Christian Zionism: On the Rise in Unlikely Places?

Gerald McDermott reports:

Scholars at the conference also suggested that while they think the emergence of Israel in 1948 was a partial fulfillment of biblical prophecy, they have to be more reticent about the eschatological status of the current nation-state. As one scholar introducing the conference put it, “We do not mean that [Israel today] is a perfect polity. Or that it should not be criticized for its failures. Or that it is necessarily the last Jewish polity we will see before the eschaton. Or that we know the particular timetable or political schema that will come before or in the eschaton.”

Speakers made not only theological but also prudential arguments. Israel, it was noted, is an island of democracy and freedom in a sea of authoritarian and despotic regimes. It deserves support, especially as anti-semitism rises precipitously around the world. But the purpose of these prudential arguments—political and legal and moral— was to undergird a new theological argument that the people of Israel continue to be significant for the history of redemption, and that the land of Israel, which is at the heart of the covenantal promises, continues to be critical to God’s providential purposes.