Catholic Zionism
Gil Student
links to and discusses an article by a Roman
Catholic Zionist in First Things. Both the article and Gil Student’s
post are must-reads. The amount of insightful theological reflection on the
State of Israel and the larger question of Zionism in believing Jewish and
Christian circles is growing by leaps and bounds.
I am not a particularly optimistic person,
but after reading the article and the post, hope caught hold of me as it hasn’t
for some time. In my neck of the woods, it has been hard to claim the name of
evangelical Zionist because of the many crackpots out there who self-identify
as such. Now, the rules are changing.
Obviously, a Christian Zionist will be in
critical solidarity with the state of Israel within the context of the larger
so-called “Zionstheologie” – a misnomer, as I’ve argued before
– with emphasis on both critical and solidarity. But now a
theological context for the appropriation of the biblical promises that involve
Zion backed by the see of Rome is under construction. We haven’t seen anything
like it for almost two millennia.
I think this is another helpful article on the relationship between the Church and Israel. It is from a distinctly Reformed perspective but I think it is still applicable outside of that specific tradition.
http://thirdmill.org/newfiles/ric_pratt/PT.Pratt.Jew.First.html
Posted by: Justin Richter | May 21, 2008 at 11:13 AM
Thanks, Justin. I'll take a look at it.
Posted by: JohnFH | May 21, 2008 at 06:33 PM
This is a fascinating article. I share your sentiment concerning the bad name that "Christian Zionism" has acquired. The article makes the following statement:
For Christians, the Jewish nation stands as a living reproach to Gentile nations: They reject Christian universality by desiring election in their own flesh. For the Jews, Christianity signifies that only as individuals can Gentiles enter the people of God, and that no other ethnicity may covet their election in the flesh. Jews cannot affirm salvation through Christ, and Christians cannot affirm salvation without Christ.
Interestingly, this seems to be a foundational concept in Christopher Seitz's take on the canonical approach. See his fascinating article "'And without God in the World': A Hermeneutic of Estrangement Overcome," in Word Without End (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1998), 41-50.
For Childs, too, the "mystery of Israel" is a foundational concept.
Posted by: Phil Sumpter | May 23, 2008 at 02:43 AM
Thanks, Phil, for relating the concerns of this article to the field of canonical hermeneutics. If you keep at this subject matter, someday we will say, "Childs and Seitz are good, but Sumpter is better."
Posted by: JohnFH | May 23, 2008 at 06:53 AM