Jews and Christians have been making political and pragmatic arguments to support the State of Israel for a long time. Even Palestinians are now arguing that Hamas and the Palestinian Authority are hopelessly corrupt, and that reconciliation with Israel is the best bet for Palestinians. But Jews and Christians have been less confident making theological arguments for Zionism. Jewish Zionists have had to explain why they disagree with anti-Zionist Jews and radical ultra-Orthodox separatists in their midst, while many Christian Zionists have needed to distance themselves from dispensationalists who claim to know when and how the end-times will arrive.
Two new proposals, one by a leading Jewish theologian and the other by a group of Christian thinkers of which I am a part, provide fresh arguments for theological understanding of Israel.
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