******************** POSTING RULES & NOTES ******************** #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. *****************************************************************
Best regards, Andrew Stewart - - - Subscribe to the Washington Babylon newsletter via https://washingtonbabylon.com/newsletter/ Begin forwarded message: > From: H-Net Staff via H-REVIEW <[email protected]> > Date: March 2, 2020 at 7:44:29 AM EST > To: [email protected] > Cc: H-Net Staff <[email protected]> > Subject: H-Net Review [H-Judaic]: Robins on Hummel, 'Covenant Brothers: > Evangelicals, Jews, and U.S.-Israeli Relations' > Reply-To: [email protected] > > Daniel G. Hummel. Covenant Brothers: Evangelicals, Jews, and > U.S.-Israeli Relations. Philadelphia University of Pennsylvania > Press, 2019. 352 pp. $49.95 (cloth), ISBN 978-0-8122-5140-1. > > Reviewed by Walker Robins (Merrimack College) > Published on H-Judaic (March, 2020) > Commissioned by Barbara Krawcowicz > > Over the last several decades, as American evangelical support for > Israel has come to political prominence, scholarship on American > Christian Zionism has proliferated. Most of it--at least those > studies concentrating on evangelicals--has prioritized the role that > Judeo-centric interpretations of the Bible have (or have not) played > in underpinning American Christian support for Israel. Of particular > interest to scholars has been the system of biblical interpretation > and eschatology called premillennial dispensationalism, which holds > that biblical covenants between God and the people of Israel have not > wholly transferred to the church--Jews remain God's chosen people and > the Land of Israel their promised land--and that prophecy points to > the return of the Jewish people to their land as part of God's plan > for history. > > Early studies of Christian Zionism argued that the spread of these > ideas among American evangelicals and fundamentalists in the > twentieth century provided the theological basis for the political > support for Israel that emerged in the late 1970s. And while > subsequent studies have challenged this emphasis on dispensationalism > in a variety of ways--arguing that it is not the whole story, or only > part of the story, or only a small part of the story--scholars have > struggled to reset the historiographical conversation with a cohesive > alternate framework. That is, until Daniel G. Hummel's _Covenant > Brothers_, which offers a compelling, thoroughly researched argument > that Christian Zionism has been first and foremost a Christian-Jewish > reconciliation movement, with Israel at its center. > > The backdrop for Hummel's work is the post-World War II evangelical > movement that emerged from early twentieth-century fundamentalism. > Led by the likes of Billy Graham, the "new evangelicals" had much > theologically in common with the fundamentalists. They proclaimed the > authority of the Bible. They preached the necessity of evangelism. > And many were dispensationalists--or at least dispensational_ish_. > However, the postwar evangelicals distinguished themselves from > fundamentalists by an optimistic desire to transform American culture > rather than retreat from it. They were temperamentally cooperative > and intellectually engaged. They wanted to be taken seriously. > > Hummel finds the origins of Christian Zionism at the periphery of > this postwar evangelicalism--in Israel itself--where Southern Baptist > missionaries confronted the practical difficulties of working in a > Jewish state and wrestled with the theological significance of the > Holocaust and Israeli statehood. Led by Robert Lindsey, the Baptist > missionaries recast their role in terms of "witness"--downplaying > evangelism while claiming their place in Israeli society through > expressions of solidarity with the Jewish people and cooperation with > the Israeli state. They emphasized the Jewishness of Christianity, > condemned antisemitism, and combatted supersessionist theology that > claimed God's covenantal favor had passed from Jews to Christians. > Most significantly, they did so through building real relationships > with Israeli Jewish scholars and government officials. Although a > tiny, peripheral group, the Baptist missionaries' approach > nonetheless penetrated American evangelicalism through international > meetings like the 1966 World Congress on Evangelism organized by > Billy Graham. It was no accident that when Graham himself visited > Israel in the 1960s and 1970s, he sounded a lot like the Baptist > missionaries--and not just because Robert Lindsey was his translator. > > The missionaries' turn to witness came as Americans more broadly were > embracing the concept of Judeo-Christianity in seeking to explain > what made the United States great--and what made it different from > the Soviet Union. Hummel argues that evangelicals had their own > version of the Judeo-Christian concept that stitched together ideas > derived from biblical archaeology, which confirmed for them the > authority of the Bible and suggested an ultimate continuity between > the Old and New Testaments, and dispensationalism, which held that > Jews and Christians alike were bound to God through covenant. > Although less inclusive than the Judeo-Christian civic religion > identified by Will Herberg in his 1955 _Protestant-Catholic-Jew_, the > evangelical conception nonetheless suggested a sort of covenantal > narrative, stretching from the Bible into the twentieth century, in > which God-fearing Americans and Israelis alike might have a role. > > These intellectual and cultural developments had the potential to > transform the relationship between evangelicals and Jews. However, it > took the work of G. Douglas Young, who founded the Israel-American > Institute of Biblical Studies (later the American Institute of Holy > Land Studies) in 1958, to build that potential into a movement, > charge it with a pro-Israel political