What is Christian Zionism?

Jerusalem skyline

Embrace, in partnership with CMEP, held a four-part webinar series exploring Christian Zionism. Our special guest for the series was Colin Chapman, who presented material from his book Christian Zionism and the Restoration of Israel: how should we interpret the scriptures? Here Colin introduces us to some of the topics discussed in the series.

THE BIBLICAL BASIS FOR CHRISTIAN ZIONISM

There can’t be any other situation in the world where the way Christians interpret the Bible has such an influence on their thinking about history and politics. If you believe that the Jewish people have a divine right to the land for all time simply because God promised to give the land of Canaan to Abraham and his descendants “as an everlasting possession” (Genesis 17:8), you’re likely to be more sympathetic towards Israel than the Palestinians.  

In the USA it’s estimated that at least 50 million Christians interpret the Bible in this way, and that this is one factor among many that accounts for the country’s unwavering support for Israel over many decades. 

We’re talking here about ‘Christian Zionism’ – Christians who support Zionism and the state of Israel mainly because of their Christian beliefs.  

IS THE BIBLICAL BASIS FOR CHRISTIAN ZIONISM CORRECT?

This series of four webinars will be examining the biblical basis for Christian Zionism. If some (or perhaps many?) Jews today believe that God’s promise to Abraham about the land constitutes the title deeds which give the Jewish people a right to the land today, is it right for Christians to agree? And if some Jews believe that Old Testament predictions about the return of Jewish exiles to the land in the 6th century BC have been fulfilled once again in the Zionist movement and the return of Jews to the land in the 20th century, is it right for Christians to agree? 

In the first three webinars we will be studying the important Old Testament texts and asking how Jesus and the New Testament writers seem to have interpreted them. Did they take traditional Jewish beliefs about the nation and the land for granted and expect them to be fulfilled literally? Did they, even after the death and resurrection of Jesus, continue to believe that there would one day be an independent Jewish state in the land? Or did the coming of Jesus make them change these beliefs or develop them in new directions?  

Each session will last an hour and a quarter – with 40 minutes of presentation using PowerPoints containing all the relevant texts, followed by 30 minutes of Q & A. In the fourth session we will hear responses from a Palestinian Christian theologian based in Bethlehem and from a British Messianic Jew who disagrees strongly with my approach. We hope that all the sessions will therefore be as interactive as possible.  

I’m very conscious that many Christian today – and especially the younger generation – are very impatient with discussions of this kind about theology and biblical interpretation. If they have any concern about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, they see it as an issue of justice – a conflict that is all about human rights.  

I share this frustration and believe that if this conflict is ever to be resolved, all parties must be willing to put religion and theology on one side and work towards a solution on the basis of international law. But as long as so many millions of Christians, in addressing political issues of this kind, are so strongly influenced by a Christian Zionist approach to the Bible, it seems to me that there needs to be a much more open discussion about how our biblical interpretation can sometimes determine our approach to history and politics. 

HOW DID I BECOME INTERESTED IN THE ISSUE OF CHRISTIAN ZIONISM?

My first visit to Israel-Palestine was in 1960 when as a tourist I spent a month in Jordan and a month in Israel. Then it was living in Beirut from 1975 to 1982 during part of the civil war that forced me to try to understand what the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was all about. It was in that context that I wrote Whose Promised Land? which was first published in 1982 and revised most recently in 2015. I have travelled many times to Israel and met Christians and Messianic Jews who are convinced that Zionism has been a fulfilment of Ezekiel’s vision of the valley of dry bones coming to life. So while teaching in different contexts in the Middle East and the UK, I have always tried to understand both sides of the conflict and to combine study of the history and politics with serious biblical study. 

If as Christians we are called to pray for the peace of Jerusalem (Psalm 122:6), and if they want to hunger and thirst after righteousness/justice and at the same time to be peacemakers (Matthew 5:6,9), how should we apply our interpretation of the Bible to what has been one of the most bitter and long-lasting conflicts of the last hundred years?  

Christian Zionism mini-series

From 21 June-12 July we, in partnership with Church for Middle East Peace, hosted an online mini-series exploring Christian Zionism. All four webinars are available to watch again, using the link below