Varieties of Zionism
In a booklet titled Zionism Unsettled, a group of Presbyterians has issued a blanket denunciation of Zionism, terming the Jewish quest for a homeland in the ancient land of Israel inherently racist, exclusionary, and devastating for non-Jewish inhabitants.
Jewish and Christian groups have rightly criticized the booklet for its sledgehammer one-sided approach, theologically and politically. It presumes to define Zionism without a serious engagement with mainstream Jewish leaders and scholars. Its theological section, for example, displays no interest in the sophisticated discussion of Jewish “exceptionalism” as developed by scholars like Michael Wyschogrod.
Some useful reading for the Presbyterians who produced Zionism Unsettled would be Ari Shavit’s engaging, personalized history of Israel, My Promised Land. (Here is an interview with Shavit.)
