Interfaith Friends and Ideological Foes

American Jews, Evangelicals, and Israel, 1963-2018
Erscheinungsjahr 2026
ISBN: 978-0-19-778931-5
Verlag: Oxford University Press

Buch, Englisch, 184 Seiten, Print PDF, Format (B × H): 156 mm x 235 mm

Interfaith Friends and Ideological Foes examines the evolution of the relationship between American Jews and evangelicals. Amy Weiss argues that Jewish interfaith partnerships with evangelicals developed as a necessary, adaptive strategy to deal with the shifting American political landscape. As evangelicals moved from a subculture to the mainstream, and as their political influence grew, their steadfast defense of Israel made them attractive partners for Jewish communal organizations. Jewish groups acknowledged-and accepted-a certain amount of ideological inconsistency to secure broad political support for Israel.

This book speaks directly to today's challenges regarding polarization and the difficulty of coalition-building. Pundits and the public tend to describe the present as an especially divided time in history. Intensified support for white Christian nationalism, the rise of antisemitism, and debates surrounding Israeli governmental policies have all created a divisive American landscape. Support for Israel, at almost any cost, has shaped the policies of major American Jewish organizations, sometimes leading them to act in profound tension with the views of their constituents and their own longstanding commitments to American democracy and religious pluralism. Th evidence presented in this book upends established claims about Jewish organizations' commitments to promoting religious pluralism. It also helps to explain how support for Israel has become increasingly associated with the American political right.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Weiss, Amy

Inhaltsverzeichnis

- Introduction

- Chapter 1: The End of Days or the Beginning of a New Era? American Jewish Interfaith Relations in the Age of Evangelicalism, 1963-1977

- Chapter 2: From Bethlehem to Burbank: The Holy Land on Screen and the Limits to Interfaith Israel Advocacy in the 1970s

- Chapter 3: The Rise of the Religious Right: Searching for Moderate Pro-Israel Partners, 1978-1989

- Chapter 4: A Decade of Reckoning: The Impact of the Religious Right on Interfaith Support for Israel, 1990-2000

- Chapter 5: Christians and Jews United for Israel? Interfaith Efforts for Israel in the Twenty-First Century, 2001-2018

- Conclusion

Über Autor(innen)

Amy Weiss is an Associate Professor of Judaic Studies and History at the University of Hartford, where she also holds the Maurice Greenberg Chair in Judaica Studies. Her work has appeared in American Jewish History, Israel Studies, and Holocaust and Genocide Studies.