The chosen peoples: Evangelical support for Israel

Book Review: "American Evangelicals, Jews and Israel" by Shlomo Fischer and Dov Maimon. JPPI; 70 pages

The Jewish People Policy Institute has published an in depth and very intriguing 70-page study exploring the relationship between American Evangelicals, Jews, and Israel. The study was introduced and discussed during a fascinating online webinar which can be seen on You Tube entitled:” Evangelical Support for Israel: Is There a Trend Change?

The authors and Professor Gil Troy represented the Jewish perspective of JPPI. Rev. David Parsons of the International Christian Embassy and Rev. Akaya Kitchen president of Lifting Up Zion share their insights from the Evangelical perspective.

The study's most profound insight is that evangelical support for Israel is rooted not only in biblical prophecy but also in American self-understanding. Drawing on scholars like Walter Russell Mead and Michael Doran, the authors point out how Israel serves as a metaphor for America itself—a parallel "chosen nation" that validates American claims to divine purpose. This metaphorical relationship long predates the modern state of Israel and even the Zionist movement. Indeed, 19th century Americans were invoking "our American Israel" well before most had encountered any actual Jews.

One of the endnotes (5) in the study points out that: “In 1799, Abiel Abbot, a Massachusetts minister, preached a Thanksgiving sermon titled “Traits of Resemblance in the People of the United States of America to Ancient Israel.” The sermon starts by noting common usage at the time: “It has been often remarked that the people of the United States come nearer to a parallel with Ancient Israel, than any other nation upon the globe. Hence, ‘Our American Israel,’ is a term frequently used; and common consent allows it apt and proper.”

At the heart of this phenomenon lies what the authors call "Jacksonian Americanism," named after America's seventh president. This distinctly American political theology sees common people as divinely blessed and America as having a sacred mission to spread democracy through example rather than intervention. The authors masterfully demonstrate how this worldview created a unique American variation on Christian attitudes toward Jews and Israel.

Traditional Christian replacement theology (supersessionism) holds that the Church has replaced Israel as God's chosen people, rendering biblical promises to Jews obsolete. Jacksonian Americanism takes a different approach: rather than replacing Israel, it positions America as a second chosen nation with its own divine mandate. This parallel chosenness helps explain why American evangelical support for Israel has historically been stronger than that of Christians elsewhere in the world.

The theological analysis is particularly sophisticated. The authors trace how Pre-millennial Dispensationalism, developed by British theologian John Nelson Darby, found uniquely fertile ground in American soil. This end-times theology, which sees modern Israel as crucial to biblical prophecy, meshed perfectly with existing American notions of parallel chosenness. The result was a distinctly American Christian Zionism that predated Jewish Zionism itself.

Yet this theological-cultural alignment may be unraveling. The report's demographic analysis is stark: white evangelicals, historically Israel's strongest supporters, are declining in both numbers and relative influence. Their children are less religiously observant, more politically progressive, and more likely to question traditional pro-Israel narratives. Meanwhile, Black and Latino evangelicals—who will soon constitute the majority of American evangelicals—often view the Israeli Palestinian conflict through the lens of racial justice rather than biblical prophecy.

Perhaps most worryingly for Israel's supporters, younger evangelicals increasingly embrace Post-millennial or Amillennial theologies that lack their parents' prophetic investment in the Jewish state. When combined with progressive political views and greater sympathy for Palestinian narratives, this theological shift could substantially erode evangelical support for Israel.

The authors propose an intriguing solution: cultivating an "inclusive evangelical populism" that could appeal to younger and more diverse audiences. This would mean emphasizing how the Exodus narrative inspired both Zionist and civil rights movements, and positioning Israel as a model of redemption for all oppressed peoples. The strategy aims to maintain the metaphorical power of Israel in American Christian imagination while adapting it to contemporary concerns about justice and inclusion.

Yet this proposal faces significant challenges. Many young evangelicals, influenced by social media and alternative information sources, increasingly view Israel as an oppressor rather than a liberator. Black evangelicals, while more religious than their white counterparts, often identify more strongly with Palestinians as people of color facing discrimination. The authors acknowledge these challenges but could have offered more concrete strategies for addressing them.

The study's treatment of Christian nationalism is particularly timely. It shows how support for Israel has become entangled with broader questions about American identity and purpose. The authors note that while Christian nationalists are among Israel's strongest supporters, their vision of America as an explicitly Christian nation potentially threatens American Jews—creating tension between domestic and foreign policy concerns.

The report's most significant weakness is its relatively thin treatment of how digital media and changing information ecosystems are reshaping young evangelicals' worldviews. Additionally, while the authors note the dangers of Israel becoming a partisan wedge issue in American politics, their proposed remedies feel inadequate to the scale of the challenge.

As for whether God made a covenant with America, the authors wisely avoid theological pronouncements. However, they demonstrate convincingly that belief in American divine purpose has profoundly shaped evangelical support for Israel. This raises an uncomfortable question: as younger Americans increasingly reject such exceptionalist narratives, what becomes of their support for Israel?

The message for Israeli policymakers is clear and urgent: maintaining evangelical support will require sophisticated engagement with multiple communities, each with its own theological and political concerns. The challenge will be to preserve traditional sources of support while building new ones—a task that will require far more nuance than simply invoking biblical prophecy or claiming shared democratic values.

This study offers an essential roadmap for anyone seeking to understand or preserve the evangelical-Israel alliance. It suggests that this support has always been more about American self-understanding than Jewish theology. As American identity evolves, so too must strategies for maintaining Christian Zionist support. Whether Israel and its supporters can successfully navigate this transition remains one of the great diplomatic and theological challenges of our time.