Photograph: A Palestinian Christian wedding in 1940, in Beit Jala near Jerusalem.  Photo credit:  G. Eric and Edith Matson Photo Collection | Public Domain, Wikimedia Commons.  Palestinian Christians are a religious minority under the State of Israel, and often overlooked by American evangelicals, even though they trace their heritage of faith back to the earliest Christians.  Due to the conditions imposed by the State of Israel, a large diaspora community of Palestinian Christians now live abroad, among other Arab-speaking Christians. 


Introduction

The selection of perspectives on church history in this section — Church and Empire — has been guided by three factors: (1) to demonstrate that Christianity has not been a “white man’s religion”; (2) the study of empire as a recurring motif in Scripture by recent biblical studies scholars; and (3) explorations of biblical Christian ethics on issues of power and polity, to understand how Christians were faithful to Christ or not.  Christian relational ethics continues a Christian theological anthropology that began with reflection on the human nature of Jesus, and the human experience of biblical Israel.

This page explores reflections on Scripture by Christians and Jews concerning the State of Israel. More general resources on the Israel-Palestine Conflict here.


Messages and Resources

The Israel-Hamas War from October 2023 reignited old questions. Who “owns” the holy land? When Netanyahu calls Hamas “Amalekites,” does he mean a genocidal holy war? Is that what the Bible meant? Why did God have a chosen people and defend them from enemies? Does Israel need another temple? Why is Christian Zionism a Protestant phenomenon? See individual posts below, or the page for this blog post series, The Bible in the Israel-Palestine Conflict. To discuss these posts in our next Zoom class, register here.

Debates About Israel: Theology, History, Present, Future

Debate About Netanyahu’s Leadership. This debate occurred on Mako’s Facebook wall; Charlie Elmore reposted. These are not particularly insightful on the level of theology and fact. But they do show how much Zionists have enormous difficulty critiquing Israel’s specific leadership and policies, due to a ideological (probably theological) commitment to defending Israel.

 
 

The Church in the Middle East: Topics:

This page is part of our section of Church and Empire which explores the experience and activities of Christians under various regimes in the Middle East: Persian, Arab, Turkish, and the State of Israel.

Church and Empire: Topics:

This page is part of our section on Church and Empire. These resources begin with a biblical exposition of Empire in Church and Empire and the meaning of Pentecost in Pentecost as Paradigm for Christianity and Cultures, then grouped by region.