Refugees Or Returnees: European Jews, Palestinian Arabs And
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STUDIA MISSIONALIA SVECANA CX Ulf Carmesund Refugees or Returnees European Jews, Palestinian Arabs and the Swedish Theological Institute in Jerusalem around 1948 Dissertation presented at Uppsala University to be publicly examined in Geijersalen, Thun- bergsvägen 3P, Uppsala, Friday, October 1, 2010 at 14:00 for the degree of Doctor of Theolo- gy. The examination will be conducted in Swedish. Abstract Carmesund, U. 2010. Refugees or Returnees. European Jews, Palestinian Arabs and the Swe- dish Theological Institute in Jerusalem around 1948. Uppsala Universitet. Studia Missionalia Svecana CX. 265 pp. Uppsala. ISBN 978-91-506-2145-7. In this study five individuals who worked in Svenska Israelsmissionen and at the Swedish Theological Institute in Jerusalem are focused. These are Greta Andrén, deaconess in Svenska Israelsmissionen from 1934 and matron at the Swedish Theological Institute from 1946 to 1971, Birger Pernow, director of Svenska Israelsmissionen from 1930 to 1961, Harald Sahlin director of the Swedish Theological Institute in 1947, Hans Kosmala director of the Swedish Theological Institute from 1951 to 1971, and finally H.S. Nyberg, Chair of the Swedish board of the Swedish Theological Institute from 1955 to 1974. The study uses theoretical perspec- tives from Hannah Arendt, Mahmood Mamdani and Rudolf Bultmann. A common idea among Lutheran Christians in the first half of 20th century Sweden implied that Jews who left Europe for Palestine or Israel were not just seen as refugees or colonialists - but viewed as returnees, to the Promised Land. The idea of peoples’ origins, and original home, is traced in European race thinking. This study is discussing how many of the studied individuals combined superstitious interpretations of history with apocalyptic interpretations of the Bible and a Romantic national ideal. Svenska Israelsmissionen and the Swedish Theo- logical Institute participated in Svenska Israelhjälpen in 1952, which resulted in 75 Swedish houses sent to the State of Israel. These houses were built on land where until July 1948 the Palestinian Arab village Qastina was located. The Jewish state was supported, but, the establishment of an Arab State in Palestine accord- ing to the UN decision of Nov 1947 was not essential for these Lutheran Christians in Swe- den. The analysis involves an effort to translate the religious language of the studied objects into a secular language. Keywords: Lutheran, Jerusalem, Jew, Arab, Muslim, Christian, Israel, Israeli, Apocalyptic, Superstition, Fundamentalism, Republican and Romantic nationalism, Bible, history, Poetic and power. Ulf Carmesund, Uppsala University, Box 256, Uppsala University, SE-75105 Uppsala, Sweden © Ulf Carmesund 2010 ISSN 1404-9503 ISBN 978-91-506-2145-7 urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-129819 (http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-129819) Copyright omslagsbild: Pia Lundqvist Printed in Sweden by Edita Västra Aros, Västerås, 2010. Published with support from the Mission Covenent Church in Sweden Till Ulrika Contents A personal introduction ................................................................................... 9 1. Introduction ............................................................................................... 12 Analytic tools – history, Bible and national ideology .............................. 14 Previous research ...................................................................................... 20 A mission study on Christians in Israel ............................................... 29 Research on Svenska Israelsmissionen and the Swedish Theological Institute ................................................................................................ 31 Alan R. Brockway and the Love of Jews ............................................. 34 Anna Besserman, Herbert Tingsten and Werner Ustorf ...................... 39 Sources ..................................................................................................... 41 An overview of the book .......................................................................... 43 Research results ................................................................................... 46 Terminology - Jew, Arab, Palestinian, Israel/Israeli, Christian, Muslim and anti-Semitism ..................................................................................... 47 A contribution to the discussion on anti-Semitism in Christian theology 50 2. Religion, nation and people - perspectives on some terminology ............ 54 Fundamentalism as term – good but still not used ................................... 55 To analyse non-secular views on Bible and history ................................. 58 Poetic theology - a secular approach to biblical text ................................ 60 Anti-Semitism is a political thing – Hannah Arendt ................................ 62 Race-thinking as background .............................................................. 66 To separate culture from politics – Mahmood Mamdani ......................... 69 Romantic or Republican concepts of nation and people .......................... 71 “People” in 19th century missionary thinking – an example ................ 74 3. From Christian mission to a theological institute – 1875 to 1950 ............ 76 Svenska Israelsmissionen from 1875 and onward.................................... 76 Svenska Israelsmissionen’s own motives ................................................. 84 Mission and social work in Nazi-controlled Vienna ................................ 86 An outgrowth of European missions ........................................................ 94 A connecting point between Israel and Sweden ....................................... 96 Respected in Israel and in Sweden ......................................................... 100 “As loyal to this State as the most loyal Jewish Israeli citizen can be” . 103 At Tabor House before the Swedish Theological Institute .................... 104 4. The Swedish Theological Institute in its political context around 1950 . 106 A post-war debate on Jews in Europe – Arthur Montgomery ............... 106 Svenska Israelhjälpen and Sweden’s war relief ..................................... 110 Sweden’s official policy towards the State of Israel around 1950 ......... 113 5. Five key figures....................................................................................... 117 Greta Andrén (1909-1971) ..................................................................... 117 Birger Pernow (1888-1973) ................................................................... 119 Harald Sahlin (1911-1996) ..................................................................... 120 Hans Kosmala (1903-1981) ................................................................... 121 H.S. Nyberg (1889-1974) ....................................................................... 122 6. Living on sacred soil - Greta Andrén ...................................................... 123 Palestinabilder ........................................................................................ 124 Meeting Swedish visitors at the Swedish Theological Institute ............. 127 Israel – its military capacity and immigration ........................................ 133 Palestinian Arabs intruding into Israel ................................................... 137 Arabs in Israel ........................................................................................ 139 Greta Andrén – a summary .................................................................... 143 7. Pray for the authority – Birger Pernow ................................................... 146 Apocalyptic theology – God’s blessing and God’s curse ....................... 146 “What is about to happen to old Christendom in Europe?” ................... 153 Defending Jews against false accusations .............................................. 155 Kristallnacht November 1938 interpreted .............................................. 156 The war in Palestine 1947-1949 as repetition of Deuteronomy 11:25 ... 160 “How the Jews build Palestine” ............................................................. 163 Impressions from the State of Israel in 1954 .......................................... 168 Birger Pernow – a summary ................................................................... 169 8. A theology approaching poetry – Harald Sahlin ..................................... 173 On Judaism and Zionism in Jerusalem in 1947 ...................................... 174 David Ben-Gurion and Judah Magnes – points of reference ................. 176 Speeches on Zionism in Sweden ............................................................ 178 Europeans or Jews at home in Palestine ................................................. 182 Criticising Christian support for Zionism .............................................. 183 Stereotypes of Jews – Joseph’s dream ................................................... 185 Circumcision in Christ ........................................................................... 188 Chassidism and the irrelevance of historical truth in biblical texts ........ 190 Harald Sahlin – a summary .................................................................... 192 9. Atoning for Christian sins against Jews – Hans Kosmala ....................... 196 No biblically motivated support for the State of Israel .......................... 197 Judaism, Christianity and the purpose of Kosmala’s labour .................. 199