Christian Zionist Theology and End-times Theology
Harry’s place have an interesting post looking at the phenomenon of US support for Israel.
Within the post Gene makes this comment:-
Now American non-Jews support Israel for a lot of different reasons, some of which (like Christian end-times theology) make me squirm.
I thought the term “Christian end-times theology” was of particular interest. I am assuming that Gene is alluding to the armageddonist, final battle apocalyptics, Revelation of St. John literalism, much espoused on God TV and US networks.
The term “Christian end-times theology” is to me bit of a misnomer in this regard. I view this as an end times eschatological paradigm rather than a theology.
The reason I make this point, is that I hold a Zionist-theology without this particular eschatological view. I accept of course that eschatology is oftentimes theologically driven, however, they are not necessarily the same thing for me personally, and a distinction should be made between eschatology and theology. I do acknowledge that eschatology is often referred to as a “branch of theology”.
It is for me entirely consistent to hold a Zionist theology and yet reject Dispensationalism and more specifically Premillennialism.