On Sun, 13 Jun 2004, Jeet Heer wrote:
> Does anyone know of any good histories of Christian Zionism. Where does
> it come from, etc.?
There are two separate kinds of Christian Zionism: British Christian Zionism, which led to the Balfour Declaration; and American Christian Zionism, which resulted from the Balfour Declaration. They are often spoken of as if they were continuous development, but in fact they are very different. Today British Christian Zionism of purely historical interest. When people say Christian Zionism today, they mean American Christian Zionism. However, if you want the full history, you want both.
British Christian Zionism largely begins in 1845 with Disraeli's remarkable novel _Tancred_. A pretty good capsule summary of this history can be found at this modern day Christian Zionist site (run by a jews-for-jesus type):
http://www.leaderu.com/common/british.html
If you would like a longer version, take a look at David Fromkin's _A Peace to End All Peace_ (which I'm willing to bet you probably already have on your shelf somewhere) and check out Part VI, "New Worlds and Promised Lands," pp. 253-284.
Three points need to be made about British Christian Zionism:
One, is that although its origins were religious, it was from the beginning largely secular-christian in tone. (Disraeli's Christianity was obviously that of a mild mannered gentlemen). This means -- to underline a point that should be obvious but is usually overlooked -- that *it was in no way apocalyptic.* It was the opposite: it was based on the belief in England ruling the world forever. It was from the beginning (if one takes Tancred as the beginning) conceived of as a means of using the British empire to produce good works -- and thus to simultaneously improve the world and burnish the moral reputation of the empire (thereby increasing support for it). In some way, you might think of it as kind of equivalent to contemporary rhetoric about supporting invasions so that we can liberate the women. Balfour was meant to make holding onto the shore of the Suez and the link to India look noble.
(Side point: the religious origins of Christian zionism lie in Protestantism itself. Luther was a notorious anti-semite, but he and Calvin greatly elevated the importance of the old testament in the Christian worldview. It is not an accident that puritans suddenly favored old testament names that had long fallen into disuse among non-Jews. This was doubly true in England, where there arose a thorough identification of the English as the new chosen people, a worldview which was most deeply focused in the Puritans (and was passed on to America in this distilled form, and then distilled even further, when the Puritans landed in their new land to found a city on a hill). You can see this shimmering mapping of England onto Jerusalem in Blake's poetry, whence it spread throughout British culture, from the academies to the labor unions. It's formative importance for British identity is wonderfully well described in Linda Colley's book _Britons_. But in addition to this identification, there was also the formative historical event that Cromwell's Protectorate opened England's doors to Jews fleeing persecution from Spain during its wars with the Dutch. The Jews had originally been banished from England in 1290; this was the first moment they had been welcomed back in centuries; and it planted the seed that Britain had a mission to save the Jews from persecution -- that it was destined to be "the modern Cyrus" as the followers of Disraeli would put it.)
Secondly, British zionists (like Louis Namier, one of the foremost figures in the Zionist movement, with streets named after him in every major city in Israel today) *were not for a separate state of Israel.* They believed that zionism could only flourish under the British empire -- that to make a state out of it would destroy it precisely because of the population mix which an empire could accomodate, but an ethno-state could not. In Disraeli in 1845, this belief is so obvious that it isn't even discussed. With Namier in 1947, it came out quite clearly and sharply -- and has since been suppressed like a traumatic memory. Israelis today, who are taught about Namier in school, have collectively expunged what their founding father did after they declared a state: he forsook the movement and converted to Christianity.
Thirdly, and most obviously, this is the original Christian Zionism, the one that brought us the Balfour declaration. It was crucially combined combination with anti-semitic beliefs in Jewish global influence, but that's another story. I think it's a fair bet that Balfour never would have happened without this because there never would have been a receptive British audience. The other key connection between the tradition of British Christian Zionism and the Balfour declaration were the personal and very strong beliefs of Lloyd George, which is laid out in Fromkin.
All of the above is probably everything you need. If you want more, and maybe something to read in spare time, I would personally recommend reading _Tancred_, which IMHO might be the best work of English literature that is never mentioned in survey courses. It's a fascinating combination of deep intelligence, wide knowledge, subtlety and humor, fun adventure writing, and a couple of absolutely preposterous factual ideas which were plausible at the time and are necessary to make the whole thing make sense. I think Disraeli's worldview as expounded in that book explains a lot. It is his odd worldview that made the idea both respectable and widely popular and combined it with a convictions of national mission, three elements it once had in Britain and still has in America but never had anywhere else. Not only was this necessary for the Balfour declaration, but also to get (relatively) secular progressives like Henry Wallace to embrace the cause at the time of the founding of the state. (Without his support -- and the electoral threat he looked set to pose in the 1948 election Truman might well never have recognized Israel.) In short, a very rich read. However, you you might need to prep a little on the state of the Eastern Question in 1840 to follow it. I can suggest a short crib.
Lastly, one work you might turn to for a comprehensive history of this subject is Barbara Tuchman's _Bible and Sword: England and Palestine from the Bronze Age to Balfour_. I haven't read it, so can't tell you if it's any good. In my experience, Tuchman's books range from absolute genius (Stillman) to superficial and everything in between.
But all that is *British* Christian Zionism, which is often held to be the origin of American Christian Zionism, but which is really in many ways its polar opposite. American Christian Zionism was born by reaction -- by the shock and surprise of seeing the Balfour Declaration declared in the midst of WWI, which they were coming to think of as an apocalpytic war: it seemed like the anwering of prophesy. I think by far the best short text on the origins of this movement -- which, it should be emphasized, *was coeval with the birth of Christian fundamentalism itself, which was born during WWI in America* -- is in Karen Armstrong's _The Battle For God: A History of Fundamentalism_. I already posted the essential passages during an earlier discussion on lbo-talk:
http://mailman.lbo-talk.org/pipermail/lbo-talk/Week-of-Mon-20040405/007790.html
to which I don't have much to add to what I said there. If you want more, I'd suggest reading outward from that passage into the origins of American fundamentalism as a whole and why this was a keystone belief. It's Chapter 3, "Christians: Brave New World."
As for the contemporary history of American Christian Zionist Apocalyptics, the book I've most often seen cited is Gershom Gorenberg's _The End of Days: Fundamentalism and the Struggle for the Temple Mount_. I haven't read it, but I think he's a friend of Chip Berlet's. Since he's an Israeli, maybe you could interview him and get a contemporary overview that way. He might also know who would be best to interview in the movement there and what's up while you're there.
Have a fun trip! And remember to post the link to your story here afterwards!
Michael