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NOTABLE BOOKS ON CHRISTIAN ZIONISM AND CHRISTIAN ZIONISTS
Book of the Month
by Shalom Goldman
The standard histories of Zionism have depicted it almost exclusively as a Jewish political movement, one in which Christians do not appear except as antagonists. In the highly original Zeal for Zion, Shalom Goldman makes the case for a wider and more inclusive history, one that brings the substantial Christian involvement with Zionism--most recently by American evangelical Protestants--into the light.
NEWS N BLOGS ON CHRISTIAN ZIONISM and CHRISTIAN ZIONISTS
Updated 1 Feb, 2009
Waiting for Armaggedon is Mostly Religion Lite
- Providence Journal
Barak Obama's Paralysis in the Face of the Zionist Lobby
- Redress
Arab Christians Try Reviving Town of Jesus' Miracle
- The Washington Post
King, Zionism and the Cycle of Fear
- CBS News
Oral Roberts: Pioneering Christian Zionist
- Religion Dispatches
Waiting for Armaggedon - the Movie
-New York Times
Neo-cons Turn on . . . the Jews
- TPMCafe
Movie Night: Waiting for Armageddon
- firedoglake.com
- Counter Currents
- The Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life
Israeli Ministries Spar Over Support of Evangelical Christians
- Israel Today
- alternet.org
Are Evangelicals Abandoning Israel?
- onenewsnow.com
Palin Ignites New Debate on GOP Support for Israel
- thejewishweek.org
Steven Harper and the Jewish Question
- the Globe and Mail
Israeli Occupation a "sin against God" say Palestinian Christian Leaders
- Ecumenical News International
Jordan Protests Israel's "Unilateral" Work on Church of the Holy Sepulcher
- AFP
John Hagee's Christian Zionist Group Donates $9 million to Israel
- jewishtimes.com
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Evangelicals for Middle East Understanding (new friend!) A Texas Lutheran's Voice for Middle East Peace Holy Land Christian Foundation Center for Middle Eastern Studies |
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Christians offering an alternative to the biblical and political distortions of Christian Zionism - because if we remain silent they'll assume we agree. MORE… |
The La Grange Declaration, 1979 - This statement was prepared and endorsed in 1979 by 5000 American church leaders, including many in the evangelical community. Much of what it addresses is sadly still unresolved |
Evangelicals and Armageddon |
For the past week or so we've been advertising the release of a mainstream documentary on Christian Zionism, Waiting for Armageddon, which is currently playing in selected theaters around the country . We've done so happily as it's been heartening to see the issues we've been highlighting on this site for the past six years finally getting mainstream attention.
Unfortunately, the makers of the film have made the same mistake others who have covered this phenomenon from the "outside" have made. They have bought into the figures Christians Zionists like Pat Robertson and John Hagee have used to inflate their sense of importance. What Hagee says is that 50 million Christians buy into his theo-political ideology, giving the impression that all evangelicals are on board with his extremism.
It is true that many Americans, not only evangelicals, but Americans in general, have fallen for or at least given a curiosity value to ideas that have their origins in the extremist views Christian Zionists like Hagee and others tout as "biblical." The centrality of Israel to the events of the End Times; the battle of Armageddon; the rise of an anti-Christ; the rapture , these ideas popularized by fundamentalist pot boilers like the Left Behind series have taken on a life of their own. But of the 50 million Christians in America who identify themselves as evangelicals (including this writer) only a minority buy into what is known as dispensational theology, which serves as the foundation for these beliefs. Many evangelicals, in fact, find these beliefs just as bizarre as those belonging to more mainstream traditions or no tradition.
We are delighted that Waiting for Armageddon is playing in theaters and getting reviewed in national news sources. Our only regret is that the makers of the film didn't do a better job of helping their audience understand that evangelicals are not walking in lock step on these issues.
John Hubers
Institute for the Study of Christian Zionism
New Educational Resource on Biblical Prophecy
NEW DOCUMENTARY ON CHRISTIAN ZIONISM COMING SOON!!
Watch the trailer here!
http://www.withgodonourside.com/
Hats off to the filmmakers!!
