The Missionary Position

By MICHAEL KRESS

STANDING WITH ISRAEL
By David Brog
285 pages. Frontline. $19.99.

It is one of the great religious-political realignments of the last generation: the strong, and growing, support—political, financial, spiritual—of evangelical Christians for the State of Israel. Twenty or 30 years ago, it would have been hard to imagine Israeli politicians, and Jewish-American ones, habitually attending fund-raisers and other gatherings with conservative Christians, and one could hardly have predicted that Christians would make up a strong percentage of American tourists in Israel, regularly traveling to the Holy Land on solidarity missions, even, or especially, when the terrorist threat is high.

And accompanying that shift is one of the great mysteries of Jewish interfaith cooperation: why the organized Jewish world has reacted to evangelical friendship with suspicion, offering a collective cold shoulder to a group of politically well-connected, amazingly well-organized, and extremely well-funded would-be friends of the Jewish State.

David Brog, a former aid to Senator Arlen Specter—a member of that dying breed of moderate Republicans who are not aligned with conservative Christians—tackles both these questions, evangelical Zionism and the Jewish reaction to it, in his thorough, readable, and informative, if sometimes too agenda-driven, Standing With Israel.

In tracing evangelical support for Zionism and Israel, Brog wisely goes back much further than the past generation—when the phenomenon burst onto the public scene in force—and begins with the origins of anti-Jewish theology in the earliest days of Christianity, offering along the way a sweeping history of Christian anti-Semitism (though he inexplicably fails to address the oft-cited anti-Jewish passages of the Christian Bible), before beginning to describe the first efforts to question and revise these teachings. These efforts began long before the Holocaust—not out of especially strong feelings for Jews, often, but rather because of a newfound affinity for, and often a newfound reading of, biblical promises and prophecies. In bringing us up to the present, he shows us the Christian involvement in such fundamental Zionist milestones as Theodor Herzl’s activism and the Balfour Declaration. Brog can skillfully deploy the colorful and not-well-known illustrative anecdote, and is able to explain complex theological notions in a clear, understandable manner.

The book’s heart, however, is its exploration of the current phenomenon of Christian Zionism, which Brog rightly attributes to a mixture of making up for past anti-Semitism by Christians; politics; and end-times theology. It is the latter two that are most interesting and controversial. Politically, it’s hard to imagine conservative Christians offering such strong support were Israel not a staunch U.S. ally, a democracy in the volatile Middle East, and a military foe of terrorism and its sponsors. Likewise, I suspect that the Jewish-American community would not keep Christian Zionists at arm’s length if these would-be friends were supporters of abortion rights, against prayer in the public schools, and generally liberal on issues of domestic policy. But as Brog points out, politics in a democracy is all about coalition building, and two groups can fight it out over one issue while working together like old friends on another. Given the political and financial strength of the American evangelical community and the intense level of dedication toward Israel that it displays, and which Brog documents, the Jewish-American world would do well to reconsider its stance and offer a warmer embrace to these natural allies.

The story gets even more interesting, and complicated, when it comes to theology. The best explanation of the Jewish attitude toward Christian Zionists is fear of a hidden agenda—that, ultimately, all the evangelicals really want to do is convert the Jews. Brog argues passionately, and plausibly, that Christians Zionists’ actions speak for themselves, and that these are not actions of people seeking to or expecting mass Jewish conversion anytime soon. Fair enough. But the author doth protest too much, and the book suffers from Brog letting his clear affinity for evangelicals and his drive to convince Jews of Christians’ pure motives get in the way of deeper, more honest exploration. The result is that he answers Jews’ theological fears—do they want to convert us?—with sociological evidence (No, if they wanted to convert you, why would they do X or Y?). In a book so thoroughly researched and passionately argued, I would have liked to see Brog grapple with the fact that many, though not all, Christians’ end-times beliefs do portend conversion, or worse, for the Jews.

Clearly, no person or group deserves to have their every action and belief judged through the lens of one corner of their belief system; in other words, an end-times belief that offends Jews doesn’t negate the huge amount of good that Christians are doing for Jews and Israel today. But those apocalyptic beliefs remain, making Jewish fears of an ulterior motive valid. As intelligent readers, we deserve for Brog to have been honest enough to admit that fact and grapple with it. Similarly, intellectual honesty calls for Brog to have stepped out of his agenda to address the fact that, despite the sincerity and well-meaning of most Christian Zionists—despite the fact that they are driven by a clear sense of moral purpose in supporting Israel—some are less pure, and carry their own conversion-driven agenda on their sleeves, fueling Jewish fears. Beyond just the Israel issue, stories of Jews (and other religious minorities) still being harassed by Christians and of missionary drives by Christian organizations—however occasional these may be—add to the problem. It would have been helpful for Brog to devote a chapter to this less seemly side of Christian Zionism and evangelicalism more broadly, if for no other reason than to provide a contrast to those conservative Christians who are truly friends of the Jews.

The bigger problem with Standing With Israel, however, is Brog’s implicit definition of who is a Zionist, whether Christian or Jewish. We hear about Menachem Begin and Benjamin Netanyahu, and about Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush, but Yitzhak Rabin and Bill Clinton are barely mentioned. Brog falls into the same problematic trap that too many American Zionists (Christian and Jewish) fall: Believing that to be a supporter of Israel means to be a supporter of a hard-line, right-wing Israeli political agenda. In this worldview, advocating a land-for-peace deal or opposing an Israeli military operation equals anti-Zionism, no matter the fact that these things are the source of healthy debate among Israeli Jews themselves. Witness the vehement opposition to last year’s Gaza withdrawal from many Christian Zionists for whom Ariel Sharon’s plan was tantamount to rejecting the prophecies on which their pro-Israel stance is based.

Whether advocated by Jewish or Christian Zionists, this limited worldview fails to accept that friendship and support can come from all sides of the religious and political spectrum—and that friendship sometimes entails criticism and guidance, lovingly offered and carefully phrased. Criticizing Israel, or advocating liberal policies—like those of many leading Israeli politicians and much of the Israeli public—is not a violation of Zionism (though a refusal to accept dissent and disagreement is contrary to the democratic principles so important to the state of Israel). In the Jewish community, this attitude leads too easily and too often to absurd accusations that liberals are somehow anti-Israel and defiant of God’s will for the Land of Israel. In the world of Christian Zionism it is no different.

Brog clearly falls into this camp, and it is a shame that he doesn’t offer us a more expansive and inclusive definition of what it means to love Israel. But to be fair, the problem hardly begins or end with David Brog, and his book is just another reminder of a serious shortcoming among too many American Zionists, be they Jewish or Christian. Despite that, it is well worth reading by anyone who remains wary of evangelical Christian overtures to Israel and the Jewish community. It’s time to open our eyes and accept a hand being offered in friendship.