3/23/13 Professor Greenberg Religion in America Christian Zionism in America

Eric Gilston

The frightening correlations to which thou draws between early Christian Zionism and Nazi Germanys atrocious campaign to exterminate God and his people brings up a variety of questions that need answering in the present day context of America and her role upon the world stage. I was intrigued by the essays descriptions of both Brooks, Houghton and Blackstone, as examples of empirical and historical schematization of metahistory that which has been entrenched into Christian Americans worldview from as early as the early Puritan settlers, and has continued up to the present, most fervently, among evangelicals and Pentecostals. Whereby, mine own albeit limited ability to effectively piece together the past is a process that enables one to be able to contextual present in its entirety - and perhaps even foretell what the future holds. In any case there seems to be a an implicit connection of the past to the present at which in taken in context of post 9/11 era - creates a terrifying irony that places America in the middle what thou deem a triadic relationship. The thought that came to mind after reading your essay is that understanding how Christian Zionism has influenced America, and where Nazi Germany fit into the Christian drama, a subject which is not only rarely discussed in academic circles, but by beginning to uncover this narrative, more questions arise than answers. Invariably, this starts by telling narrative between Christian Zionism and Nazi Germany, in what can even be called Americas metahistory. For as current events on the world stage eerily resemble Christian Zionisms notions of America as New Jerusalem and Israel as Zion, a connection which, if understood contextually, will show that the situation in the Middle East is paradoxically at the boiling point of similar apocalyptic proportions to that of Christian dispensationalist prophecy. The words of Robert Stearn an evangelical Christian preacher from upstate New York Robert Stearns, who talking to Orthodox Jews while living in Jerusalem personify this preceding notion, A growing group of us is prepared to lay our lives down for Israel and the Jewish People.1 In accordance with your statement that the End of time was nigh, the Jews suffered exile because of sin, that suffering would cease upon a radical change of heart and mind, that the tyrants of the world served a higher process, that reality was of history and myth (metahistory) together, and that a remnant of Israel would remain through eternity. Furthermore, that history descended and darkened as a prelude to ascent and illumination, that the flowering of the Land in the Interwar period was a sign of redemption, that the land of Israel was the sole refuge, and that the Holocaust catastrophe could be repeated again-and be even worse then {before}, this shared metahistory appears likewise - to some extent - among both Christian Zionists and Orthodox Jews, who take a more radical approach, as mention above. Christian thinkers, particularly Premillennial Dispensation who adhere to such rhetoric have projected cataclysmic events such as Hitlers rise to power - megalomaniacal campaign to eradicate the Jewish people from the world - and Israelites return to the holy land as necessary perquisites in the fulfillment of G-ds divine plan.2 A plan that he has revealed to humanity in the
1

Spector, Stephen. Evangelicals and Israel: The Story of American Christian Zionism. New York: Oxford University Press, 2009: (p. 1) 2 Greenburg Gershon, The Rise of Hitler, Zion and the Tribulation: Between Christian Zionism and Orthodox Judaism (p. 1)

scriptural prophesies of the Torah and Bible. For many American Christians espousing Dispensationalist metahistory taking on a variety of interpretations of scriptural prophecy - this mythical process came to fruition in lieu of both the Holocaust and establishment of the Jewish state in 1948. These two events demarcated the beginning of the end, or put differently that the signs of the time foretold of the transitioning from the Age of the Church into the Rapture Tribulation, Christs Return, and the Battle of Armageddon.3 Furthermore, many pious Christians associate the 1967 war as the end of the times of the Gentiles that was prophesized by Jesus in (Luke 21:24).4 Another prominent idea, and prerequisite for the battle of Armageddon - among evangelical and Pentecostal Christian in America is to rebuild Davids Temple, coincidentally on the exact same ground where Muslims second most holy is located, known as the Dome of the Rock (Haram ash-Sharif). Many studies have shown how American Christian dispensationalist rhetoric plays into U.S. culture and thus foreign policy, in which American exceptionalism their apocalyptical eschatology - that directly connects the Jewish people into their premillennial Dispensationalist met history will the. But before delving into this connection between American Christian Zionists, Orthodox Jews, and Hitlers rise and attempt to exterminate the idea of God and his relationship with the Jewish people. It would be wise to reflect on what Scotty McLennans says about Pope Urban II first crusade into the Holy Land, traditionally involved applying an absolutist good-versus-evil distinction not just to enemy military forces, but to whole peoples. Crusaders have repudiated not only evil deeds that the enemy does, but also the enemy as a whole. Matters of degree have been morally irrelevant from a crusader viewpoint. God has been seen to champion only one side and not lament the loss of enemy lives. The crusaders view is morally simplistic, seeing conflict as an either-or, a battle between pure good and unadulterated evil.5 This quote is used herein to juxtapose, arguably, the earliest Christian Zionist ideas concerning the Holy, which is to emphasize the same absolutist rhetoric one finds within the evangelical community. The extent of which such absolutist Christian Zionist ideology has influence U.S. culture will be called into question herein. While the prevailing premillennial dispensationalist discourse has, to some degree or another, permeated the American political environment and influenced U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East.6 Nevertheless what becomes quite obvious in this correlation between past and present Christian thinking is that ideas concerning Jews and the Holy Land are interwoven into premillennial dispensationalist rhetoric heard today, which is an extension of the discourse heard by early Christian Zionist advocates. Take for example the two argument put forth by Paul S. Boyer, firstly that prophecy belief is far more central in American thought than intellectual and cultural historians have recognized, and second, that in years since World War II the popularizes of a specific belief system dispensational premillennialism have played an important role in

3 4

Ibid. (p. 1-2) Spector, Stephen. Evangelicals and Israel: The Story of American Christian Zionism. New York: Oxford University Press, 2009: (p. 27) 5 Faith and Foreign Policy, The Views and Influence of U.S. Christians and Christian Organizations (p. 52) 6 Ibid. (p 122-25)

shaping public attitudes on a wide range of topics from the Soviet Union, the Common Market, and the Mideast to the computer and the environmental crisis.7 So the question perhaps that needs answering is where Nazi Germany fits into the equation. Perhaps the following statement by Victoria Clarke - who, sharing similar sentiment with Joseph Hoffman, who said God never appointing a follower of Christ to be His whipping lash stands up against such violent notions, and in writing of her encounter with a Christian Zionist, says Peace couldnt be Dr Prices Christian priority because the combined forces of bible prophecy, 9/11, the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and Irans nuclear ambitions have hurled him and millions like him back to Munich 1938. Christian Zionists like Price are now more receptive than ever before to the sound of alarm bells rung by Jews whom history has taught to expect and prepare for the very worst, by Jews who dare not risk being, as Joel C. Rosenberg put it, blindsided by evil again. The West Bank settler Sondra Oster Baras had rung those bells during our long talk in that West Jerusalem caf. Netanyahus new refrain was Its 1938 and Iran is Germany, only worse, because where Hitler started a war and then built a nuclear weapon, Iran is going nuclear before the war starts. In Dr Prices eyes, anyone refusing to combat the grand evil of Islamic fundamentalism with pre-emptive strikes against Muslim countries, anyone seeking to resolve the Israeli-Palestine by insisting Israel abide by UN resolutions and give up land is another Neville Chamberlain.8

Paul S. Boyer, When Time Shall Be No More: Prophecy and Belief in American Culture, President and Fellows of Harvard College, 1992: (see Preface I) 8 Victoria Clark, Allies for Armageddon: The Rise of Christian Zionism (p. 271)