Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #364107 in Books
• Published on: 2007-10-15
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 400 pages

Customer Reviews

An interesting but flawed study
'Future Israel' by Barry Horner is a study of an interesting and shocking topic. The history of anti-semitism in the Christian Church is undeniable, and Dr. Horner traces it well. He does show that some theologians, in all traditions, have used language that at least borders on anti-semitism. He shows that the New Testament as well as the Old holds out a future for Israel in God's plan.

On the other hand, there are some serious flaws in this work which I found interfered with my enjoyment of it. For example, Dr. Horner refers to 'Judeo-centric premillennialism' in the pre-Reformation period (which he covers in just over a page) without citing any examples. Since other scholars have demonstrated that Patristic premillennialism was every bit as guilty of replacement theology as Patristic amillennialism, Horner needs to prove his point. "We shall see..." he says, but what we see is post-Reformation authors It must be proven, not assumed, that those authors represent a stream that goes back before the Reformation. I welcomed Dr. Horner's expose of the platonic nature of the common understanding of heaven, but as he applied everything to the Millennium, I was left wondering what Dr. Horner thinks will come after the Millennium. Surely not a Platonic heaven!!!
Horner tends to ignore anti-Jewish statements by his own (pre-millennial) side, while I found no evidence that he had read, or was even aware of, David Brown's works that deal with the subject. In general his documentation of anti-Jewish bias in amillennial authors and in the wider Church is good, but he lets his own side off too easily.

Oh, and the indices are a total pain. There seems to be neither rhyme nor reason as to whether a name is placed in the author or subject index. And a line seems to be missing from the Justin Martyr entry in the index (as opposed to the 'Martyr, Justin' entry, which refers to a page not referenced under 'Justin Martyr' for some reason).

Revelatory
Barry Horner's work is long overdue from evangelicals. It is a deep and useful exposure of the roots of Christian anti-Semitism condemned in Romans 11.20. His range is broad and deep, encompassing and interacting critically with PhD/ThD theses and continental as well as American and British authors, including contemporary sources, whilst he ranges back to the reformers and Church fathers. His tone is usually moderate and analytical but his criticisms are sharp.

My main reservation is that he creates an identity between supercessionist anti-Semitism and amillienialism, as though every consistent amillenialist is bound to deny the validity of the land promise to unbelieving Israel. Tertullian (as the other reviewer notes) was a chiliast and a pioneer in anti Jewish polemic (see Nicholls).

I am also unpersuaded that Gal 6.16 and Rom.11.26 must be seen as referring only to Jews to provide essential antidotes to anti-Semitic supercessionism - on the contrary whilst strongly disagreeing with Hendriksen's views on the land, his exegesis here seems better founded. The glory of the Redeemer's kingdom is as Horner emphasises its diversity within unity, with a spectacular restoration of decaying Gentile hope through the climactic ressurrection of Jewish faith in Messiah, ('life from the dead') - is this not all Israel? The Jew first though last, and the Gentile first in order follows joyfully after.

His view that a reconstructed Temple could ever again serve a holy function is peculiarly dispensational - it could surely only be an accursed one (Mk.11,20 + context, 2 Thess. 2.4). That position represents a conflation of two distinct covenants just as marked as the opponents he criticises. Indeed perhaps it is the very failure to distinguish the Sinatic from Moabite/Abrahamic covenants (Deut 29.1+ -see Gill) which spawns the evil root of supercession - hence Baptists, like Horner, are usually less prone, but consistent Presbyterians (with noble exceptions) usually vulnerable to the doctrine.

I also have reservations with his terminology - can evangelicals ever be anything other than 'anti-Judaistic' (adjusted post-Messianic Judaism that is) when they unflinchingly point to Yeshua as Messiah as the sole mediator of the Covenant - true Israel as fulfilling substitute, not just example or representation? This doesn't disenfranchise unbelieving Israel, on the contrary it is the legal basis on which they (unwittingly) stand again in the land of promise - Gentiles also by grace being grafted into this root. That position needs distinguishing sharply from Augustine's lamentable annulment of the election of unbelieving Israel, which Horner rightly pinpoints as cornerstone to much vicious and hateful prejudice.

Nevertheless this book is very highly recommended, it casts uncommon light on the root of many foundational, contemporary disputes (covenant theology, dispensationalism, OT hermeneutics, the new perspective on Paul, antinomianism and legalism) from a crucial but neglected perspective.

