Professor Gary Burge joins us on the podcast to help us get our heads round the complexities of Israel/Palestine. Gary was a student at the university of Beirut, he now lecturers in the US on the New Testament and the Theology of the Promised Land. He regularly visits the Middle East and has close connections to Christian leaders from Damascus to Jerusalem to Cairo. So tune in if you’re wrestling with Whose Land? Whose Promise?
Interview starts at 5m 56s.
Image provided by Baker Publishing. Used with permission.
BOOKS
Jesus and the Land: The New Testament Challenge to “Holy Land” Theology
QUOTES
“In American politics there’s a sense that…America needs to stand behind Israel because America’s prosperity is tied to the blessing of Israel.”
“Israel destroyed over 400 Palestinian villages in the country…..it was just a remarkable thing…If anyone visits Israel as a tourist and asks a guide ‘please would you show me one of these villages’, they would not show them to you. This is the great secret of Israel. In some cases these villages have forests planted over them. I have heard of tourists seeing the ruins accidentally and assuming they were Biblical ruins from some Bible time but actually they are Palestinian villages.”
“I have many friends in the [Christian Palestinian] community and when they listen to Christian Zionism…what they feel is this: Western Christians are more committed to their eschatology than they are to their ethics. That Western Christians are more excited about the fulfilment of prophecy in the Jewish community and the city of Jerusalem than they are excited about the prosperity of their brothers and sisters in Christ. They wonder ‘why are we invisible to you when we share your faith?’”
Hey guys, I’m still using the direct download link
(Weren’t you going to name it after me? ;o)
Tom in Arkansas
‘The Volkmar Link’! It might cause confusion!
Hi guys, obviously I am not listening to your podcast in chronological order and I only recently found it. . But I have to say I absolutely loved this episode. I have a masters in international public administration and only became a Christian after. Now I don’t claim to know the full extent of the political situation in Israel-Palastine, but I have always felt that Israel was not the Good Guy… And I have always felt awkward when people in church were super pro-Israel, because they often wouldn’t engage with the political argument and stay stuck on their theological/biblical argument. And now I have a biblical retort.
And perhaps this is a stretch, but when you were doing the reflection, my mind kept repeating that I saw parallels in the displacement of the palastinians in ’48 and the caananite conquest. And obviously it wasn’t as severe as genocide, but I don’t think ethnic cleansing is that much ‘better’.. Anyway, just wanted to share my thoughts and encourage you!!
Thanks Vivian, so glad you found the episode helpful! Tim