valence, and give it an > institutional center. Ostensibly a graduate school for biblical > archaeology, Young's institute came to be more broadly committed to > evangelical-Jewish reconciliation and cooperation. Drawing on the > witness theology of the Baptist missionaries, on the evangelical > conception of Judeo-Christianity, on his own understanding of > dispensationalism, and on the priorities of Israeli public diplomacy > (_hasbara_), Young worked to convince evangelicals of their biblical > duty to the Jewish people and state of Israel and to facilitate > connections between Israelis and his growing network of American > students and patrons. Forswearing evangelism and idle prophetic > speculation, Young preached action. "Are you helping the new nation > of Israel?" he asked of his evangelical supporters, "Are you helping > them in material and physical ways?" (p. 76). > > In forging relationships with the Israeli government, in building > institutions to reach American evangelicals, in theologically > reframing the relationship of Christianity and Judaism, and in > facilitating contacts between American evangelicals and Jews and > Israelis, Israel-based evangelicals like Lindsey and Young set the > terms and built the infrastructure of an evangelical-Jewish > reconciliation movement with Israel at its center. According to > Hummel, this postwar evangelical Zionism reached its peak in the > decade following the 1967 Six-Day War, as leaders within the movement > like Young and even Billy Graham himself collaborated with Israeli > officials and American Jewish organizations--most especially Marc > Tanenbaum of the American Jewish Committee (AJC)--in managing > evangelical-Jewish controversies over missions and evangelism, > developing evangelical tourism in Israel, and coordinating a series > of formal evangelical-Jewish dialogues. > > While the efforts of Young and Graham prepared the way for the > Christian Right Zionism of the 1980s, Hummel is clear in noting that > Jerry Falwell's rise as a Christian Zionist leader was nonetheless > something of a departure from them. The Christian Zionism of G. > Douglas Young had grown within the relatively moderate postwar > evangelical movement and, while undeniably political, had prioritized > "theological reform, interreligious reconciliation, and evangelical > internationalism" (p. 160). Falwell, an Independent Baptist and > fundamentalist who had been exposed to evangelical Christian Zionism > on trips to Israel in the 1970s, folded support for Israel into the > Christian Right's aggressively conservative political agenda and > moved its institutional center into multi-issue organizations like > his own Moral Majority. In doing so, he was aided by the new Likud > government under Menachem Begin, which deliberately shifted _hasbara_ > efforts towards this politically promising and more ideologically > congruent constituency. > > This emerging alliance troubled many American Jews--including > veterans of evangelical-Jewish dialogue like the AJC's A. James > Rudin--who were especially concerned over the Christian Right's > domestic agenda. Others, though, bought in. Especially eager was the > Anti-Defamation League's (ADL) co-director of interreligious affairs, > Yechiel Eckstein, who worked to push the ADL towards greater > cooperation with politically conservative evangelicals before leaving > to form the organization that would become the International > Fellowship of Christians and Jews in 1983. Even more willing to look > past concerns with the Christian Right's domestic agenda were the > pro-Israel lobbying organizations--especially AIPAC--which began to > surpass the self-defense organizations in coordinating with Christian > Zionists. > > The rise of Christian Right Zionism gave the movement a broader base > and a greater political potency than it had enjoyed in the 1970s. As > Hummel shows, though, this growth made it difficult for the center to > hold. The kind of discipline that movement leaders had maintained in > the 1970s was impossible among a rapidly proliferating number of > grassroots organizations. Some, like the Jerusalem Temple Foundation, > proved quite radical, seeking to alter the status quo at the Temple > Mount/Haram al-Sharif in Jerusalem and building relationships with > like-minded Jewish organizations outside the conventional channels > that the postwar evangelicals and even Christian Right leadership had > maintained. By the mid-1990s, amid the decline of the major Christian > Right organizations and the tumult of the peace process, there were > many Christian Zionists--and even many letterheads for Christian > Zionist organizations--but there was no institutional center guiding > the movement. > > However, Hummel argues that out of this fragmentation emerged a > "Spirit-centered" Christian Zionism led by Pentecostal and > charismatic Christians--most especially John Hagee, who after years > of pro-Israel activism founded Christians United for Israel in 2006. > Often loosely categorized as evangelicals, Spirit-centered Christians > are distinct in their emphasis on the activity of the Holy Spirit in > the world (evidenced by practices like speaking in tongues and faith > healing), and, often, prosperity teachings holding that the Holy > Spirit will both spiritually and materially reward the faithful. > While Hagee certainly built on the evangelical and Christian Right > Zionism of the 1970s and 1980s, his Spirit-centered variation has > been distinguished by the promotion of an almost transactional, > prosperity-based interpretation of biblical passages like Genesis > 12:3--the idea that the nations and even individuals that "bless" > Israel will reap material blessings. Most importantly, Hagee has > succeeded in organizing around this message, building Christians > United for Israel into a nationwide organization, providing American > Christian Zionism with a new institutional center, and in