Robert O. Smith. More Desired Than Our Owne Salvation

In More Desired Than Our Owne Salvation: The Roots of Christian Zionism and An Unusual Relationship: Evangelical Christians and Jews, authors Robert O. Smith and Yaakov Ariel, respectively, begin with the same conclusion: support for Israel is a cornerstone of American Christian identity. Many scholars have interrogated the reason for this support, most notably Timothy P. Weber, Gershom Gorenberg, Yona Malachy, Paul Charles Merkley, Victoria Clark, Stephen Spector, and Stephen Sizer. Most of these scholars point to the rise of a particular branch of Protestantism—dispensationalist premillennialism—as the catalyst for the alliance between evangelical American Protestants (mainly) and Israel. Ariel does not dispute the significance of dispensationalist premillennialism in the formation of the United States–Israeli alliance, and most of his book is dedicated to the often complex and sometimes fascinating theological and cultural developments of the evangelical interest in the Jews and Israel. After examining a wide range of subjects including theology, geography, missions, literature, and even conspiracy theories, Ariel concludes that evangelical attitudes and actions toward Jews, Judaism, and Zionism are more complicated than ever. Evangelicals have demonstrated “unprecedented devotion toward the Jews as God's chosen people and as heirs and continuers of historical Israel” while simultaneously criticizing Jews and their rejection of Christianity and remaining expectant of their eventual conversion (p. 3).

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