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Walking on the Pages of the Word of God
Self, Land, and Text Among Evangelical Volunteers in Jerusalem
Series: - Currents of Encounter, Volume: 59
Author:
In
Walking on the Pages of the Word of God Aron Engberg explores the religious language and identities of evangelical volunteer workers in contemporary Jerusalem. The volunteers are connected to Christian organizations which consider their work a natural consequence of the biblical promises to Israel and their responsibility to “bless the Jewish people”.
Relying on ethnographic data of the discursive practices of the volunteers, the book explores a central puzzle of Zionist Christianity: the narrative production of Israel’s religious significance and its relationship to broader Christian language traditions. By focusing on the volunteers’ stories about themselves, the land and the Bible, Aron Engberg offers a convincing account about how the State of Israel is finding its way into evangelical identities.
Relying on ethnographic data of the discursive practices of the volunteers, the book explores a central puzzle of Zionist Christianity: the narrative production of Israel’s religious significance and its relationship to broader Christian language traditions. By focusing on the volunteers’ stories about themselves, the land and the Bible, Aron Engberg offers a convincing account about how the State of Israel is finding its way into evangelical identities.
Aron Engberg, Ph.D. (2016), Centre for Theology and Religious Studies, Lund University, Sweden. He has previously published several articles and book chapters on evangelical Christianity, pilgrimage and life stories.
Walking on the Pages of the Word of God is his first monograph.
"Readers will discover a wealth of insight in Engberg’s new book, from the formation and functioning of global evangelical networks to religious language and the role Christian Zionists have played in shaping the lived landscape of contemporary Jerusalem. This is an indispensable ethnography, one that promises to make a lasting impact on the interdisciplinary study of Christianity and the social life of scriptures more broadly." — James S. Bielo,
Miami University
"Based on intensive fieldwork, Aron Engberg provides a vivid portrait of Evangelical volunteers in Israel. For them, living in the Bible Land is not about venerating the past, but its restoration through the State of Israel. The contradictions between prophecy and current life in Israel are resolved through a postponement of understanding, which authenticates action as being a result of God’s agency. Engberg describes this process, fluctuating between the persuasiveness of narrative truth and the limits of human agency, with precision and coherence. In doing so, he provides an empathetic but not romanticized account of Christian Zionism that relates it to broader issues in contemporary Protestantism." — Jackie Feldman, Ben Gurion University of the Negev
"Aron Engberg provides a closely observed account of Israel as both contemporary place and complex object of aspiration for Protestant evangelical volunteers. Working through individual encounters and biographies, he brings into conversation two areas of research that have had strangely little to say to each other so far: Christian Zionism, and analysis of the forms and functions of Protestant language ideologies. The result is a hugely engaging text that tells us much about how Jerusalem is lived, imagined, and narrated by powerful advocates for the State of Israel as political and spiritual entity." — Simon Coleman, Chancellor Jackman Professor, University of Toronto
"Based on intensive fieldwork, Aron Engberg provides a vivid portrait of Evangelical volunteers in Israel. For them, living in the Bible Land is not about venerating the past, but its restoration through the State of Israel. The contradictions between prophecy and current life in Israel are resolved through a postponement of understanding, which authenticates action as being a result of God’s agency. Engberg describes this process, fluctuating between the persuasiveness of narrative truth and the limits of human agency, with precision and coherence. In doing so, he provides an empathetic but not romanticized account of Christian Zionism that relates it to broader issues in contemporary Protestantism." — Jackie Feldman, Ben Gurion University of the Negev
