Robert Nicholson on the Changing Face of Evangelical Zionism
The Tikvah Podcast
Tikvah
4.6 • 620 Ratings
🗓️ 21 July 2022
⏱️ 49 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In October 2013, Robert Nicholson wrote a defining essay in Mosaic, “Evangelicals and Israel: What American Jews Don’t Want to Know (but Need to).” It in he outlined the wide and deep support that millions of Christian evangelicals had for Israel. He also sounded a note of caution: that support could diminish over time.
Nearly ten years later, that warning may be coming to fruition. At the very least, the communities of American Christian evangelicals who formed the basis of Christian Zionism have decreased in numbers and influence. But there's some countervailing news: in other places around the world, from Brazil to Nigeria to Guatemala, evangelical Christianity has expanded, and with it, the possibility of support for Zionism. On this week's podcast, Nicholson, the president of the Philos Project, joins us to explain what's driving the changing face of evangelical Zionism in America and the rest of the world.
Musical selections in this podcast are drawn from the Quintet for Clarinet and Strings, op. 31a, composed by Paul Ben-Haim and performed by the ARC Ensemble.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | In October 2013, Robert Nicholson wrote a defining essay in Mosaic, entitled Evangelicals and Israel, |
| 0:16.1 | What American Jews Don't Want to Know, but Need to. |
| 0:19.4 | Among the prominent figures who wrote in response to Robert's |
| 0:22.4 | essay were Elliot Abrams, Wilfred McLeigh, and the late Great B. Crystal, Gertrude Himmelfarb. |
| 0:29.4 | It was a thrilling set of interactions, and you can still review the essay and these responses |
| 0:34.7 | at the Mosaic website. Robert concludes the essay by encouraging Jews to form |
| 0:39.3 | strategic partnerships with the Christian evangelical community, women and men who stand up in their |
| 0:45.8 | millions strongly in support of the Jewish state. Moreover, Rob notes that the overwhelming |
| 0:52.3 | support for Israel among Christian evangelicals is not faded. It could |
| 0:57.8 | diminish over time. Well, nearly 10 years later, that support has diminished. And at the same time, |
| 1:04.3 | it's grown, expanded, deepened in surprising places. Welcome to the Tikva podcast. I'm your host, Jonathan Silver. My guest this week is |
| 1:13.1 | the president of the Phelos Project and the author of that Mosaic essay, Robert Nicholson. He'll provide us |
| 1:18.7 | an update on the changing face of evangelical Zionism. If you enjoy this conversation, you can |
| 1:23.4 | subscribe to the Tikva podcast on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Google Play, and Spotify, I hope |
| 1:29.2 | you'll leave us a five-star review to help us grow this community of ideas. I welcome your feedback |
| 1:34.3 | on this or any of our other podcast episodes at podcast at tikfafund.org. And of course, if you |
| 1:41.1 | want to learn more about our work at Tikva, you can visit our website, |
| 1:45.0 | tikfafund.org, and follow us on Facebook and Twitter. |
| 1:49.0 | Here now is my conversation with Robert Nicholson. |
| 1:52.0 | Robert Nicholson, welcome to the Tikva podcast. |
| 1:54.0 | Thank you, Jonathan. It's great to be here. |
| 1:56.0 | So I thought maybe we could start with your 2013 Mosaic essay, Evangelicals in Israel, what American Jews don't want to know, |
... |
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