Christian Zionism thriving, drawing on other traditions besides dispensationalism

Christian Zionism has started to shift away from dispensationalism, the doctrinal framework holding to a premillennial return of Christ and the place of Israel in biblical prophecy, to other theological perspectives, writes Dale Coulter in his newsletter, The Protestant Mind (August 25). While surveys find that about three quarters of evangelicals retain a positive view of Israel (which often includes a premillennial outlook), younger generations of evangelicals increasingly have a less favorable view of Israel and dispensationalism. Yet Coulter notes that the network of Christian Zionist organizations and their continuing political activism is growing and becoming more diversified. These networks and organizations range from the largest Christian Zionist group, Christians United for Israel (with 10 million members), with a large Pentecostal-Charismatic following, to the older International Christian Embassy Jerusalem and International Fellowship of Christians and Jews. 

While this network largely consists of Pentecostals, Charismatics, Baptists, and independent Bible churches, Coulter points to new kinds of Christian Zionist groups that include “progressive dispensationalists” that place more of an emphasis on the church as having “ethnic, national, and corporate identities, which has its counterpart in ethnic, national, and corporate Israel. The ongoing existence of Jews and the creation of the nation of Israel reinforce the church’s identity as such.” Dallas Theological Seminary, still the home of dispensationalism, has some faculty espousing the more progressive form, as seen in its starting a Jewish studies program to promote more understanding and dialogue. Coulter also sees a “Covenantal Zionism” gaining ground, led by Anglican theologian Gerald McDermott and Messianic Jewish theologians such as Mark Kinzer. For this camp, God’s covenant with Israel remains in effect, and this includes its development in Rabbinic Judaism. Their teaching on the concept of the “body of Christ” means the one body of the messiah in Jewish and Gentile expressions. Comparing these expressions to different rites in the Catholic Church, Kinzer referred to it as a “bilateral ecclesiology,” in which Christ-believing Jews retain their Judaism, including following Torah, while Gentiles develop their distinctive assemblies. 

The shift in the theological ground of the movement can be seen in Susan Michael’s recent booklet Christian Zionism, drawing on McDermott’s theology to establish the theological basis for her position. The final school of Christian Zionism is related to the “Christian realism” of Reinhold Niebuhr, which sees the Jewish state as a bulwark against antisemitism and affirms Israel’s status as a democracy and a strategic anchor in world politics furthering America’s national interest. “In the final analysis, the establishment of a Jewish state was a ‘miracle’ in the sense that it was a convergence of historical forces that gestured toward the presence of God in history.” Coulter adds that the reaction to the growth of Christian Zionism can be seen in the growth of “hard supersessionist” views, holding that the church fully replaces Israel and the spiritual standing of the Jews. This school can veer into antisemitism, as seen among hard-line Reformed Christian nationalists like Joel Webbon, who condemn “Judeo-Christian” concepts of American society. Prominent Christian nationalists, such as Douglas Wilson (who are also hard supersessionists), have stood against Webbon and others of like mind by issuing the recent Antioch Declaration condemning antisemitism.