Description
Book SynopsisThis study examines the role of the Six-Day War in American Protestant politics and culture. The author argues that American foreign policy towards the Arab-Israeli conflict, culminating in the Trump Administration's 2017 recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital, and the domestic Evangelical communities who supported it, has a direct correlation with the long-term consequences of the 1967 Six-Day War.
For most of America's history, biblical literalists, or Evangelicals, dominated the religious culture of the country. But, in 1925, the Scopes trial on science, evolution, and religion embarrassed Evangelicals and caused them to retreat from American culture and politics. Modern and liberal Protestants won dominance and established control in nearly all of the Mainline seminaries, publishing houses, and denominations, leading to the creation of the National Council of Churches by 1950.
This book argues that the Six-Day War reversed that power structure in America
Trade ReviewOlson’s primary thesis is both ambitious and compelling. There is much to recommend in Olson’s book. America’s Road to Jerusalem contributes to the ever-growing body of literature on American Christians’ relationship with and views of Israel.
* Journal of Church and State *
Jason M. Olson demonstrates masterfully in this book how an external affair—Israel’s victory in the Six-Day War—has helped to create a shift of power between Modernist and Evangelicals that took place in the United States during the 1970s. Olson shows that prior to 1967, Evangelicals predicted that Israel would take over the holy sites, and after the war, it gave them an advantage over mainline Protestants to assume a more prominent role in American culture and politics. Olson’s analysis is refreshing and provocative. Highly recommended. -- Motti Inbari, University of North Carolina at Pembroke
The Six Day War in 1967 transformed both inter-religious relations in the United States and Evangelical ties to Israel. In this timely and exhaustively researched study, Jason Olson shows how that transformation happened. Anyone seeking to understand why Evangelical leaders promoted America's recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital will welcome this volume. It lays bare the religious ideas that reshaped American foreign policy toward Israel. -- Jonathan D. Sarna, Brandeis University
Table of ContentsChapter 1: American Protestantism and American Jewry before the Six-Day War
Chapter 2: American Protestantism and the State of Israel before the Six-Day War
Chapter 3: In the Midst of the Six-Day War: American Protestantism in 1967
Chapter 4: American Protestantism and Israel in the Aftermath of the Six-Day War (1968-1973)
Chapter 5: From Refugees to Freedom Fighters: The Palestinians in Post-1967 Protestant Politics
Conclusion: America’s Road to Jerusalem
