|
||||||||||||||||
NOTABLE BOOKS ON CHRISTIAN ZIONISM AND CHRISTIAN ZIONISTSBook of the Month
Allies for Armageddon: The Rise of Christian Zionism by Virginia Clark
"An insightful and readable book on Christian Zionism. . . .
[Clark] adds freshness to the story through her travels and
interviews with the principals. . . . Recommended."—Choice
NEWS N BLOGS ON CHRISTIAN ZIONISM and CHRISTIAN ZIONISTS Updated July19, 2014 Calling Presbyterians Anti-semitic a Tactic to Silence Israel Critics - Communities Digital News Israeli Ambassador Ron Dermer Gives Pro-War Pep Talk to Christian Zionists - Mondoweiss Advocacy Groups Woo US Lawmakers Amid Fervor over Prayer on the Temple Mount - al Jazeera Embroiled over Israel, Presbyterians invite a rabbi to the pulpit - Christian Century Rival Christian Interests Undermine Pope's Message of Middle East Peace (+video) - The Christian Science Monitor The Burden and Wall of Zionism - 972mag.com Christian Zionists Underwriting Emigration of Ukranian Jews to Israel - Christian Science Monitor False Witness (PCUSA Divestment Campaign) - The Christian Century
|
Why Evangelical's Love for Jews is an Unrequited Love by Michael Schulson
(RNS)
According to a new survey,
white evangelical Christians
feel a lot of warmth toward
Jews. Michael
Schulson is a freelance
writer based in Durham, N.C.
RNS photo courtesy Michael
Schulson As for
Jews, they feel colder
toward evangelical
Christians than they do
about any other religious
group. Cue the
Taylor Swift ballads: We
have here a serious case of
unrequited love. To gauge
the interreligious emotions
of the American public, the
Pew Research Center asked
thousands of Americans about
their religious
identification, and then
asked them to rate other
religious groups on “a
feeling thermometer,” where
a zero was “the coldest,
most negative possible
rating” and 100 was “the
warmest, most positive”
response. With a
wildly subjective metric and
results that invite massive
generalizations, the survey
deserves a skeptical look. Still, the
discrepancy in the
Jewish-evangelical
relationship is too large to
dismiss. White evangelicals
gave Jews a full 69 percent
of emotional warmth (very
high, by the survey’s
standards), while Jewish
respondents gave evangelical
Christians a frosty 34
percent — one of the lowest
ratings in the entire Pew
data set. Jews rated
Catholics pretty favorably,
so we can’t explain this
result as a response to
Christianity as a whole.
Heavy-handed efforts to
convert Jews — such as the
Southern Baptist
Convention’s 1996 resolution
on Jewish evangelism — have
not endeared certain
evangelical denominations to
their Jewish neighbors. And
some Jews may struggle to
forget anti-Semitic comments
made in the past by
evangelical leaders,
including Billy Graham. But the
real issue here is not that
evangelicals don’t love Jews
enough. It’s that certain
evangelical communities
sometimes love Jews way, way
too much — or, more
accurately, love an image of
what they believe Jews to
be. Seeking a
return to pre-Christian
roots, churches hold
Passover seders and blow
shofars during services.
Evangelical support for
Israel is legendary. Liberty
University, the evangelical
school in Lynchburg, Va.,
even has a Judaic studies
program that, as its
director told the Liberty
student newspaper, “tries to
communicate to the Liberty
community that we as
Christians owe a debt of
gratitude to the Jewish
people.” FULL ARTICLE FROM RELIGION NEWS SERVICE Christian Palestinians
Resource for the Study of Christian Zionism and Christian ZionistsFrom the Interfaith Commission of the National Council of Churches (USA) ![]() Why We Should be Concerned about Christian Zionism
* |
Articles on Christian Zionism and Christian Zionists
Sabeel Makes a Statement at the Christian Zionist Parade in Jerusalem Zionism Unsettled: A Congregational Study Guide
Zionism Unsettled embraces these critical issues fearlessly and with inspiring scope. The booklet and companion DVD draw together compelling and diverse viewpoints from Jews, Muslims, and Christians in Israel, Palestine, the US, and around the globe. By contrasting mainstream perceptions with important alternative perspectives frequently ignored in the media, Zionism Unsettled is an invaluable guide to deeper understanding. Released in January 2014 to immediate critical acclaim, Zionism Unsettled consists of a 74-page illustrated booklet and a free companion DVD. A how-to guide for class leaders and focused discussion prompts make it an ideal resource for multi-week exploratory education programs in churches, mosques, synagogues, and all classroom settings. Videos from Christ at the Checkpoint Conference in Bethlehem!
Why the Rapture Isn't
Biblical . . and Why it Matters
I grew up in church culture. Most of
what I recall from those early childhood and teenage years
bring memories of good things.
People genuinely taught me that loving Jesus matters
more than anything else in the world.
The world, after all, is corrupt and the place we
truly long for is far, far away – heaven.
So we are to love Jesus and hate the world. Now, this is not hatred toward the
people on earth.
I did not grow up in a church culture that taught that we
ought to tell outsiders how much they suck, but that this
“world is not my home, I’m just a passin’ through.” World and physicality = bad. Jesus and spiritual bliss in a distant
heaven = goal of the game. This distinction came with a subset of
beliefs about the destiny of God’s world.
Eventually this planet would be destroyed and we
Christians would “fly away” to heaven at the rapture of the
church. Certain
Christians understood the timing of the rapture as it
corresponds to the book of Revelation differently than
others, but no one ever denied the imminent return of Jesus
to evacuate the church out of earth. |
||||||||||||||
|
HOME
NEWS & COMMENTARY
CHURCH POSITIONS
ARTICLES
DVDs & BOOKS
EDUCATION
CONFERENCES
LINKS
ABOUT US CONTACT US © CHALLENGING CHRISTIAN ZIONISM, 2008 |
||||||||||||||||