Christian Zionism and Eschatology

Correlation, Causation, and Corruption

My wife was recently flabbergasted by a segment titled “House Speaker Goes FULL APOCALYPSE In West Bank Visit” on Breaking Points, one of the independent news sources I frequently watch. The story describes an Evangelical-Orthodox Jewish alliance to fulfill (purported!) prophecy regarding the sacrifice of red heifers in Jerusalem prior to the return of Christ. Megan asked me why they were doing this, and I explained the belief that the sacrifice of the heifers is necessary to provoke the second coming. Her next question gets to the heart of this post: “So they’re trying to fulfill the prophecy themselves?!”

Interestingly, co-host Emily Jashinsky identifies the Evangelicals involved as premillennial dispensationalists. And there is good reason for this designation. But the story and my wife’s question signal a major theological shift among many formerly premillennial dispensationalist Evangelicals, especially those involved in the American political agenda in the Middle East. Something new is emerging, and it is decidedly not premillennial. It’s also a Gordian knot theologically, politically, and culturally.

Last week, I shared an article titled “The Waxing and Waning of Christian Zionism” published in First Things with the comment, “Important if true.” The first response I received was a direct message that called the article “problematic.” Then a comment called it “a pretty shallow analysis.” What fun!

Both critics are wary of the conflation of the “global struggle to liberate minorities from oppression on the path to a new future” with anti-Semitism. As it happens, I agree. I didn’t post a review of the article, and I didn’t nuance my comment. But I also think the article puts a finger on some significant trends, including a correlation between emergent Evangelical postmillennialism and anti-Semitism. But this observation needs a great deal of explanation and nuance. The article being little more than an op-ed-style piece that makes assertions, I figured “Important if true” would be an adequate invitation to readers who could decide for themselves. Now the sluice gates are open, and the nuance is flowing freely.

To explain what’s important about this article, if true, I have to define a bunch of terms. I’m going to be fair but concise. Complain accordingly.

Eschatology

The Christian doctrine of “the end of all things.” The “end” (eschaton) refers not only to the end-point of human history as we know it but its culmination in Christ, the purpose of God’s works; the restoration, recapitulation, and reconciliation of all things in Christ; and the new heavens and new earth promised in the New Testament.

Christian Zionism

Christian advocacy of biblical Israel’s restoration and reestablishment in historico-political terms. In modern times, support of the establishment of Israel as a state in 1948 as the fulfillment of biblical prophecy and its subsequent protection for theological reasons.

Premillennial Dispensationalism

The belief that Christ’s return will inaugurate a thousand-year reign on earth before the eschaton, maintaining a distinction between God’s covenants (dispensations) with Israel and the church. Typically, Christians are believed to be “raptured” (taken up to heaven) before the thousand-year reign (or tribulation). During this time, Israel is left to rule David’s historical kingdom on earth.

Postmillennialism

The belief that Christ’s return will follow a thousand-year period of God’s reign (the kingdom) instituted by the church. An optimistic outlook on the expanding church’s influence on society and the world.

Reconstructionism

A conservative Reformed Protestant movement originating in the 1960s that emphasizes “Calvinism, theonomy (that God’s law as found in the Bible has not been abolished), presuppositionalism (assumes the truth of the Bible), Postmillennialism, and dominion (that the godly should take dominion over the earth [Genesis 1:28]).”¹ “Dominion” over all the earth entails a political agenda to “reconstruct” the whole of society in accordance with God’s law: “family, church, schools, work, the arts, economics, business, media, and the state.”²

Dominion Theology (Dominionism)

The theology of the Reconstructionist movement. “Sometimes known as dominionism, dominion theology refers broadly to a range of movements within North American Protestantism that seek to make the legal precepts of the Bible the basis for the reform and governance of civil society. In line with this perspective, advocates of dominion theology tend to deny the virtue of religious tolerance and promote instead a vision of the United States as a Christian nation.”³

New Apostolic Reformation

A Neocharismatic movement that took on major aspects of the dominion theology of Reconstructionism.⁴ A major political player in the New Christian Right, particularly the MAGA coalition.⁵

NeoReformed

A stream of American Calvinist Evangelicalism characterized by aggressiveness, exclusivism, and a return to Evangelical fundamentalism.⁶ Prone to a theological emphasis on Sphere Sovereignty found in Neo-Calvinism.⁷

So what is “important if true” in the First Things article? Three things. First, if premillennialism is declining among younger Evangelicals, the ramifications are significant. Second, if dominionist postmillennialism is on the rise among Evangelicals, the ramifications may be catastrophic. Third, if dominionism and anti-Semitism are co-occurring, we should talk about what exactly the catastrophe might include.

