In 1917 only Britain would have taken the decision to favor a Jewish "national home" when the opportunity occurred to dismantle the Ottoman Empire, for it had been interlocked with the Hebrew Bible since political and theological crises in sixteenth- and seventeenth-century England released the so-called Old Testament from its defined role as a christological premonition of the New Testament. Britain, the Bible, and Balfour unpacks the tumultuous history of the idea of a unique Jewish home state-and the development of Zionism-as it took shape over the course of several centuries in England. The author argues that, in fact, the theopolitical vision of Zionism is a peculiarly British phenomenon with roots that go back to the English Reformation. The religious and political battles over the Bible, the role of Hebrew scripture, the monarchy, and national identity provided the fortuitous, if providential, groundwork for the recovery of a vision of the Jewish people as a unique community with a mandated home. Zionism emerged from this context as a powerful movement that advocated for the return of the land and the people as a divinely ordained religious and political project. Yet, as this volume demonstrates, that idea is explicable only on the basis of the contextual events in early modern England, and would take nearly five hundred years to become a geopolitical reality. This volume provides a critically important genealogical account and illuminates the fascinating history of how England became the surprising progenitor of a revolutionary idea.
Jonathan Immanuel is a fellow of the Van Leer Jerusalem Institute in Jerusalem.
Acknowledgments Introduction Part. I The Root of the Matter 1530-1840 1 England's Political Reformation 2 The Rise of the Puritans 3 A Jew in Peru 4 "No More Our Ancient Enemy" 5 The Hartlib Circle 6 Cromwell's Secular Dilemma 7 Three wise Machiavellians 8 A Complex Messiah 9 Deists Assault the Bible 10 A Tale of Two Enlightenments 11 Science and Restoration in the Age of Reason Part II From Belief to Action 1840-1914 12 Shaftesbury and Palmerston: "The Time has Come" 13 Two Rabbis and a Socialist Saint 14 The View from Afar. America, Australia and Russia 15 Gladstone or Disraeli 16 The Evolution of George Eliot 17 Herzl in Wonderland 18 Science, Faith and Balfour Postscript Bibliography About the Author
There could not be a better or more authoritative book to emerge in this centenary year of the Balfour Declaration than Jonathan Immanuel's extraordinarily scholarly yet highly readable analysis of how it came about. Connecting the Bible and Zionism with British thinkers and statesmen stretching back over centuries, Immanuel builds a truly compelling argument about British Zionism, both Jewish and non-Jewish, that will fascinate and convince. Far from being either cynical or miraculous, the genesis of the Declaration was logical and, as Immanuel categorically proves, steeped in the best motives and instincts of Britain's long history. -- Andrew Roberts, King's College, author of A History of the English-Speaking Peoples Since 1900 and Founder Member of the Friends of Israel Initiative This book makes the fascinating assertion that the restorationist tradition, if effaced, did continue through the 18th century and acts as a link between the earlier and later phases. In lucid writing, Immanuel traces the link between English Protestantism and Judaism back to the Reformation and Henry VIII seeking Old Testament/Jewish support for his divorce. The unfolding story of Puritanism and its links with Judaism from then on is convincingly laid out. There is much to be learnt about the main theme as it is cogently spelled out from the Reformation to Puritanism all the way through the 18th century. -- Munro Price, professor of European history at Bradford University, author of The Road to Apocalypse