"Aron Engberg provides a closely observed account of Israel as both contemporary place and complex object of aspiration for Protestant evangelical volunteers. Working through individual encounters and biographies, he brings into conversation two areas of research that have had strangely little to say to each other so far: Christian Zionism, and analysis of the forms and functions of Protestant language ideologies. The result is a hugely engaging text that tells us much about how Jerusalem is lived, imagined, and narrated by powerful advocates for the State of Israel as political and spiritual entity." — Simon Coleman, Chancellor Jackman Professor, University of Toronto
Acknowledgments
List of Interviews
1 Introduction
Walking on the Pages of the Word of God
Toward an Ethnography of Christian Zionism
“Christian Zionism”: Belief and Practice
Biblical Literalism
Christian Zionism as Narrative and Process
Meaning, Language, and Narrative
Meaning & Symbol
Language Ideology
Religious Language & Narrative Performance
The Scene in Jerusalem
The Volunteers
Interviews
Self, Land, and Text
2 Evangelical Zionism in Jerusalem
History of the Organizations
Restorationism and Dispensationalism
Jerusalem in the 1970s
Connecting Israel with the Evangelical World
Practical Support and Founding Organizations
Navigating the Socio-Political Space
Covenantal Theology
Going Mainstream
The Ministries Today
At the Embassy 2012
3 Self: Calling, Agency and Transformation
Narratives, Performance, and Transformation
The Calling
“It Wasn’t Our Idea”—Calling and Agency
Suspension of Agency
Narrative Non-Sense Making
Agency in Abeyance
Self-Transformation
Realizing Israel’s Spiritual Significance
Becoming Ruth
Continuous Conversion—Faith Walk
Conclusions
4 Land: Israel, Place and Presence
Space, Place and the “Holy Land”
The “Land of the Bible” and the Evangelical Gaze
Where Miracles Happen
“God’s Fire is in Zion, but His Furnace is in Jerusalem”
The Cosmic Center
A Locative Thrust
Tensions
Another Problem of Presence
Can Israel Fall Apart?
“To Live between the Tensions”
Conclusions
5 Text: Literalism, Prophecy and Authenticity
An Ideology of Literalism
Ambiguities of Prophecy Belief
Prophecy: Past & Present
Prophecy: Future
Bible Prophecy as an Interpretative Tradition
Hebraic Roots of Christian Faith
History and Authenticity
Hebraic and Greek Worldviews
Purification
A Vanguard of Reform
Conclusions
6 Walking on the Pages of the Word of God
Continuities and Discontinuities of Evangelical Zionism
Globalizing Christian Zionism
Contesting Language Ideologies
Alternative Readings of Israel
Walking on the Pages
References
Index
List of Interviews
1 Introduction
Walking on the Pages of the Word of God
Toward an Ethnography of Christian Zionism
“Christian Zionism”: Belief and Practice
Biblical Literalism
Christian Zionism as Narrative and Process
Meaning, Language, and Narrative
Meaning & Symbol
Language Ideology
Religious Language & Narrative Performance
The Scene in Jerusalem
The Volunteers
Interviews
Self, Land, and Text
2 Evangelical Zionism in Jerusalem
History of the Organizations
Restorationism and Dispensationalism
Jerusalem in the 1970s
Connecting Israel with the Evangelical World
Practical Support and Founding Organizations
Navigating the Socio-Political Space
Covenantal Theology
Going Mainstream
The Ministries Today
At the Embassy 2012
3 Self: Calling, Agency and Transformation
Narratives, Performance, and Transformation
The Calling
“It Wasn’t Our Idea”—Calling and Agency
Suspension of Agency
Narrative Non-Sense Making
Agency in Abeyance
Self-Transformation
Realizing Israel’s Spiritual Significance
Becoming Ruth
Continuous Conversion—Faith Walk
Conclusions
4 Land: Israel, Place and Presence
Space, Place and the “Holy Land”
The “Land of the Bible” and the Evangelical Gaze
Where Miracles Happen
“God’s Fire is in Zion, but His Furnace is in Jerusalem”
The Cosmic Center
A Locative Thrust
Tensions
Another Problem of Presence
Can Israel Fall Apart?
“To Live between the Tensions”
Conclusions
5 Text: Literalism, Prophecy and Authenticity
An Ideology of Literalism
Ambiguities of Prophecy Belief
Prophecy: Past & Present
Prophecy: Future
Bible Prophecy as an Interpretative Tradition
Hebraic Roots of Christian Faith
History and Authenticity
Hebraic and Greek Worldviews
Purification
A Vanguard of Reform
Conclusions
6 Walking on the Pages of the Word of God
Continuities and Discontinuities of Evangelical Zionism
Globalizing Christian Zionism
Contesting Language Ideologies
Alternative Readings of Israel
Walking on the Pages
References
Index
All interested in the relationship between evangelical Christianity and Israel, and scholars interested in the relationship between Christianity and Judaism, theology & anthropology, and in religion in the Middle East from theological, historical or social scientific perspectives.