Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Israel and the Palestinians. A widely unknown root of the Conflict by Bart D. Ehrman, read by Sharon Roberts since the horrific sequence of events that started on October 7, I have been asked about the historical roots of the conflict.
Much of the important information is well known and easily accessible from the biblical accounts of the conquest of the Promised land up through 1948 onto the second Intefada. Till today. I won't be covering this information here, and I will not be offering my political or personal opinions on the matter. I will instead provide some important and widely unknown historical information on one of these significant aspects of the matter.
In a section of my book, Armageddon, published earlier this past year, I discussed how the expectation that, quote, the end is near in quote, largely based on interpretations of the Book of Revelation, came to affect broad swaths of American culture in ways that almost no one would suspect.
I should say emphatically that I'm not one of those religion scholars who thinks religion is at the heart of everything, but it is at the heart of some things, and one of those things is American foreign policy on the Middle East.
One question few people have asked, and fewer answered correctly, is what lies at the heart of the fervent support of Israel among American evangelical Christians. I stress I'm not taking a political or personal stand here on the blog on this issue. I'm interested in the historical question.
The question is particularly intriguing because, as one recent New York Times editorial indicated, support of the Nation of Israel is widely attested among Christians who are otherwise opposed to Jews and Judaism and are often anti Semitic. How does that work exactly?
In my book I address the question in one way the answer is simple, but in another way the history is complex. In my explanation, I begin with the French Revolution. I bet you didn't see that coming.
Why then? Because that is when evangelical Christians, first in Britain, then in America, began to reinterpret the Bible, especially the Book of Revelation.
For nearly 1500 years, the vast majority of Christians believed that revelation was discussing things that had already happened and were continuing to happen in their own day. The expected quote unquote millennium was already taking place in the life of the.
[00:03:17] Speaker B: Church, a view propounded by Augustine in the fifth century and accepted by the mainstream ever since, with, of course, some.
[00:03:27] Speaker A: Groups on the margin seeing the book as predicting imminent crisis. I talk about all that earlier in my book.
That interpretation began to change at the end of the 18th century. The change ended up affecting Christian views massively. It led to Christian Zionism before there was Zionism.
This is a major part of the historical puzzle of the conflict in the Middle east, with ongoing effects. Here is where I begin the excerpts from my book, Armageddon what the Bible really says about the end New York, Simon and Schuster, 2023.
The Rise of Futuristic Understandings of Revelation One of the most monumental upheavals of the French Revolution occurred not in the realms of social history or political theory, but in Christian theology.
Granted, this upheaval didn't change the map of Europe or the course of democracy, but it nonetheless affected millions of people and continues to do so today.
As Ernest Sandine, a modern historian of Christian fundamentalism, has shown, the unprecedented violence of the reign of terror was seen to be so catastrophic by some British Christians that devout church members could not.
[00:04:59] Speaker B: Help but think the horrors of the Apocalypse had come upon them.
[00:05:04] Speaker A: That would mean, of course, that what had been the traditional understanding of John's revelation from the time of Augustine was completely wrong.
The book was not describing what had already happened during the course of Christian history.
Based on a more straightforward reading, the book really did appear to predict what was yet to come.
For note one, please see the written post.
This was not the first time that a more literal reading of revelation had popped up. You will recall that Protestant Christians, going back to Luther himself, had identified the beast from the sea, which rules the earth, blasphemes God, and persecutes the saints. As the pope in Revelation, the Beast reign would last 42 months, which for some interpreters became 1260 years, with a quote unquote day in this interpretation, meaning a year in the 1790s. Some Anglican theologians calculated that the papacy, as an institution assumed full power over the Church in 538 CE under Pope Vigilius. If the beast was to rule 1260 years, then his demise would come in 1798.
As it turns out, that was the date Napoleon's chief of staff, Louis Alexandria Bertierre, invaded the Vatican, banished Pope Pius VI from office, imprisoned him, and established the Roman Republic.
