Christian Zionism

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As Christian Zionism to describe the particularly in the evangelical spread Christianity believes that Christians the State of Israel from theological must support reasons.

History and origin

In terms of the history of ideas, Christian Zionism can be derived from the Protestant sister movements Puritanism and Pietism , which led to increasing engagement in the mission of the Jews . In England the philosemitic currents were stronger than in Germany, namely in a movement that has been called evangelical since the early 19th century , from which the newer German word evangelical developed.

The real Christian Zionism began with the emergence of the political Zionism promoted by Theodor Herzl and Herzl's endeavor to use non-Jews for strategic reasons to support his idea: “Unfortunately it is the case that the statements of an Aryan baron influence the upper Jews more than whatever ours could say. ”The year of birth can be 1896, when the Anglican pastor William Hechler worked as a chaplain at the British embassy in Vienna, read Herzl's Jewish state and then offered himself to the Jewish Zionist leader as an assistant. With Hechler, too, one recognizes that there were pragmatic reasons why Zionism got involved with its Christian admirers. Herzl wrote about the Anglican embassy chaplain that he was “a fine instrument for my purpose”.

In the first half of the 20th century, Great Britain was the country with the largest proportion of Christian Zionists, but was then replaced in this rank by the USA . Today the Christian Zionists among the Evangelicals in the USA function as a strong lobby for the benefit of the State of Israel and as such exert influence on Washington's foreign policy.

Around 1900 Jewish Zionism found support not only among evangelicals, but also among members of a more liberal Christianity, especially in Germany and Austria. The liberal Protestant Hermann Maas , who took part in the 6th Zionist Congress in 1903, saw himself as a (Christian) Zionist. The theologian Friedrich-Wilhelm Marquardt , who sympathized with socialism and a pioneer of Christian-Jewish dialogue , also tried his whole life to affirm political Zionism within the framework of a Christian theology. For Christian-liberal or left-wing supporters of Zionism and the State of Israel, however, the expression “Christian Zionism” is not used today. Today it is true that many Christian Zionists are evangelicals, but by no means all evangelicals are Christian Zionists, especially not in Central Europe.

The rather small movement of Christian Zionism has differed from the other apocalyptic teachings of a pietistic color (e.g. within the framework of the Württemberg Temple Society, which emerged in the 19th century, or the community movement ) through its clear philosemitism, while the other end-time Christians differed more from the traditional one Christian anti-Judaism . This only changed after the founding of the state of Israel , more so in the course of the Six Day War in 1967, when Christian Zionism was able to win over more and more evangelical Christians. The new attractiveness of Christian Zionism can be explained on a rational basis by the fact that its religious interpretation satisfied various internal evangelical, but also general political needs:

  • The Bible is interpreted literally in all its parts. The preoccupation with biblical prophecy gives the Christian Zionist the feeling of gaining an insight into the divine secrets and of knowing more than his secular contemporaries.
  • The founding of the Israeli state as the fulfillment of biblical promises makes the Bible appear true in the face of the usual skepticism of faith and thus functions as a kind of proof of God .
  • Christian Zionism represents an evangelical attempt to come to terms with the past by replacing the previous anti-Judaism with a pro-Jewish and pro-Israel stance.
  • Since the 1970s at the latest, the Christian-Zionist end-time belief has been part of the general fears of doom in Western societies: environmental catastrophe, World War III, etc.

Teaching

Hechler's theology corresponds in its basic features to the teaching of the Christian Zionists to this day: The Old Testament promise that the Jews would return to Palestine at the end of time is being fulfilled right now. It is therefore the duty of Christians to support the Jews in settling in Palestine. Christian Zionism and strong belief in the end times are usually two sides of the same coin. The founding of the State of Israel in 1948 is seen here as the most important sign of the end times, as an indication that Jesus Christ will soon (again) come as the Jewish and Christian Messiah.

According to the Christian-Zionist doctrine of the end of the times , which developed from traditional chiliasm and dispensationalism of the 19th century, at the end of time there will be a huge battle of nations in Armageddon (= Megiddo ). The nations that tried to wipe out the State of Israel would be repulsed by Jesus Christ, who now returns on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem. Because the Jews here experienced Jesus as their political liberator, they would collectively recognize him as their own Messiah . Now the millennium begins , in which Jesus Christ ruled the earth as the new Jewish King. This view explains why Christian Zionists observe events in the Middle East and view any anti-Israel utterance by an Arab or Islamic president as part of what they see as the apocalyptic end-time events.

The theology of history of Christian Zionism is based on numerous biblical passages from the Old and New Testaments, which are combined with one another in a specific way and, according to certain analogies, are related to current political events.

Examples of Christian Zionist biblical interpretation

  • Isaiah 2,2: At the last time the mountain, where the LORD’s house is, will stand firm, higher than all mountains and above all hills, and all heathen will run up… This passage means two things in the eyes of Christian Zionists: On the one hand the third temple will be built at some point, on the other hand it is expressed here that the heathen (Christians) of all the world will orient themselves towards Jerusalem / Zion / Israel, by which the Christian Zionists mean themselves.
  • Ezekiel 37:12: Thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I will open your graves, and I will bring you out of your graves, my people, and bring you into the land of Israel. This means: Just after the Shoah = “graves”, the Jews were able to found the State of Israel.
  • Matthew 24:32: Learn a parable about the fig tree: when its branches become juicy and leafy, you know that summer is at hand. The fig tree is a traditional symbol for Israel. The green fig tree should stand for the founding of the State of Israel in 1948, the approaching summer refers to the end times.

criticism

The fact that Christian Zionism, in terms of its theological basis and its political expressions, often stands in opposition to secular modernity has led to steadily growing criticism, less in academic literature than in the media (see some of the web links). Here the criticism is mostly linked to current political events - in connection with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict or the foreign policy of the USA - and usually does not address the original theological and political intentions of Christian Zionism. On the one hand, sensational reports are repeatedly published on the Middle East conflict , on the other hand, the media often give the impression that Christian-Zionist and Evangelicals are congruent.

