Christian Zionism

Christian Zionism, theological and political Christian movement that supports the return of the Jewish Diaspora to a Jewish homeland in Palestine based on readings of biblical texts that consider that region a sacred land promised to the Jews by God. A major impetus behind the movement is the belief that the Jews’ return will lead to the Second Coming of Jesus. Christian Zionists also believe that by blessing and supporting Israel, considered both as the collective Jewish people and the modern state, they themselves will be blessed by God. Early Christian Zionists from the 16th through 19th centuries supported the return of the Jews to Palestine primarily for reasons of eschatology and gaining divine benediction. Since the formation of Israel as a Jewish state in 1948, American Evangelicals who subscribe to the movement have combined their theological convictions with strong political advocacy.

Origins and beliefs

For most of the history of Christianity, the general outlook toward Jews has been characterized by the doctrine of supercessionism—the idea that Christianity replaced Judaism and that Christians are the new chosen people and holders of a covenant with God. However, after the Protestant Reformation in the 16th century there grew a renewed interest in reading and interpreting the Bible, and resurgent millennial ideas regarded support of the Jews as a prerequisite to the coming of the Kingdom of God. In the mid-17th century a shift toward Christian support for Jews happened predominantly in Anglophone Protestant contexts. In 1656 British statesman Oliver Cromwell, in partnership with Portuguese Jewish scholar Manasseh ben Israel, opened England to the return of the Jews, who had been expelled in 1290. Cromwell was inspired in part by a belief that conversion of Jews to Christianity would expedite the Second Coming. Puritans in New England in the mid-17th century also believed that Jews would eventually return to a homeland in Palestine as part of the end-time. Early American Puritans held a view of America as a Christian “city on a hill” that would be instrumental in the divine plan of reviving God’s kingdom, not in America but in Jerusalem.

A significant driving force behind the rise of early Christian Zionism in the 19th century and since is the concept of dispensationalism, a reading of the Bible popularized in America by Anglo-Irish minister John Nelson Darby. Dispensationalists believe that there was a succession of different eras of God’s interactions with humanity and that the final dispensation, the end-time, is nigh. They hold that the return of the Jews to Palestine is one of the prophecies that needs to be fulfilled in order for the Second Coming of Jesus to occur. Rather than favoring the conversion of Jews, dispensationalists view support of Jews as part of Christian doctrine. Dispensationalists cite Genesis 12:3, in which God promised Abraham, “I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” Christian Zionists interpret this covenant with Abraham to apply to his descendants, the Jews, and thus they believe that supporting Israel, considered as the community of Jewish people and, since 1948, the Jewish state, is imperative to their own blessings as Christians. They also read a number of various Old Testament, prophetic, and New Testament works of biblical literature that they interpret as foretelling the eventual return of Jews to Palestine.

Dispensationalism influenced many early 20th-century American Evangelical leaders. Among them was Chicago-based evangelical and businessman William Blackstone, who wrote what became known as the Blackstone Memorial, an 1891 letter to Pres. Benjamin Harrison and others in the United States government advocating giving Palestine to the Jews. It was cosigned by many important leaders in American society and was circulated widely. Early Jewish Zionist political leader Theodor Herzl’s influential pamphlet The Jewish State was published five years later in 1896, and some scholars have noted similarities. Herzl, however, was not motivated by religious reasons, nor was he overly concerned about the location of the Jewish state, since he actively entertained possible future Jewish states in Uganda and Argentina. Blackstone, however, was adamant that a future Jewish homeland needed to be in Palestine, and he sent Herzl a copy of the Bible with underlined sections advocating for Jewish return to Palestine.

In England Christian Zionist ideas were spurred by Christian interest in biblical archeology and love for things Jewish—philosemitism—which influenced culture and government in the mid-19th and early 20th centuries. One popular book was George Eliot’s anti-anti-Semitic Daniel Deronda (1876), which details the eponymous Jewish character’s journey to Palestine. British social leader Lord Shaftesbury was a strong proponent of returning the Jews to Palestine and was president of the London Jews’ Society from 1848 until his death in 1885. As the Ottoman Empire weakened and fell during World War I, Britain gained increasing control over land in the Middle East, including Palestine. The 1917 Balfour Declaration, which declared Palestine as a “national home” of the Jews, was written by Arthur James Balfour, whom some scholars suggest may have been partly influenced by Christian Zionist ideas circulating in England at the time.

20th-century Evangelical political engagement

After the establishment of Israel as a Jewish state in 1948, Christian Zionism took on a new form in America beginning in the 1960s with the rise of a newly invigorated Evangelical movement. The focus on returning Jews to Palestine shifted to political support for Israel as a prerequisite for Evangelicals’ eschatological views. Evangelical leaders such as Billy Graham rejected proselytizing Jewish people to convert to Christianity and instead focused on supporting the Jewish people as having laid the foundation of Christianity and the creation of Israel as an important step towards the Second Coming. Graham was welcomed by the Israeli government during his trips there. Other Evangelical leaders, such as Jerry Falwell, began advocating for the involvement of Evangelicals in politics to promote Christian-based morality and to protect against secularism, thus moving Evangelicals more prominently into U.S. political affairs. In terms of Zionism, Falwell was particularly galvanized by the success of Israel’s army in the Six-Day War of 1967 and the symbolism of that war’s seizure of significant religious sites in the Old City of Jerusalem. Israel’s success, for some Evangelicals, reflected an idea of Muscular Christianity exhibited through warfare—for them, the Jews had succeeded in the beginnings of an apocalyptic battle for God. Both Graham and Falwell strongly advocated for American support of the state of Israel based on their support of dipsensationalism and their sense that, rather than Christianity superseding Judaism, Christians should respect Jews as forerunners of Christianity and their return to Palestine as a forerunner of the return of Christ. Evangelical leader John Hagee founded the organization Christians United for Israel (CUFI) in 2006, which defines itself as “the foremost Christian organization educating and empowering millions of Americans to speak and act with one voice in defense of Israel and the Jewish people.” The group claims their support is rooted in recognition that “they owe a debt of gratitude to the Jewish people for their contributions which gave birth to the Christian faith.” CUFI has been active in supporting Israel through lobbying the United States government.

Some sources indicate that in the United States the number of Christian Zionists outweighs the number of Jewish Zionists. A Pew Research Center survey from 2013 revealed that “​​twice as many white evangelical Protestants as Jews say that Israel was given to the Jewish people by God (82% vs. 40%).” The membership base of CUFI, according to its website, is “over 10 million members” as of 2024, which exceeded the estimated 7.6 million Jewish people in the country (as of the 2020 census). Falwell in particular helped make support for Israel a central part of the Republican Party platform. Some suggest that this advocacy for Israel has translated to a significant impact on U.S. geopolitical strategy, since Evangelical Christians make up an estimated one third of the Republican Party’s membership.

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While a large number of Christian Zionists reside in the United States, the movement is present across the world. Evangelical-led religious events in Israel draw Christians from around the globe. A burgeoning tourism industry in Israel attracts Christians to visit important sites from biblical literature. In 2001 a Christian Zionist organization called the International Christian Embassy Jerusalem began hosting a celebration of Sukkot (the Feast of Tabernacles) in Jerusalem that draws Pentecostal Christians from around the globe. These Pentecostal and charismatic Christian Zionists, many from developing countries, are motivated less by geopolitics or eschatology than they are by a growing prosperity gospel that also draws on Genesis 12:3—by blessing Israel they hope that they in turn will be blessed with material benefit.