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"Zion's
Christian Soldiers"
ought to be on the required reading list for all students of the Bible.
Here is basic and fundamental methodology which challenges many
evangelical assumptions about "end times prophecy." Here is a
sound-minded, Christ-centered critique of a popularly accepted but
nonetheless fatally flawed perspective that leads to many spiritual
dysfunctions. If you find yourself troubled by saber-rattling political
rhetoric coming from many pulpits, "Zion's Christian Soldiers" will
reacquaint you with the Prince of peace. Greg
Albrecht, President of Plain Truth
Ministries, and Editor-in-Chief, The
Plain Truth magazine
(author of Revelation Revolution & Bad News Religion).
“This
book is an eye-opener to the muddled but militant attitudes among modern
evangelicals (particularly Americans) toward the state of Israel. Sizer
reveals not only the highly questionable exegeses [plural] of Christian
Zionism, but also the movement's alarming political agenda and its
fallout in our war-torn world. This is a book that every thoughtful
evangelical should read.” Dr Bruce A.
McDonald. Assistant Professor of
Religion,
Texas Wesleyan University, Fort Worth, Texas.
“There was a time
when Christians believed that the earth was the center of the universe.
It was not only an error in science but also false church doctrine
lasting long after Copernicus and grasping the hearts and minds of
Christian literalists who sanctioned punishment and even death for
proponents of a larger view of faith and the universe. The history of
Christianity is not lacking in false ideas that enjoy popularity for a
time then fade under pressure of reason, knowledge, and experience. Rev.
Sizer exposes a modern version of serious religious error in Zion’s
Christian Soldiers, focusing on the tenets of a dangerous Biblical
literalism whose vision of God is nationalistic in its bizarre loyalty
to the Jewish state of Israel and militaristic in its enthusiastic
anticipation of a literal Armageddon. This is an important book for
theologians and peacemakers.” The Rev.
Canon Richard K. Toll, Chair,
Friends of Sabeel—North
America
“In this
very readable new work, Anglican vicar Stephen Sizer offers a
biblically-based interpretation of the relationship of Israel and the
Christian church. Turning to the current upsurge of Christian Zionism,
Sizer examines its deeply flawed misreadings of key biblical texts and
its troubling public-policy implications. Not only Sizer’s fellow
evangelicals, but everyone interested in this vital topic, will find
Zion’s Christian Soldiers an illuminating and highly valuable
study.” Professor
Paul S. Boyer,
James Pinckney Harrison Visiting Professor at
William & Mary in Williamsburg, Va., and editor-in-chief of "The
Oxford Companion to American History" (Oxford University Press,
2001) The assistant editor of "Notable American Women, 1600-1950"
(3 vols., 1971); the co-author, with Stephen Nissenbaum, of "Salem
Possessed: The Social Origins of Witchcraft" (1974); and the author
of "Urban Masses and Moral Order in America, 1820-1920" (1978); "By
the Bomb's Early Light: American Thought and Culture at the Dawn of the
Atomic Age" (1985); "When Time Shall Be No More: Prophecy Belief
in American Culture" (1992); and "Fallout: A Historian Reflects
on America's Half Century Encounter with Nuclear Weapons" (1998). |