One of my two interlocutors said that the decline of premillennialism among younger Evangelicals is evident. While this is so anecdotally, there are also studies indicating the fact.⁸ Everyone interested in the phenomenon is actually focused on the decline of support for Israel among younger Evangelicals, but it’s difficult to establish a causal relationship between the two. It’s plausible that many younger Evangelicals have distanced themselves from pro-Israel politics for other reasons, and the decline in premillennialism is a collateral effect. It’s also plausible that the theological absurdity of premillennialism played out in so many Evangelical spaces has resulted in an abandonment of the belief, with declining support of Israel as a consequence. Premillennialism’s decline is a reality either way, and lower support for Israel is its corollary.

A variety of other repercussions might be expected. Chief among them is a shift in attitude and posture. Premillennialism is notoriously pessimistic, escapist, and (of course) “apocalyptic,” which shapes how such Christians engage with the world in a multitude of ways. Just what the shift looks like will depend on what replaces premillennialism, which goes to my second point: dominionist postmillennialism is an alternative with its own problems.

The anecdote I shared at the beginning of the article is an indication of how postmillennialism is replacing premillennialism. The political ties that the Breaking Points piece highlights reveal how dominionist this shift is. But the internal tension in evidence is tremendous, so let me break it down.

First, when premillennialists become politically active, they sow the seeds of their own destruction. The decline of premillennialism among younger Evangelicals is a fruit of the Religious Right’s work beginning in the 1970s. Once premillennials begin trying to control a society that is, according to their own eschatology, morally doomed anyway, something has gone awry. It seems the exercise of political control is no less intoxicating for premillennials who get a taste of it than for anyone else. But there is no reason to expect premillennialism itself to survive that addiction. Whether it’s supporting wars that pit the West against Islam in the interest of ultimately gaining control of the Temple Mount, stockpiling materials for the reconstruction of the temple, or simply causing the fulfillment of prophecy (say, the sacrifice of red heifers), Christian use of wealth and influence in the interest of provoking the end times does not comport with classical premillennialism. It seems that, often, premillennial interpretations of “prophecy” endure in the midst of an otherwise unrecognizable eschatological agenda.

Once premillennialism becomes incoherent, where do younger Evangelicals turn for an eschatological vision, particularly if the church’s political activism is now a given? Postmillennialism is an obvious answer, but there is one strain of it that naturally appeals to Evangelical sensibilities: dominionism. Dominionism calls for the kind of social control agenda that the Religious Right already pursues and seemingly(!) couches it in substantive Reformed theology.

This naturally holds an appeal for many younger Evangelicals already charmed by NeoReformed influencers. A caveat is necessary: leaders in the broader coalition of New Calvinists have been “among the most vocal in publicly expressing concerns about Donald Trump’s character and temperament, and these leaders significantly help constitute what is now called the ‘Never Trump’ faction of Evangelicalism in the United States.”⁹ It’s not clear to me that this tendency holds among NeoReformed youth, particularly young men attracted to the muscular, aggressive Calvinism that draws stark lines on gender roles. Given the movement of young male voters toward Trump in the 2024 election, which many pundits connected with Liberal social pressure regarding gender and sexuality, I won’t be surprised to see new data indicate a shift among NeoReformed young people not only toward Trumpism but toward the social agenda of the New Christian Right more broadly.¹⁰

Now for the big twist. The New Apostolic Reformation has taken up the banner of dominionist theology with unprecedented political effectiveness. If you want to understand the reach of the NAR, I recommend the documentary podcast series Charismatic Revival Fury: The New Apostolic Reformation. Brace yourself; it’s harrowing (h/t Chris Flanders for the recommendation). But the kicker is that the NAR is unambiguously postmillennial. If you want to understand where dominionism is leading younger Evangelicals—including the NeoReformed—who are disenchanted with postmillennialism, look no further. Here there be dragons, and so dominion. To reiterate the chicken-egg dilemma: Perhaps younger Evangelicals are drawn to the NAR once premillennialism has lost its coherence. Or perhaps the appeal of postmillennial dominionism is the cause of the decline of premillennialism among younger Evangelicals. Or both. In the end, political utilitarianism is on the rise among Evangelicals now committed to making their vision of both government and the end times a reality. The ends increasingly justify the means.

