Class Assignment: A BOOK REVIEW OF: ISRAEL MATTERS: WHY CHRISTIANS MUST THINK DIFFERENTLY ABOUT THE PEOPLE AND THE LAND. By MCDERMOTT, GERALD

THE KING’S UNIVERSITY (TKU)

A BOOK REVIEW OF:

MCDERMOTT, GERALD R. 2017. ISRAEL MATTERS: WHY CHRISTIANS MUST THINK DIFFERENTLY ABOUT THE PEOPLE AND THE LAND. GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN: BRAZOS PRESS, A DIVISION OF BAKER PUBLISHING GROUP.

BOOK REVIEW PAPER SUBMITTED TO PROFESSOR TOM BLAKE FOR TO THE JEW FIRST (BIBT2303).

BY

DARRELL WOLFE

DARRELL.WOLFE@STUDENT.TKU.EDU

SOUTHLAKE, TEXAS, ONLINE VIA NORTH POLE, IDAHO

SPRING 2022

MCDERMOTT, GERALD R. 2017. ISRAEL MATTERS: WHY CHRISTIANS MUST THINK DIFFERENTLY ABOUT THE PEOPLE AND THE LAND. GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN: BRAZOS PRESS, A DIVISION OF BAKER PUBLISHING GROUP.

Summary

McDermott argues a convincing case against Supersessionist Theology and for an understanding that Israel (both the people and the land) are just as important in 2022 as they are in 1st-Century Palestine. He begins his text with an evaluation of Christian History, beginning with Church Fathers (such as Justin Martyr) progressing through Luther/Calvin up to the work of Friedrich Schleiermacher (1768–1834) (McDermott 2017, Chapter 1: Getting the Big Story Wrong).

The author then debunks the idea that “The Church is the New Israel”, followed by a review of where Christian History got some things right. He then comes to the thrust of his theological argument by reviewing the biblical texts. McDermott shows that Israel may be removed from the land for Covenant violation; however, they retain Title to the land during exile and will be brought back (McDermott 2017, 51).

The “New Testament” also shows a trend toward Israel’s primacy in the New Covenant. The idea that Christianity replaced Judaism is common in The Church. It is often taught together with an idea that “Jews had the law, but we have grace”. Yet, “Rabbis and other Jewish scholars protested for centuries that neither of these propositions was true… we have done anything to merit it. It is by what you call grace” (McDermott 2017, 56).

After establishing that Israel Matters, he spends several chapters of analysis on the political and theological implications, including how The Church handles the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. While he demonstrates that many of the claims against Israel are false, he also demonstrates that some are true. Israel is a secular government with imperfect leaders. He concludes “…we need to feel free to lift up our voices to criticize when it is clear that egregious injustice is taking place (McDermott 2017, 91). He wraps up his discussion by showing clever and subtle ways to include these new understandings in the way we discuss the biblical narratives and the translation choices we make with our congregations.

Evaluation

McDermott produced a well-organized and wide treatment of the topic. The inclusion of church history (positive and negative) regarding both Supersessionism and Zionism provided a historical precedent for the state of theology within The Church today and its relationship with Israel. The biblical re-interpretation was thorough and he anticipated possible rebuttals. He concluded by drawing out practical applications (theologically, politically, and in our orthopraxis) which give the reader something to do with the information.

Because the text provides a high-level overview of the topic, it serves as a good primer for the average lay-Christian and an introduction to the world of Biblical Scholarship around this issue. However, as a high-level overview, it did not give me the deep-dive exegesis into the ancient contexts or languages I would have preferred. It did whet my appetite to look into these other scholars he cited.

I already agreed with McDermott’s thesis before reading the book. However, I was not familiar with the details of Church History around the topic, especially that of the Church Fathers. As I was already interested in getting into the Patristics (primarily because I expect to disagree with them on a host of issues, especially Augustine), this encouraged me to make that a point of study in the near future. It also gave me warning that we can find good and bad in all messy humans, and not be too hard on those who came before.

I found Mark’s reading of Messiah instead of Christ to be refreshing (McDermott 2017, 105). I have been using Rabbi Yeshua instead of “Jesus” when I speak to people for similar reasons. I was not aware of the possibility that Greek (Ioudaioi) can be translated as Judeans instead of Jews. I would like to follow this rabbit trail as well, to see how this changes the tone of other passages. On balance, this will go in my recommend list.