many ways > defining the movement for the current era. > > As Hummel notes, the Spirit-centered Zionism that has come to > predominate among American Christian supporters of Israel "would have > struck evangelical Christian Zionists of an earlier era as alien" (p. > 207). Indeed, there is a lot of distance--geographically and > otherwise--between the institute that G. Douglas Young founded in > 1958 and, say, the ballrooms of Mar-a-Lago, where the International > Fellowship of Christians and Jews held a 2018 gala fundraiser. But it > is one of the strengths of _Covenant Brothers_ that Hummel's focus on > Christian Zionism as a religious and political reconciliation > movement helps clarify both what has unified Christian Zionism over > the decades and what has shaped its distinctive forms. > > The emphasis on movement is key. For by focusing on the institution > building and networking and all-around _activity_ that the word > implies, Hummel is able to clarify what has distinguished Christian > Zionists from Christians interested in Zionism--to clarify the > difference, in other words, between someone who protests a United > Nations resolution and someone who simply buys Hal Lindsey and Carole > C. Carlson's 1970 book _The Late, Great Planet Earth_. This, in turn, > allows Hummel to present a clearer picture of how the movement itself > has changed over time. The Spirit-centered Zionism of Hagee, the > Christian Right Zionism of Falwell, and the postwar evangelical > Zionism of Graham share a lot of genetic material but have each been > characterized by distinct emphases and institutional arrangements. > Truly, one of the great contributions of _Covenant Brothers_ to the > field is that it simply provides a vocabulary for articulating > distinctions that can be hard to identify when all parties involved > are quoting the same biblical passages. Hummel's categories will > surely frame future studies. > > The work's emphasis on evangelical Christian Zionism as a movement > also accounts for its focus on the post-1948 era. This makes perfect > sense--this is when the infrastructure of the movement was built and > when many of its organizing ideas were developed. At the same time, > the focus on the post-statehood era does result in the presentation > of some pre-1948 continuities as post-1948 novelties. A minor but > telling example comes early in the work, where Hummel presents a > Southern Baptist pamphlet as exemplary of the "new attitudes" towards > Jews and Judaism forged in the post-Holocaust, post-Israeli statehood > era (p. 48). That specific pamphlet, Henry Alford Porter's _If I Were > a Jew_, was originally published in the 1920s and circulated in the > Southern Baptist Convention's monthly missionary digest, _Home and > Foreign Fields_--quite possibly among some of the missionaries that > later found their way to Israel.[1] This is a tiny oversight, but one > that nonetheless demonstrates that some of the ideas and language of > reconciliation were already available to conservative evangelicals > prior to the more dramatic postwar reconsideration that Hummel so > effectively documents. Indeed, a number of the reconciliationist > emphases--the Christian debt to Judaism, the condemnation of > antisemitism, the celebration of Judeo-Christian heritage, the > emphasis on interfaith good will--can be traced not only to pre-WWII > interfaith outfits like the National Conference of Christians and > Jews, but to evangelicals and even fundamentalists involved in Jewish > missions (and not missions of the witness variety). This is > especially true of Hebrew Christians (Jewish converts who sought to > maintain varying degrees of Jewish ethnic or national identity), who, > though small in number, were often institutionally positioned to have > an outsize influence on evangelical perceptions of Jews and Judaism > and define the boundaries of both faiths. To be sure, Hummel's > postwar evangelicals did innovate--in their downplaying and even > forswearing of Jewish evangelism, in their substantial theological > reconsiderations of Judaism as a religion, and, most especially, in > their building of interfaith institutions and networks of > reconciliation that built these ideas into an actual religious and > political movement. Recognizing the continuities with the pre-1948 > era only highlights this. For as Hummel tellingly shows, it was often > Hebrew Christians and Messianic Jews who were most critical of the > postwar reconciliation movement, especially its downplaying or > dismissal of evangelism. > > Altogether, _Covenant Brothers_ is going to prove indispensable to > scholars of Christian Zionism and even Jewish-Christian relations > writ large. And it is certainly accessible enough for nonspecialists > seeking to understand the emergence of a movement currently enjoying > unprecedented political sway during the Trump presidency, as well as > for those interested in glimpsing at the movement's future. As > Hummel's concluding chapter, "Global Zionism," shows, that future > lies outside of the United States, among a rapidly growing number of > Spirit-centered Christians looking in their own ways to bless the > state of Israel, and to be blessed in turn. > > Note > > [1]. Henry Alford Porter, "If I Were a Jew," _Home and Foreign > Fields_, November 1927, 12-14. > > _Walker Robins is a lecturer in the History Department at Merrimack > College._ > > Citation: Walker Robins. Review of Hummel, Daniel G., _Covenant > Brothers: Evangelicals, Jews, and U.S.-Israeli Relations_. H-Judaic, > H-Net Reviews. March, 2020. > URL: https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=54647 > > This work is licensed under a Creative Commons > Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States > License. > > _________________________________________________________ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: https://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
