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Dispensationalism, Israel/Palestine, and Ecclesial Enactments of Eschatology

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Dispensationalism, Israel/Palestine, and Ecclesial Enactments of Eschatology ST EDMUND’S COLLEGE UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE APOCALYPTIC THEOPOLITICS: DISPENSATIONALISM, ISRAEL/PALESTINE, AND ECCLESIAL ENACTMENTS OF ESCHATOLOGY A THESIS SUBMITTED FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY FACULTY OF DIVINITY BY ELIZABETH PHILLIPS CAMBRIDGE JUNE 2008 CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ABSTRACT Chapter ONE INTRODUCTION . 1 TWO A BRIEF HISTORY OF DISPENSATIONALIST CHRISTIAN ZIONISM . 14 A Brief History of Dispensationalism . 15 The Millennium in Modern Britain . 15 John Nelson Darby and the Genesis of Dispensationalism The Millennium in America through the Nineteenth Century Dispensationalism in Early Twentieth-Century America Excursus: Historiography of Dispensationalism and Fundamentalism Dispensationalism in America, World War II - 2008 The Relationship of Dispensationalists to Jews, Judaism, and Israel . 33 Dispensational Restorationism and the Rise of Jewish Zionism The American Colony in Jerusalem Dispensationalists on The Protocols and Hitler Israeli Statehood Holy Land Tours Writing on Dispensationalist Christian Zionism Christian Zionist Organizations Do Dispensationalists Love Jews? Conclusion . 51 THREE AN INTRODUCTION TO FAITH BIBLE CHAPEL . 52 A Slightly Less Brief History of Faith Bible Chapel . 53 Faith Bible Chapel Today . 56 FBC, Israel, Judaism, and Jews . 61 Pro-Israel Education Praying for Israel Pro-Israel Advocacy and Activism Holy Land Tours Jewish Friends The International Singers and Dancers Israel Awareness Day Ariel, FBC’s Adopted West Bank Settlement Conclusion . 99 FOUR CHRISTOLOGY AND ESCHATOLOGY . 101 Jesus Christ and Human Time . 103 Jesus Christ and Human Time in Yoder Jesus Christ and Human Time in Scofield Jesus Christ and Human Time at FBC The Two Advents of Jesus Christ . 113 The Continuity of the Two Advents in Yoder The Contrast of the Two Advents in Scofield Jesus the Teacher in Yoder Jesus the Teacher in Scofield Christ the King in Yoder Christ the King in Scofield The Politics of Jesus Christ in Yoder The Politics of Jesus Christ in Scofield The Two Advents at FBC: Jesus Christ as Savior and King Conclusion . 135 FIVE ECCLESIOLOGY AND ESCHATOLOGY . 137 The Kingdom, the Church, and Human Space . 138 The Kingdom, the Church, and Human Space in Yoder The Kingdom, the Church, and Human Space in Scofield The Kingdom, the Church, and Human Space at FBC The Constantinian Shift and the Visibility of the Church . 146 The Invisible Constantinian Church in Yoder The Invisible True Church in Scofield FBC and the Other Constantinian Shift Conclusion . 162 SIX ESCHATOLOGY AND SOCIAL ETHICS . 164 Eschatology and Social Ethics in Yoder . 165 “Christ Reigns” as Invitation and Hope: Eschatology Motivates Social Action “Christ Reigns” as Limitation and Modesty: Eschatology Restrains Social Action Social Ethics in Scofield and American Dispensationalism . 170 Social Ethics in Scofield Social Ethics and American Dispensationalism Social Ethics at Faith Bible Chapel . 178 Politics, Poverty, and Peace Islam, Muslims, Arabs, and Palestinians Conclusion . 190 SEVEN CONCLUSION . 192 Summary and Conclusions . 192 Toward Non-Dispensationalist Ecclesial Enactments of Apocalyptic Theopolitics . 201 BIBLIOGRAPHY . 209 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Sincere gratitude is due to my doctoral supervisor, Revd Dr Stephen Plant, for his unflagging attentiveness and guidance throughout this project. Thanks are due also to my previous supervisor in the States, where the project first began to take shape, Dr Glen Stassen. I am deeply indebted to a very brief conversation with Dr Grayson Carter which persuaded me to pursue a study of contemporary Christian Zionism through visiting Christian Zionist communities instead of my original plan to study the works of John Nelson Darby. I could not have made the move from the States to Cambridge without the extraordinary support offered to me and my husband by his former supervisor and our dear friend, Dr Nancey Murphy. The completion of this thesis and the type of research required for it were made possible by generous funding from the following sources: Fuller Theological Seminary Center for Advanced Theological Studies, The Christian Scholarship Foundation, Pepperdine University, The Panacea Society, The James Wm. McClendon, Jr. Memorial Scholarship, Andy and Stacy Young, St Edmund’s College, and the University of Cambridge Faculty of Divinity. The time I spent in Colorado conducting fieldwork would not have been nearly as productive without the assistance of a few individuals. Paula Romer at Faith Bible Chapel graciously procured permission for my presence at FBC and introduced me to the people and resources there. My