Nasty theology

June 4, 2025

It seems to me that George Browning has gone far beyond a fair criticism of political Zionism (including Christian Zionism), and the violence and racism of the Israeli state and elements of the population, into what I can only call a sneering, generalised theological putdown of Jews, Judaism, and constant salience of Jewish memory of the ancient land across communities for centuries, including in Europe.

There have been constant links across the centuries. And much more care should be taken into making assertions about Jewish belief in exclusivity, particularly in religious terms. It is highly disputed. All this in the context of a political dispute. Wrong, wrong, wrong.

The article plays with supercessionist theology on Browning’s own part and implicit antisemitism – the Jews as a people, as a religion, are illegitimate, and his version of Zion is the right one. As far as I can see, he appears to take the same view as the Christian Zionists about Jews: they are to be overcome.

It is much more productive to work with the idea of destructive ethnonationalism as can be seen in other countries (the Balkans, Afrikaners and so one) and stay away from offensive theology and crude historisizing.