Allegation of mission to the Jews

Christian Zionism is not a unitary movement. There are groups who openly try to evangelize Jews, others who consistently reject these attempts. Solidarity with so-called messianic Jews is common to all Christian Zionists. In general, one can say: even if the first Christian Zionists mostly came from Jewish missionary activities, their friendly dealings with Zionist Jews often led to a factual (if not theoretical) renunciation of missionary work. It has basically remained so to this day. The practical renunciation of mission to the Jews was seen around 1900 as a “ modernist ” apostasy from the right faith, when particularly official Lutheran circles specifically sought to evangelize Jews. Today, however, after the large churches have given up Jewish missionary activities, the Christian-Zionist doctrine, according to which the Jews would accept Christ as their own Messiah at the return of Christ, seems outdated, conservative and intolerant.

Alleged unilateral support for Israel

Here, too, Christian Zionism is not uniform. Some groups limit themselves to political solidarity with the State of Israel, similar to the German-Israeli Society . However, due to a specific reading of the Old Testament, other circles demand that today's Israel should occupy the national borders described in the Bible , which results in a Greater Israel theology in which there is no place for a sovereign Palestinian state. Those who follow the latter view automatically tend towards radical exclusivity that no longer recognizes political compromises and categorically rejects peace solutions based on compromise. The television preacher Pat Robertson should be mentioned in a prominent place here , who at the beginning of 2006 saw the illness of Ariel Sharon as a punishment from God for having evacuated the Gaza Strip .

Christian Zionist communities and persons

In Germany, Switzerland and Austria:

In Israel:

In the USA:

literature

  • Theodor Herzl: Letters and Diaries , 2nd Vol .: Zionist Diary 1895–1899 , arr. v. Johannes Wachten u. Chaya Harel. Frankfurt am Main / Berlin 1984.
  • Franz Kobler: The Vision was there. A History of the British Movement for the Restoration of the Jews to Palestine. London 1956. (Superficial but the classic in the history and prehistory of Christian Zionism)
  • Willehad Paul Eckert, Nathan Peter Levinson and Martin Stöhr (eds.): Jüdisches Volk - promised land. The biblical land promises as a problem of Jewish self-understanding and Christian theology. Munich 1970.
  • Paul W. Eckert: Streiflichter on the history of Christian Zionism. In: Martin Stöhr: Zionism. Contributions to the discussion. Munich 1980, pp. 116-143. (Position of Roman Catholic theologian)
  • Paul Boyer: When Time Shall Be No More. Prophecy Belief in Modern American Culture. Cambridge, Massachusetts / London 1992. (Position of American historian)
  • Paul Charles Merkley: The Politics of Christian Zionism 1891-1948. London 1998. (Canadian historian position)
  • Alex Carmel: “Christian Zionism” in the 19th Century - Some Remarks. In: Ekkehard W. Stegemann (Ed.): 100 years of Zionism. About the realization of a vision. Jews and Christianity 1. Stuttgart / Berlin / Cologne (2000), pp. 127–135. (Position of an Israeli historian)
  • Karen Armstrong : The Battle for God. Fundamentalism in Judaism, Christianity and Islam. HarperCollins, 2001. ISBN 0-00-638348-3 .
  • Paul Charles Merkley: Christian Attitudes towards the State of Israel. Montreal / Kingston 2001.
  • Gerhard Gronauer: "A fine instrument for my purpose". The Zionist Idea and the Evangelicals. In: Encounters. Journal for Church and Judaism (2/2005), pp. 2–6. (Position of a Protestant theologian)
  • Gerhard Gronauer: The State of Israel in the pietistic-evangelical end-time piety after 1945. In: Gudrun Litz, Heidrun Munzert, Roland Liebenberg (ed.): Piety - Theology - Piety Theology. Contributions to European Church History - Festschrift for Berndt Hamm on his 60th birthday , Studies in the History of Christian Tradition 124, Leiden / Boston 2005, pp. 797–810.
  • Stephen Sizer: Christian Zionism: Road-Map to Armageddon? InterVarsity Press, 2005. ISBN 0-8308-5368-5 .
  • David Brog: Standing with Israel: Why Christians Support Israel. Frontline, 2006. ISBN 1-59185-906-9 .
  • Dan Cohn-Sherbok: The Politics of Apocalypse: The History and Influence of Christian Zionism. Oneworld Publications, 2006. ISBN 1-85168-453-0 .
  • Willem Laurens Hornstra: Christian Zionism among Evangelicals in the Federal Republic of Germany. PhD Thesis, University of Wales 2007 ( online ).
  • Martin Kloke : Off to the last stand! Christian Zionism on the Rise? In: Church contemporary history. International Journal of Theology and History 21 (2008), pp. 86-107.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Theodor Herzl: Letters and Diaries 2 , p. 500.
  2. ↑ Theodor Herzl, op. Cit. , P. 313.
  3. ^ So Gronauer, Gerhard: The State of Israel in West German Protestantism. Perceptions in church and journalism from 1948 to 1972 (AKIZ.B57). Göttingen 2013. p. 109.
  4. ↑ Dietmar Pieper: Politics with the Apocalypse , Spiegel.de from August 26, 2020; accessed on August 26, 2020