Videos on Christian Zionism from
Christians United for Israel (CUFI) as Barrier to Peace in Israel/Palestine
An Evangelical Leader and Jewish Rabbi Speak on CUFI and Peace
Resources for the Study of Christian Zionism and Christian Zionists
From the Interfaith Commission of the National Council of Churches (USA)
Why We Should be Concerned about Christian Zionism
From the Institute for the Study of Christian Zionism:
An Adult Christian Education Course: Left Behind: Israel, the Bible, and the Future
ARTICLES and MULTI-MEDIA PIECES ON CHRISTIAN ZIONISM AND CHRISTIAN ZIONISTS
Sabeel Makes a Statement at the Christian Zionist Parade in Jerusalem
The Christian Roots of Zionism
by Shalom Goldman
Some scholars would agree
with the opinion expressed by historian Evyatar Friesel in a 2006 essay
titled ‘‘Zionism and Jewish Nationalism’’:
‘‘The author is aware of the
historical interest in certain non-Jewish quarters, especially in
nineteenth-century England, toward the restoration of the Jews to the Holy
Land. An examination—admittedly not systematic enough—regarding the
relationship between these ideas and the emergence of Zionism suggests only
a very marginal and indirect influence.’’
Other scholars, myself among them, have found a more
direct and powerful connection between Christian Zionism and Jewish Zionism.
As historian of ideas Richard Popkin noted in the early 1990s, ‘‘Much of
Zionism has its roots in Christian rather than Jewish doctrine.’’
Among those doctrines is the
tendency in the Protestant churches to read biblical narrative and prophecy
in a more literal and historical manner than had been the tradition in
either Rabbinic Judaism or in the Orthodox or Catholic Churches. Equally
relevant is the millennialist trend in Protestant history. By the
mid-twentieth century, three centuries of Christian enthusiasm for a return
of the Jews to their land created an atmosphere in the West in which
previously inchoate and unrealizable Jewish aspirations for a revived
national home could take shape and find direction.
FULL ARTICLE FROM RELIGION DISPATCHES
Evangelicals, Israel and the End of the World
by David Heilbroner
It's been
just nine years since dooms-dayers expected the new millennium to bring the
end of the world, yet the cry of "Armageddon" still rings out. Last month
alone, NASA had to allay fears of a 2012 end-of-the-world scenario.
And why not? We all know humans are doomed. Either our sun will explode in a
few billion years or God's wrath will consume the planet tomorrow. But few
Americans have embraced the coming of the End Times as intensely as the
Evangelicals profiled in Waiting for Armageddon, a documentary I
co-directed with Kate Davis and Franco Sacchi, to be released theatrically
in New York City, Providence and Boston in January. In the film, we join
Christian Evangelicals on an explosive tour of the future as they see it,
from anguish to the sublime perfection of a new world.
There are some 50 million Evangelicals in the US who believe in the literal truth of Bible prophecy. You can argue theological accuracy all you want. This massive block of citizens possesses unshakable belief that the end of the world will be heralded by a series of prophetic events some of which have occurred (e.g. 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina) some of which are ongoing (the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan).
I am not talking about Bible-thumping, street-corner ravers, though one or two do appear in our film. The people we profiled -- from Evangelical leaders to rank-and-file believers -- are for the most part formidable, intelligent, well-educated. And all are fixated upon Israel (the land of Christ's return).
Waiting for Armageddon opens with James and Laura Bagg, an attractive pair of 30-something jet-propulsion engineers living in Connecticut. Yes, Evangelical rocket scientists from the Northeast.
FULL ARTICLE FROM THE HUFFINGTON POST
The Children of Israel and Palestine: Canon Foder for the Rapture
BY Robert Weitzel
Safa Abu Saif, a 12-year-old Palestinian girl, was visiting a friend’s apartment when the bullet fired from an Israeli rifle slammed into her chest, punching a gaping exit wound in her back. No ambulance could reach her because of the fighting. Safa died in her father’s arms three hours after being shot.
Danielle Shafi, a 5-year-old Israeli girl, was killed by the bullet fired from a Palestinian rifle as her mother combed her hair in the child’s upstairs bedroom. Drenched in the blood of her wound, Danielle slowly stopped breathing and died in her mother’s arms minutes after being shot.
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© CHALLENGING CHRISTIAN ZIONISM, 2008