Above all this 'valiant for truth' displays and commends a heart love for the Jewish nation and their land, and a desire for their best inheritance. Woe to the one who reads and does not follow him!

Christian attitudes to Israel
This extraordinary work delicately exposes Christian Antisemitism (although the author politely employs the term "Anti-Judaism"), relating the history of gentile usurpation of the heritage of the Jewish people. This mindset became popular with Augustine's amillennialism; reformers like Luther & Calvin accepted the doctrine of supercessionism or replacement theology and it has persisted in Reformed theology up to the present day. Jewish Christians are given a voice and the author holds the attitude of the Apostle Paul up as an example, in particular his love for Israel as expressed in the letter to the Romans chapters 9 to 11.

In essence, the book seeks answers from scripture on whether Israel as a distinct nation in its own land has a future according to the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Those who learn from history already know the answer, based on the country's miraculous rebirth in 1948 and its survival against overwhelming odds. The aforementioned question is not a mere academic issue. There are those who still hold to the doctrine of supercessionism/replacement theology, often in a veiled form. They are contributing to the spread of the new Antisemitism as recorded by Phyllis Chesler and by Bernard Harrison in his book The Resurgence of Anti-Semitism.

Horner's scholarly investigation is excruciatingly detailed and steeped in the terminology of Reformed theology so that the lay reader may find it hard going. He writes in a spirit of humility and seems to bend backwards to accept the bona fides of contemporary Christian theologians opposed to Israel. Often I find his style too polite, even when he demonstrates the indifference, antagonism and spiteful attitude of the aforementioned to the State of Israel and the Jewish people. Only once, he exclaims with exasperation: "Are we talking of the same God here?"

Chapter One contrasts the attitudes of Augustine and Calvin with those of the Philosemitic Horatius Bonar and Charles Spurgeon, Chapter Two dissects the centuries of Christian Anti-Judaism from the early period through the reformation to the 21st century, and the next looks at Christian Anti-Judaism in the USA with reference to people like Gary Burge and provides a response to the Open Letter To Evangelicals issued by Knox Theological Seminary in Fort Lauderdale.

Anti-Judaism in the UK is discussed in Chapter Four, with particular reference to writers like Colin Chapman and Stephen Sizer, whilst the next one provides an overview of the history of Zionism - including the Christian variety - and the rebirth of the state of Israel. More information on the history of Christian Zionism is available in the books Standing With Israel by David Brog and The Politics of Christian Zionism 1891-1948 by Paul Charles Merkley. Chapters Seven and Eight look at the hermeneutics of Christian Anti-Judaism in Catholicism and the Reformed tradition plus the doctrine/s of a-, post- and premillennialism.

The next three chapters deal respectively with Israel and the harmony of spiritual materiality, Israel as heir to the land through Abraham and Israel in a synthesis with Romans 11. The penultimate chapter explores Israel as God's "beloved enemy" from the expression in Romans 11:28 and the last one is devoted to Israel as needing the love of the prodigal Gentile with reference to inter alia Romans 11 and the analogy of Ruth and Orpah. In this regard, see the little book Ruth & Esther: Shadows of Our Future by Frank Morgan.

This book is too vast and provides too many insights to discuss in one review. Most important is Horner's exposure of the style of the Anti-Israel theologians of which many examples are given. It is filled with a barely concealed malice and a pejorative tone, completely lacking the supposedly Christian virtues of love and charity. Post-Holocaust this is almost completely incomprehensible if one is unaware of the entrenched history of such ideas in church history.

The hostility to Israel of some mainstream denominations and the World Council of Churches is well documented in Christian Attitudes Towards the State of Israel by Merkley. The appendices alone are worth the price of the book. They include writings on the future of Israel by Jonathan Edwards and by J C Ryle, a consideration of law or grace in God's dealings with Israel, a brilliant and thought-provoking essay by Melanie Phillips, the UK author of Londonistan, and a valuable annotated bibliography on Jewish-Christian Relations. This highly appreciated book concludes with a bibliography and index.

In view of the resurgence of Antisemitism, true Christians cannot remain indifferent about the issues raised by Horner. Further information is available in these works that I highly recommend: God's Promise and the Future of Israel by Don Finto, Why Care about Israel? by Sandra Teplinsky and The Irrevocable Calling: Israel's Role as a Light to the Nations by Daniel Juster. Finally, what resonates most strongly with me in Future Israel is the author's unconditional love not for a Jewish Christian "remnant" but for the entire Jewish people, both those in the Diaspora and those in the Holy Land. God bless him.