brother, David Hall, and my dear friend Emily Macht and her husband David were my hosts and the companions who provided invaluable opportunities for both the processing of and escape from my research. The fieldwork conducted in Israel/Palestine would not have been so fruitful without the opportunity I was given to spend a month in the Scholars’ Program at Tantur Ecumenical Institute in Jerusalem. Thanks are especially due to the rector, Father Michael McGarry. Thanks to Jeffrey Bailey for reading the entire thesis and offering his unique perspective. A special word of gratitude is due to the late Revd Professor Daniel Hardy, whose comments offered at my first year assessment, as well as continued interest in and enthusiasm for my project, have been sustaining resources. I have been sustained as well, throughout my academic pursuits and otherwise, by the encouragement, support, and generosity of my parents, Larry and Janet Hall, and more recently my husband’s parents, Joe and Frances Phillips. Above and beyond all these, my deepest thanks are due to my partner in every aspect of life, whose personal companionship as well as academic observations have contributed incalculably to this project, Jeff Benton Phillips. This thesis is the result of my own work and includes nothing which is the outcome of work done in collaboration except where specifically indicated in the text. APOCALYPTIC THEOPOLITICS: DISPENSATIONALISM, ISRAEL/PALESTINE, AND ECCLESIAL ENACTMENTS OF ESCHATOLOGY By Elizabeth Phillips ABSTRACT This thesis is a critical analysis of the theology and ethics of dispensationalist Christian Zionism in America. Chapter One introduces the thesis and its method, which draws constructively from history, sociology, and anthropology while remaining substantively theological. Chapter Two describes dispensationalism’s origins in nineteenth-century Britain and its dissemination and development in America. Chapter Three moves from broad, historical description to the contemporary and particular through an introduction to Faith Bible Chapel (FBC), an American Christian Zionist congregation. This description arises from an academic term spent at FBC observing congregational life and conducting extensive interviews, as well as fieldwork undertaken in FBC’s “adopted settlement” in the West Bank, including interviews with Israeli settlers about partnerships with American Christians. The remaining chapters move to more explicitly doctrinal analysis. Chapters Four through Six are shaped by William Cavanaugh’s concept of ‘theopolitics’ (Theopolitical Imagination , 2002): a disciplined, community-gathering common imagination of time and space. Through the exploration of a key historical text ( The Scofield Reference Bible , 1917) and its continuing legacies in the life and thought of FBC, these chapters examine the theopolitics of dispensationalist Christian Zionism, demonstrating that it is a complex system of convictions and practices in which the disciplines of biblicism and biblical literalism form an eschatology which subordinates ecclesiology and Christology, nurturing an imagination of the roles of Christ and the church in time and space which sever social ethics from necessary Christological and ecclesiological sources. John Howard Yoder’s work is used to bring this system into relief, and to establish that eschatology per se is not inimical to Christian social ethics. Chapter Seven concludes the thesis with a summary of its findings, as well as a discussion of the positive functions of apocalyptic in Christian social ethics, pointing toward the possibility of alternative ecclesial enactments of apocalyptic theopolitics. 1 CHAPTER OE: Introduction 1 It is time for Sunday School, and children and adults alike are making their way to their weekly lessons. Members of the Prophecy Workshop are filing into their usual classroom. They help themselves to doughnuts, and coffee in Styrofoam cups as they warmly greet and chat with one another and take their seats. The class of about thirty members is pleased to hear that they will be viewing another installment of a video by televangelist Perry Stone, who identifies himself as “one of America’s foremost experts on Bible Prophecy.” 2 One of the class’s two female facilitators inserts the Perry Stone DVD into the player, 3 the chatting is hushed, and the revelations begin. Stone is on location in Israel, standing outdoors in a sporty track suit, interpreting the book of Ezekiel. He reads several verses of chapter 35, which is a prophecy against Mount Seir, and he explains this is a reference to modern-day Palestinians. Verse five says, “Because thou hast had a perpetual hatred, and hast shed the blood of the children of Israel by the force of the sword in the time of their calamity . .” 4 Stone goes on to read verse ten, “Because thou hast said, These two nations and these two countries shall be mine, and we will possess it.” He explains
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