This was the quote unquote mortal wound that Revelation predicted the beast would receive. Revelation 13 three in that very year. One English commentator made the apocalyptic connection explicit.
Is not the people power at Rome which was once so terrible and so domineering at an end?
[00:07:15] Speaker B: But let us pause a little. Was not this end in other parts.
[00:07:20] Speaker A: Of the Holy Prophecies foretold to be.
[00:07:24] Speaker B: At the end of 1260 years? And now let us see, hear, and understand.
This is the year 1798. And just 1260 years ago, in the very beginning of the year 538, Belisarius put an end to the empire and dominion of the Goths at Rome.
[00:07:49] Speaker A: For note two, please see the written post.
In other words, the end was nigh. Christian Zionism and Futuristic Readings of the Bible the apocalyptic implications of events in Europe happen to coincide with a seemingly unrelated development within British Christianity, a renewed interest in the fate of the nation of Israel based on biblical prophecies.
As odd as it might seem, the combination of these two developments, a renewed sense that the end had begun, and an interest in the fate of the Jewish people, led ultimately to the formation of biblical fundamentalism and, more recently, the Apocalyptic expectations of the left behind series.
Note three. These were not the only contributing factors, of course. Also important were conservative Christian reactions to modernism in general, especially to the sciences, and not just Darwin, as well as to historical critical studies of the Bible emanating out of Germany. End Note the Christian interest in the modern state of Israel, most strongly expressed today among American evangelicals, has its roots in the first decades of 19th century England, in a serendipitous course of events involving a little known figure named Louis Way, 1772 to 1840.
For note four, please see the written Post.
Wei was an impoverished barrister who had trouble finding clients.
In October of 1799, a wealthy and unrelated 67 year old John Way was visiting his own solicitor when he happened to notice Louis Way's name painted on his office door. He decided to go in to meet this fellow, who shared his somewhat unusual name.
The two ways converged, and they established an immediate friendship. Both were evangelical Christians and serious about their faith.
Lewis started visiting his affluent namesake in his home, and as their mutual affection increased, John began providing Lewis with financial support.
John Way died in August 18 four, leaving no children or other satisfactory heir. After providing a tidysum for his wife, he bequeathed the rest of his estate to Lewis.
The estate was worth 300,000 pounds, around $42 million today.
As one might expect, there were a number of news stories about Lewis Way's surprising bit of good fortune.
One British newspaper, the Leeds Mercury, commented, quote, where there's a will, there's a way. End quote. For note five, please see the written Post.
[00:11:07] Speaker B: Lewis Way almost immediately used his inheritance to purchase an estate in West Sussex with a thousand acres of parkland and a forest designed by capability Brown.
[00:11:21] Speaker A: He then spent six years restoring the home and becoming a philanthropist.
Then another serendipity happened once again of relevance to the future of apocalyptic thought, though again seemingly unrelated.
[00:11:39] Speaker B: In 1811, now a man of leisure, way was riding with the friend through the countryside of Devon when he came.
[00:11:48] Speaker A: Upon a very OD 16 sided building called Alarand.
Note six. The house still exists and is now registered with the National Trust. End note.
[00:12:03] Speaker B: It had been designed as a residence for two wealthy cousins, Jane and Mary Parminter.
[00:12:11] Speaker A: The interior consisted of an octagonal hall open to a 60 foot high ceiling, with three floors of rooms around the perimeter.
The eight rooms on the ground floor were connected not with doors but with sliding panels so that one could walk through the circuit without entering the hall. The walls were decorated with shells and feathers. More important for our story was an unusual feature on the grounds, a line of oak trees standing beside a chapel.
Louis Way learned that when Jane Parminter had died just that year, she left a will that included a cottagel quote these oaks shall remain standing, and the hand of man shall not be raised against them till Israel returns and is restored to the land of promise. End quote. For note seven, please see the written post.
These oak trees piqued Wei's curiosity, changed the course of his life and in the end affected the religious beliefs of millions of people, impacting international affairs down to our day.
I continue from there in my next post.