The combination of Evangelical political ambitions, dominionist eschatology, and NAR momentum is a theological-political cocktail that may poison everyone who drinks it. And it came to mind as I read the First Things article. If this is the emerging direction of some significant number of younger Evangelicals, it matters. I worry it is. But what about the elephant in the room, anti-Semitism?

Whether dominionism is inherently anti-Semitic is one thing (it depends on what anti-Semitic means). Whether younger Evangelicals’ turn to dominionism is about anti-Semitism is another (it seems unlikely on the whole).

So what do I mean by anti-Semitism? In this context, where US American political support of Israel is at stake, it seems one can never say enough that opposition to Israeli politics is not anti-Semitic. But let me be more explicit: opposition to Zionism is not anti-Semitic. Nor is supersessionism anti-Semitic per se, though some varieties of it are prone to a hateful kind of exclusivism, and this is relevant because dominionist postmillennialism is supersessionist.¹¹ Thus, neither waning political support for Israel nor postmillennialism among younger Evangelicals is evidence of anti-Semitism.

The most objectionable thing about the First Things article is its conflation of these phenomena with anti-Semitism. It’s a well-worn tactic on the political Right, which makes me suspicious of the conclusion offered. At the same time, there is evidently a rise in anti-Semitism on the Christian Nationalist Right (the author refers to the “alt-right,” but let’s not mince words) and the Liberal Activist Left. By concluding that “a rise in anti-Semitism coupled with the waning of support for Israel” is a result of postmillennialism among both Christian Nationalists and Liberal Activists, the article both jumps to a causal conclusion and obscures the difference between anti-Semitism and waning support for Israel.

There’s a lot to say about this, but I remain focused on the fact of emerging dominionist postmillennialism among younger Evangelicals. I do not doubt that anti-Semitism is on the rise in this subset as well, but I do doubt that the correlation justifies a causal conclusion. On the one hand, most of what is being called anti-Semitism just isn’t. On the other hand, there is no evidence that postmillennialism, even the dominionist variety, has produced the real anti-Semitism in evidence. That phenomenon is far more complex. Anti-Semitism is, however, co-ocurring with the eschatological shift among younger Evangelicals, and the article does at least raise the necessary question: what does one have to do with the other?

If the hateful tendencies of NeoReformed enthusiasts are married to the hateful tendencies of MAGA politics through the dominionist meddling of the NAR, then there is reason for alarm. Because that hate bleeds out in all kinds of ways, and anti-Semitism has always been a convenient outlet. These days, Israel’s vengeful indifference to justice and mercy amplifies that convenience for everyone in US American culture (and beyond), regardless of one’s politics. So, I repeat, the First Things piece puts a finger, albeit clumsily, on a real issue.

One last bit of disentangling is due. If you’ve followed my meandering this far, you might be asking, But how does the pro-Israel Evangelical agenda, expressed acutely in the NAR’s rabid Christian Zionism, fit with the waning of support for Israel among younger Evangelicals? I don’t know that it does, but I’ll answer from personal experience. I happen to be friends with some younger folks who fit the NAR bill, so I know how they think about Israel.

One of my interlocutors claimed, “Dispensationalism is anti-Semitic in that it treats Jews in a utilitarian way, in the end provoking them to war in advance of Jesus’s return.” Again, I’m not sure this utilitarianism is quite what I would call anti-Semitism, and it is certainly reciprocated by Israel’s utilitarian use of Evangelicals, but the point stands.¹² Evangelical support for Israel is not about a love of Jews or Jewishness but a means to an eschatological end. That is no less the case for postmillennial dominionism, and perhaps more so.

Still, my NARish friends love Israel—to an extent that fetishizes Jewishness. So overwhelming is their preferential option for Israel that they excuse the nation in a way I would call unloving in a Christian sense. For them, at the end of the day, it doesn’t matter what Israel does (to Gazans, say) as long as prophecy is fulfilled. Which will, by the way, result in the destruction or forced conversion of all Jews from their viewpoint. So love may be the wrong word altogether. But I digress.

The point is, none of these friends are anti-Semitic in attitude or action (leaving theological implications aside). But they are thoroughly, shamelessly utilitarian. Whether supporting the nation of Israel remains useful, therefore, is a calculation many dominionists seem to be making. And there is plenty of tension within the NAR, not least between generations. Keep in mind that most of the “apostles and prophets” leading the movement are relatively old and steeped in a premillennial charismatic heritage. I suspect we’ll see a shift in rhetoric about Israel as younger Evangelicals take leadership and speak to a political coalition that is less enthused with Israel’s role in the establishment of Christian dominion. How corrupted by anti-Semitism this rhetoric will prove remains to be seen, but vigilance is warranted.

