cover image Evangelicals and Israel: The Story of American Christian Zionism

Evangelicals and Israel: The Story of American Christian Zionism

Stephen Spector, . . Oxford Univ., $29.95 (338pp) ISBN 978-0-19-536802-4

Spector, a professor of English at Stony Brook University and a Jew, argues that evangelical Christian support for Israel is a good thing for Jews. To make this argument, in light of considerable distrust of evangelicals by American Jews and others, he offers impressively thorough research. Evangelicals' motives are complex, and include identification with Israel as an ally against terrorism as well as biblically-based conviction that God truly has favored Israel. His counterintuitive argument is likely to be questioned by those skeptical of his tendency to take statements at their face value: in analyzing, for example, whether George W. Bush's Mideast policy is affected by Christian Zionism, he credits sources supportive of Bush who tell him no, it's not. While some may find him naive, the depth of his work provides credibility for his view. (Dec.)