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Continue readingCategory Archives: Christian Zionism
Cyrus Ingerson Scofield: Charlatan and Heretic
1. Scofield: The Christian Leader with Feet of Clay
2. The Link between Darby and Scofield in the Rise of Dispensationalism
3. Scofield’s Dispensational Hermeneutic: ‘Rightly Dividing the Word of Truth’
4. Scofield, the Brethren and the Bible Prophecy Conference Movement
5. The Significance of the Scofield Reference Bible
6. Scofield’s Seven Dispensations
7. The Denigration of the Church within the Purposes of God
8. The Elevation of National Israel to a Superior Role over the Church
9. Prophetic Promises of a New Covenant with a Restored National Israel
10. Speculations on Armageddon and the Day of the Lord
11. Conclusions: The Legacy of Scofieldism on Christian Zionism
Jewish Network for Palestine: Convivencia
The Jewish Network for Palestine invited me to give a short presentation on coexistence at their recent annual meeting.
Convivencia simply means ‘coexistence. It is an academic hypothesis, first proposed by the Spanish philologist Américo Castro, regarding the coexistence of Christian, Muslim, and Jewish communities during the period of Spanish history from the Muslim Umayyad conquest of Hispania in the early eighth century until the expulsion of the Jews in 1492.
By extension the term can describe the contemporary religious and cultural interaction and exchange fostered by such proximity as a way to challenge the various forms of ethno-supremacism and exclusive religious nationalisms emerging in different parts of the world.
Zions Christliche Soldaten? Die Bibel, Israel und die Kirche
Zion’s Christian Soldiers? The Bible Israel and the Church, is now available from Amazon in German as well as Kindle.
Viele bibelgläubige Christen sind davon überzeugt, dass Gott jene Nationen segnet, die sich auf die Seite Israels stellen, und jene verflucht, die das nicht tun. Dieser Glaube hat einen bedeutenden Einfluss auf die Einstellung zum andauernden palästinensisch-israelischen Konflikt im Nahen Osten gehabt. Stephen Sizer behauptet, dass diese Ansicht auf einer Fehlinterpretation der Bibel beruht. Er bietet eine Einführung in den christlichen Zionismus und eine klare Antwort und positive Alternative, die auf einem sorgfältigen Studium der relevanten biblischen Texte basiert.
Many Bible-believing Christians are convinced that God blesses those nations that stand with Israel and curses those that don’t. This belief has had a significant influence on attitudes toward the ongoing Palestinian-Israeli conflict in the Middle East. Stephen Sizer contends that this view is based on the misinterpretation of the Bible. He provides an introduction to Christian Zionism and a clear response and positive alternative based on a careful study of relevant biblical texts.
A summary of the book is freely available in German Sieben biblische Antworten auf populäre zionistische Thesen
Continue readingAncestral Journeys and Western Mission: A Review
Like other Western colonial-settler experiments, for over 70 years, Zionists have been systematically erasing the culture and history of indigenous Palestinians to justify their forced removal and the theft of their land. Ilan Pappe, in his book The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine, calls this ‘memorocide’ and in The Palestine Nakba, Nur Masalha elaborates,
“The founding myths of Israel have dictated the conceptual removal of Palestinians before, during and after their physical removal in 1948… The de-Arabisation of Palestine, the erasure of Palestinian history and the elimination of the Palestinian’s collective memory by the Israeli state are no less violent than the ethnic cleansing of the Palestinians in 1948 and the destruction of historic Palestine.”
This is why books such as Ancestral Journeys and Western Missions are so vital in recording the memories and eyewitness accounts of Arabs and Palestinians who experienced the arrival of Western colonialists to the Middle East, were co-opted into their wars, witnessed the rise of Zionism and then became refugees in the Palestinian Nakba. Anita Damiani-Shanley’s book will most certainly help perpetuate their heritage and rightful historic claim to Palestine.
Ancestral Journeys is however much more than the story of two families, one Arab and the other Scottish joined in marriage. It traces the influence of missionaries, archaeologists, traders and colonialists competing with each other for a share of the Near East as the Ottoman Empire met its demise. Richly illuminated with family photos, the three main chapters trace the ancestral journeys of Damiani-Shanley’s extended family from Scotland and Lebanon to Iraq and then to Palestine. A fourth chapter traces the role of the Anglican Church in Palestine.
Continue readingTil Kingdon Come
A new film, ‘Til Kingdom Come, takes a close look at the phenomena of Christian Zionism and American Evangelicalism, and how they relate to Israel/Palestine. As the film synopsis says,
“Millions of American Evangelicals are praying for the state of Israel…They donate sacrificially to Israel’s foremost philanthropic organization, the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews, because they fervently believe the Jews are crucial to Jesus’s return….With unparalleled access, this film exposes a stunning backstory of the Trump and Netanyahu administrations, where financial, political, and messianic motivations intersect with the apocalyptic worldview that is insistently reshaping American foreign policy toward Israel and the Middle East.”
Continue readingJewish Network for Palestine: Zionism’s Christian Soldiers
Jewish Network for Palestine (JNP) Webinar: Zionism’s Christian Soldiers, Dr Stephen Sizer is interviewed about his work on the topic, and his two books on it. Held on November 28, 2020, by JNP, London.
Preceding Jewish Zionism by at least a half-century, Christian Zionism was called Restorationism, imagining that Jews everywhere would be ‘restored’ to their ancient homeland. In recent decades Christian Zionism has had a global resurgence, especially in the USA. Nowadays 9 of every 10 Zionists are Christians, well organized at national and global levels. They provide important support for the continuing Zionist colonization project and for pro-Israel government policies. They also seek to intimidate and disrupt solidarity activity by pro-Palestine Christians. Learn about this threat and efforts to counter it in JNP’s second webinar ‘Zionism’s Christian Soldiers’.
Continue readingNormalisation: Israel’s Strategy for Occupation
Watch the recording of my presentation during the webinar here
Christian Zionism Webinar with Revd Dr Munther Isaac
The United Methodist Church for Kairos Response present two authorities on Christian Zionism, a disturbing political theology embraced by millions of Americans who now have a tremendous influence on US foreign policy with regard to Israel and Palestine. Our speakers will help us understand the theology of Christian Zionism, why it is an inaccurate interpretation of Scripture, how it is harming Palestinian Christians and the entire Middle East peace process, and how to counter this theology in our churches.
Download an Outline of the Seminar English : Chinese : Korean and German