The eschatologies at work under US American political movements is fascinating and consequential. So I stand by my original comment: important if true—to whatever extent, with whatever nuance.

1. J. Gordon Melton, “Reconstructionist Movement,” in Encyclopedia of World Religions: Encyclopedia of Protestantism, 2nd ed. (Facts on File, 2016); see also Anson Shupe, “The Reconstructionist Movement on the New Christian Right,” The Christian Century, Oct. 4, 1989, 880–82; Michael D. Gabbert, “An Historical Overview of Christian Reconstructionism,” Christwell Theological Review 6, no. 2 (1993): 281–301.

2. Ibid.

3. Ian A. Mcfarland, “Dominion Theology,” in Cambridge Dictionary of Christian Theology, ed. Ian A. McFarland, David A. S. Fergusson, Karen Kilby, et. al. (Cambridge University Press, 2011).

4. See Joseph Williams, “Pentecostals, Israel, and the Prophetic Politics of Dominion,” Religion and American Culture: A Journal of Interpretation 30, no. 3 (2020): 426–73; Julie Ingersoll, “Dominion Theology, Christian Reconstructionism, and the New Apostolic Reformation;” Dale M. Coulter, “Neocharismatic Christianity and the Rise of the New Apostolic Reformation.” C. Peter Wagner’s pivotal role in the NAR’s appropriation of dominion theology makes his article “Dominion! Kingdom Action Can Change the World,” Journal of the American Society for Church Growth 18, no. 1 (2007), 37–48, particularly significant.

5. See Martin LaMonica, “New Apostolic Reformation evangelicals see Trump as God’s warrior in their battle to win America from satanic forces and Christianize it;” David Timmer, “The Violent Take It by Force: The Christian Movement That Is Threatening Our Democracy;” Keri Ladner, “The quiet rise of Christian dominionism.”

6. Early use of the term sparked considerable debate about its accuracy and usefulness. Scot McKnight, whose use of the term popularized it (“Who are the NeoReformed?” ), later argued that it was more accurate to refer to the movement as Neo-Puritan (“What to Call the So-Called New Calvinists?”). Notably, an earlier piece by McKnight highlighted the emergence of Neo-Fundamentalism, which some prefer as a characterization of the NeoReformed essence, though the term encompasses a wider theological spectrum than Calvinism (“The Rise of Neo-Fundamentalism;” see also “Neo-fundamentalism (excellent but somewhat lengthy essay);” “Neo-Fundamentalist Evangelicals”).

7. Internally, Reformed thinkers reserve Neo-Calvinism for the Kuyperian stream of Calvinism that advocates Sphere Sovereignty, though in popular discourse the distinction from NeoReformed seems lost, not least because NeoReformed folks think of themselves as Kuyperian. I agree with David Fitch that we should leave it to the Reformed to manage their own house (“Are ‘The Neo-Reformed’ Reformed? Or Are They Puritans? And Does it Even Matter?” See also “Thoughts on the NeoReformed”), but the folks identified here as NeoReformed seem to have embraced the term themselves.

8. See Jon Brown, “Support for Israel, dispensationalism declines among younger Evangelicals: study.”

9. Brad Vermurlen, Reformed Resurgence: The New Calvinist Movement and the Battle Over American Evangelicalism (Oxford Academic, 2020), ch. 6. See, e.g., bona fide Reformed theologian Michael Horton’s “The Cult of Christian Trumpism.”

10. Kevin DeYoung, “Why Reformed Evangelicalism Has Splintered: Four Approaches to Race, Politics, and Gender,” notes the fracturing of the New Reformed coalition along these fault lines.

11. For nuance on supersessionism, see David Novak, “Supersessionism Hard and Soft.” For a bit of “I’m rubber, you’re glue”-style sparring between premillennial dispensationalists and postmillennial dominionists on this issue, see Thomas D. Ice, “Hal Lindsey, Dominion Theology, and Anti-Semitism” and Kenneth L. Gentry, Jr., “Reformed Anti-Semitism?”

12. For another angle on the anti-Semitism inherent in Christian Zionism, see Steven Gardiner, “End Times Antisemitism: Christian Zionism, Christian Nationalism, and the Threat to Democracy.”