The Bible, Israel, and Antisemitism: Part 12: First Christian Steps in Favor of the Jews
European Jewry of the 1800s found itself at a social disadvantage no matter which way it turned. Every European nation favored, whether officially or unofficially, some branch of Christianity. Jews who retained and practiced their cultural heritage faced suspicion and antisemitic prejudice and were often prevented by law or custom from fully participating in European society. Full assimilation typically required conversion to Christianity.
While Jews faced these pressures in Europe, an unexpected theological development in British Christianity planted the seeds for an entirely different and previously unimagined future for European Jews.
In the 1830s, an Anglican pastor and student of Scripture, John Nelson Darby, tiring of the empty formalism of Protestantism, began meeting with believers independently of the established church. His meetings began in Dublin, Ireland, and became formalized in Plymouth, England, and the group became known as “Plymouth Brethren”. Darby disagreed with the traditional belief that the Church replaced Israel (supersessionism) and taught that God’s ancient covenants with Abraham and Israel were eternal and that therefore, if we are to believe the prophets, Israel will one day be restored as a nation.
Darby’s own missionary fervor spread his ideas to continental Europe. In the mid-1800s, when evolutionary theory and biblical criticism radically altered liberal Christianity into what traditionalists deemed unbelief, conservative Protestants organized Bible and prophecy conferences to retain the biblical faith. Darby’s views on Israel became influential in Britain (and eventually in America) through such conferences, influencing members of the British aristocracy, most notably Anthony Ashley-Cooper, Earl of Shaftesbury.
Lord Shaftesbury was an evangelical believer who came to believe that prophecy promised a restored nation of Israel. Lord Shaftesbury’s brother-in-law, Henry John Temple, Viscount Palmerston, served first as Britain’s foreign secretary and then twice as Prime Minister. Lord Shaftesbury corresponded frequently to Lord Palmerston, encouraging him to push British support for the Jewish resettlement of Palestine.
In 1838, Lord Palmerston established a British vice-consulate in Jerusalem which was controlled by the Ottomans. This vice-consulate provided formal legal protection for British subjects in the Ottoman Empire and encouraged Jewish resettlement of Palestine. The British could monitor local politics in Jerusalem, legally protect Jewish immigrants, and influence the Ottomans with respect to trade, law, and security.
Though Palmerston never envisioned a sovereign Jewish state–his motivation was political strategy, not religious conviction–this first step of British intervention in Palestine helped normalize the idea of Jews returning to their homeland. The first Jewish agricultural colony, Mikveh Israel, was established in Palestine in 1870.
Palmerston’s small political successes fed and spread the evangelical teaching about the restoration of national Israel in both Britain and America. Conservative Christians committed themselves to the re-establishment of a restored Jewish state while at the same time seeking to convert Jews to Christ.
In the next blog, we’ll step into the complicated history of the 20th century regarding antisemitism and the nation of Israel…
While Jews faced these pressures in Europe, an unexpected theological development in British Christianity planted the seeds for an entirely different and previously unimagined future for European Jews.
In the 1830s, an Anglican pastor and student of Scripture, John Nelson Darby, tiring of the empty formalism of Protestantism, began meeting with believers independently of the established church. His meetings began in Dublin, Ireland, and became formalized in Plymouth, England, and the group became known as “Plymouth Brethren”. Darby disagreed with the traditional belief that the Church replaced Israel (supersessionism) and taught that God’s ancient covenants with Abraham and Israel were eternal and that therefore, if we are to believe the prophets, Israel will one day be restored as a nation.
Darby’s own missionary fervor spread his ideas to continental Europe. In the mid-1800s, when evolutionary theory and biblical criticism radically altered liberal Christianity into what traditionalists deemed unbelief, conservative Protestants organized Bible and prophecy conferences to retain the biblical faith. Darby’s views on Israel became influential in Britain (and eventually in America) through such conferences, influencing members of the British aristocracy, most notably Anthony Ashley-Cooper, Earl of Shaftesbury.
Lord Shaftesbury was an evangelical believer who came to believe that prophecy promised a restored nation of Israel. Lord Shaftesbury’s brother-in-law, Henry John Temple, Viscount Palmerston, served first as Britain’s foreign secretary and then twice as Prime Minister. Lord Shaftesbury corresponded frequently to Lord Palmerston, encouraging him to push British support for the Jewish resettlement of Palestine.
In 1838, Lord Palmerston established a British vice-consulate in Jerusalem which was controlled by the Ottomans. This vice-consulate provided formal legal protection for British subjects in the Ottoman Empire and encouraged Jewish resettlement of Palestine. The British could monitor local politics in Jerusalem, legally protect Jewish immigrants, and influence the Ottomans with respect to trade, law, and security.
Though Palmerston never envisioned a sovereign Jewish state–his motivation was political strategy, not religious conviction–this first step of British intervention in Palestine helped normalize the idea of Jews returning to their homeland. The first Jewish agricultural colony, Mikveh Israel, was established in Palestine in 1870.
Palmerston’s small political successes fed and spread the evangelical teaching about the restoration of national Israel in both Britain and America. Conservative Christians committed themselves to the re-establishment of a restored Jewish state while at the same time seeking to convert Jews to Christ.
In the next blog, we’ll step into the complicated history of the 20th century regarding antisemitism and the nation of Israel…