Customer Reviews

Evangelizing the Chosen People: Missions to the Jews in America, 1880 - 2000 (H. Eugene and Lillian Youngs Lehman Series)

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This book is easy to read and fascinating to follow. Thus, it is not simply an academic text. Considering the significant influence of Christian Fundamentalists today even in American government and life, this book offers a balanced perspective and a panorama of the odd history of this surprising inter-relationship, as well an introduction to the curious way of speaking at cross purposes that has developed between these Christians and the Jews- with Israel as the very core.

This book is a great resource for those who want to know the truth about the Hebrew-Christian and so-called messianic movement, which were created for the goal of converting all Jews to Christianity.

The only aspect of the book I didn't like is that the author takes a neutral approach when discussing the messies, which is what journalists are supposed to do, not authors.

Besides that, it is a great resource.

Yaakov Ariel is "assistant professor of religous studies at the University of North Carolina," and the author of On Behalf of Israel: American Fundamentalist Attitudes Toward Jews, Judaism, and Zionism, 1865-1945 (Chicago Studies in the History of American Religion).

In the Introduction to this 2000 book, the author states, "I wish neither to canonize nor to condemn. Rather, the book explores the history of the movement to evangelize the Jews, aiming... to cut a balance between appreciation and criticism. I endeavored to study the missions and the missionaries on their own ground, trying to reconstruct their world and understand their motivation. Similarly, the book analyzes other participants in the missionary drama---the converts, as well as the Jewish leadership and laypersons who reacted to the missionary activity---on their own terms, without praising or condemning."

Here are some quotations from the book:

"American Protestants first began to evangelize Jews in 1816. During the middle decades of the nineteenth century, Protestants continued their attempts to convert American Jews... Until the 1880s, however, the missionary enterprises were small and sporadic." (Pg. 2)
"For (founder of dispensationalism John Nelson) Darby and his disciples, the Jews were historical Israel and the object of the biblical prophecies about the restored Davidic kingdom in the Land of Israel." (Pg. 10)
"A watershed event ... was the Six-Day War ... in June 1967... For evangelicals, Israel's conquest of many of the major biblical sites in the country, including the historic parts of Jerusalem, seemed like the beginning of the events of the End Times." (Pg. 198)
"For Christians, 'Judaizing' had traditionally been considered heresy, and many still expressed alarm at 'Judaizing tendencies' and had a difficult time relating to the new Jewish congregations as legitimate churches." (Pg. 221)
"Messianic Judaism, although it advocated the idea of an independent movement of Jewish converts, remained the offspring of the missionary movement." (Pg. 223)
"Elie Wiesel... declared Jews for Jesus to be 'hypocrites' who 'don't even have the courage to declare frankly that they have decided to repudiate their people and its memories.'" (Pg. 254)
"Israeli leaders and officials welcomed evangelical support warmly, responding with friendliness to evangelical leaders, activists, and organizations." (Pg. 265)