Tag Archives: Zionism

Review: The New Christian Zionism

By Michelle Van Loon

For decades, it seemed that there were only two basic options in the Church when it came to discussions of Israel. The first, dispensationalism, objectifies the idea of Israel both now and in the future, and requires elaborate charts and the entire fictional Left Behind canon to unpack. The second, supercessionism, says that the Church has replaced Israel. The first two-thirds of the Bible, the Old Testament, becomes nothing more than a long preamble to the “real” salvation story, and the promises God gave to the Chosen People now belong to Christians. Supercessionism spiritualizes the promises regarding the land of Israel. New Perspective theologians like NT Wright express a softened version of supercessionism when it comes to the land promises…

I’ve struggled for years to articulate a thoughtful, balanced line that threads the needle between these two divergent hermeneutical approaches. But I’m just one person.

I found it takes many reasoned and faithful voices to thread that needle well. The New Christian Zionism: Fresh Perspectives on Israel and the Land (InterVarsity Press, 2016) is an excellent example of what this can look like.

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