divine call of the people of Israel to live in their national homeland. His book merely explores the message of the Bible historically without theological overtones. But the message concerning Israel, the land, and the covenants is apparent. Archaeology confirms Israel’s connection to the land. Moreover, Israel’s theophany is the foundation of the Christian Zionist’s biblical world view. God revealed Himself to Moses and the prophets. Christians owe an immense debt to the Jewish people for the faith of Abraham that has brought them to Jesus Christ. Such Christians cannot view the existence of the church as the replacement for Israel.

Dr. Shapiro does not answer all the tough questions concerning the interconnection between Christian Zionists and the Jewish community. She does suggest that there are areas of common concern. Her research and personal experience offer hope for better cooperation and improved understanding. Jews and Christians have a foundation for a meaningful exchange even though they lack unassailable trust in each other as committed partners. But both conservative Christians and Jews see two threats that come against both communities. First, both communities of faith see a rise in secular culture sometimes expressed in raw atheistic humanism that challenges directly the authenticities of Jewish and Christian faiths. Clearly a compassionate humanism is a fruit of both Christianity and Judaism. But secularism has become a religion of humanism which denies both Judaism and Christianity the right to practice their faith traditions. Conservative Jewish columnist Dennis Prager opined that leftism is the fastest-growing and most influential religion in the world today. The ultimate question is: What happens to the Jewish and Christian grandchildren? Will secular society convert our Jewish and Christian grandchildren into media-trained humanists without belief in God, the Bible, religious faith, or participation in family and community life?

Second, the rise of political jihadist Islam threatens world peace, freedom, and the existence of America and Israel. Certainly many Muslims support freedom, democracy, and diversity. Egypt has proven to be a dependable ally to Israel and the US with many commonly shared interests. The president of Egypt, Abdel Fattah el Sisi, has had the Egyptian army rebuild many churches destroyed by the Muslim Brotherhood. Nevertheless, Islamic jihadists seek to purge the Middle East of all Christians. Jews and Israelis are not welcome in many countries. Synagogues in France are targeted for attack. Jews fear to wear a skullcap in Germany. Police in Europe say they cannot adequately protect the Jewish community. The appearance of political Islam is impacting European societies with a radicalized ideology that rejects full religious freedom for Christians and Jews. In many ways, America is accommodating this radical ideology while marginalizing the Judeo-Christian heritage of her founding. Since 1979, the streets of Iran are often filled with the chant death to America and death to Israel. This is the Shia state sponsor of terrorism which has killed many. On the Sunni side, the Islamic State is targeting Christianity and calling for the downfall of America. Today both the Islamic State and Iran are operating in the politically radicalized Islamic community in Israel proper and in the disputed territories. According to FBI reports, the Islamic State has supporters and potential violent extremists in every state of the union. The violence spreading globally from the Middle East suggests that these chants are not mere political slogans. Former prime minister of Israel Menachem Begin once remarked that if anyone says they want to kill all the Jews, believe it. The news media and political leaders seem not to believe the Jihadists who shout Death to America and Death to the Jews. As philosopher G.W.F. Hegel said, The only thing we learn from history is that we learn nothing from history. As a result we are condemned to repeat the mistakes that have cost the lives of many innocent people. The Christian and Jewish communities share a common concern to deal with these two threats in an effective way. The religion of leftism is converting many Jewish and Christian children away from the faiths of their families. The threat of violent extremism is very real.

The fruit of ethical monotheism is a society characterized by love and compassion. The ethics of the Bible knit the hearts of Jews and Christians together. In reality, one of the driving forces behind the solidarity between evangelical Christians and Orthodox Jewish leaders is the desire to know and to be known. Evangelical Christians learn about themselves when they study Judaism and Jewish history. Jewish leaders learn about themselves when they engage with Christians in joint research projects. Jewish leaders are inspired by the passion of individual prayers prayed by Christians. Christians are inspired by the Jewish prayer book and the substance and content of liturgical prayers rooted in the Psalms. With a holy jealousy, Christians admire Jewish achievements in learning and community building through Torah observance. Christians really love the Bible and they enjoy learning Jewish perspectives on sacred texts. They relive a part of the history of their own faith when they participate in a Passover Seder or a Shabbat dinner in the home of a close Jewish friend. Friendship based upon mutual respect and legitimacy draws two opposite forces together. Strengthening the relationship between Christians and Jews is like trying to bring a divorced couple back together. It seems unlikely that the divorced couple really could ever be married again, but they must learn to cooperate and to esteem one another for mutual concerns and for the sake of their children. Elie Wiesel said, In history there are no coincidences. Christians and Jews are naturally drawn to each other because of so many common experiences. It is no coincidence that these two communities come together. The forces of historical experience create a feeling of partnership between Christians and Jews in a dynamic relationship that nurtures each faith spiritually. The energy