{"id":795,"date":"2011-02-11T14:11:30","date_gmt":"2011-02-11T19:11:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/faculty.bbc.edu\/mstallard\/?p=795"},"modified":"2011-02-11T14:11:30","modified_gmt":"2011-02-11T19:11:30","slug":"dispensationalism-and-the-charge-of-anti-semitism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/our-hope.org\/blog\/2011\/02\/dispensationalism-and-the-charge-of-anti-semitism\/","title":{"rendered":"Dispensationalism and the Charge of Anti-Semitism"},"content":{"rendered":"
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1920s Article on the Protocols of the Elders of Zion<\/p><\/div>\n

Covenant theologians have long been sensitive to being charged with anti-Semitism.\u00a0 Recall the discussions about the Knox Seminary Open Letter and my response to it which can be found here in the eschatology section of the drop-down menus (click on systematic theology to get to eschatology).\u00a0 However, it seems that dispensationalists are also occasionally charged with being anti-Semitic.\u00a0 Apparently, no one in the evangelical world is immune to the charge.<\/p>\n

Often I see the name Arno C. Gaebelein come up in such disucssions.\u00a0 I am well-versed in Gaebelein’s life and work since I did my Ph.D. dissertation on him.\u00a0 But I continue to be amazed at the misinformation that is broadcast about him on many fronts, including his attitudes about Jews.\u00a0 To be sure, in my dissertation I analytically criticize him on many fronts as any dissertation writer would do.\u00a0 In my case, it was a focus on Gaebelein’s theological method although I also get into the life influences upon Gaebelein and his attitudes about the Jews.<\/p>\n

I had made a post earlier about a book I am reading entitled Zeal for Zion<\/em> by Shalom Goldman.\u00a0 It is a delightful book that I still encourage others to read.\u00a0 However, the author falls prey to what he has heard from other sources.\u00a0Due to the passing on of such shallow or sloppy historical research, an incorrect view of Gaebelein is given.\u00a0 Notice the following quote from Goldman’s work:<\/p>\n

Other Christian Zionists, including some in the leadership of fundamentalist churches influenced by dispensationalism, had a darker more conspiratorial view of the Jewish role in history.\u00a0 In the early 1930s the popular American evangelical preacher Arno C. Gaebelein cited the infamous forgery The Protocols of the Elders of Zion<\/em> as proof of a worldwide Jewish conspiracy poised to control world affairs.\u00a0 This forgery, circulated in 1902 by the Russian intelligence services, claimed to be a secret record of meetings of Jewish leaders.\u00a0 Here Gaebelein clashed with the view of William Blackstone, who had earlier asserted that the Protocols<\/em> were a forgery.\u00a0 (p. 39)<\/p>\n

What is short-sighted in such statements about Gaebelein is there is no mention about the fact that Gaebelein changed his mind and in 1939 signed a document with many other leading fundamentalists repudiating the Protocols<\/em>.\u00a0 While it is fair to judge him about his statements, it is not fair to leave things hanging in such an incomplete manner.\u00a0 In addition to mistreating Gaebelein, the writer gives the impression that dispensationalism is associated with a “darker more conspiratorial view of the Jewish role in history.”\u00a0 Even if this is true of Gaebelein, that does not make it true of dispenationalism generally.\u00a0 Moreover, one can easily see in Gaebelein his criticism of\u00a0certain Jews\u00a0he called “apostate” Jews — those who were atheistic communists.\u00a0 One has the right to evaluate Gaebelein’s criticism at this point.\u00a0 However, he certainly was not criticizing these Jews because they were Jews<\/em>.\u00a0 It seems to me that anti-Semitism only exists in someone if they go against Jews in some way because they are Jews.\u00a0 In Gaebelein’s case, this test fails to show any anti-Semitism.\u00a0 Writings such as Goldman’s need to tighten up their research and not leave loose opinions hanging out there that are simply not true.<\/p>\n

For further information see my dissertation:\u00a0 Michael D. Stallard, The Early Twentieth-Century Dispensationalism of Arno C. Gaebelein<\/em> (Lewiston, NY:\u00a0 Edwin Mellen Press, 2002), p. 43-59.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Covenant theologians have long been sensitive to being charged with anti-Semitism.\u00a0 Recall the discussions about the Knox Seminary Open Letter and my response to it which can be found here in the eschatology section of the drop-down menus (click on systematic theology to get to eschatology).\u00a0 However, it seems that dispensationalists are also occasionally charged […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[7,14,16],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/our-hope.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/795"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/our-hope.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/our-hope.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/our-hope.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/our-hope.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=795"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/our-hope.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/795\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/our-hope.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=795"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/our-hope.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=795"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/our-hope.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=795"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}