Walking on the Pages of the Word of God: Self, Land, and Text Among Evangelical Volunteers in Jerusalem

Erscheinungsjahr 2019
ISBN: 978-90-04-40912-5
Verlag: Brill

Buch, Englisch, Band 59, 213 Seiten, Format (B × H): 155 mm x 234 mm, Gewicht: 136 g

Reihe: Currents of Encounter

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.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Engberg, Aron

Fachgebiete

• Sozialwissenschaften Soziologie | Soziale Arbeit Soziale Arbeit/Sozialpädagogik Community Care, Bildung, Freizeit, Freiwilligenarbeit
• Geisteswissenschaften Christentum, Christliche Theologie Christliche Kirchen, Konfessionen, Denominationen Protestantismus, evangelische und protestantische Kirchen Sonstige nonkonforme und evangelikale Kirchen

Inhaltsverzeichnis

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

Über Autor(innen)

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.