Jerusalem Past and Present in the Purposes of God

Written by P.W.L. Walker (ed.) Reviewed By Walter Riggans

Jerusalem serves as a highly potent symbol for Christians the world over, and yet it is also a real place in a world where Christians are only one religious group among many. A major contribution of this collection of articles, gleaned from a number of conferences held since 1989 in England, is the attempt to assess both aspects of Jerusalem. Evangelicals in particular will find this a very helpful anthology, since it is in this tradition in the West that the temptation is strongest to keep spirituality far removed from politics, and to maintain an individualistic piety at the expense of identity-within-community. The Jewish, Muslim, and traditional Christian communities of Jerusalem will not allow either of these temptations to last long. It is to the credit of the organizers of the conferences which produced these papers, of the scholars themselves, and of Peter Walker, the book’s editor, that they have presented this cross-cultural tension very well.

Three biblical scholars (Christopher Wright, Gordon McConville and Tom Wright) root the debate in the issue of just how we interpret the text of the Bible. Both OT and NT are carefully examined, paying particular attention to the interplay between spiritual and political forces in the convictions of the prophets concerning the purposes of God. Tom Wright focuses at some length on the significance given to Jerusalem in the life and teaching of Jesus, but I feel that more attention must yet be given to the paucity of specific texts about Jerusalem in the NT. Is this to be interpreted as a lack of interest, if not an outright rejection of its lasting value for Christians, or, as some suggest, does it merely reflect the fact that the NT writers took Jerusalem’s enduring role in God’s purposes for granted? These essays will repay careful reading.

Rounding off the first part of the book, devoted to early perspectives on Jerusalem, Walker himself presents an analysis of the Patristic period. However you look at it, Jerusalem is one of the world’s most famous and influential examples of ‘sacred space’, and the issue of pilgrimage there has been a live one in the church from the very beginning. There were two radically different attitudes to this, represented ably by Eusebius of Caesarea and Cyril of Jerusalem, both Palestinian bishops of the fourth century. Walker uses their debates to lead us into the issues involved, and does it very skilfully.

The second part of the book, entitled ‘Contemporary Perspectives’, looks at the meaning of Jerusalem for Jews, Muslims, Palestinian Christians and Messianic Jews (which is to say Jews who believe in Jesus). This is a rich sampling of views and arguments. Naim Ateek, a Palestinian Anglican scholar, presents the case for the Arabs. He is angry at the attitude of Western Protestants that the Arab and ancient churches of Jerusalem are irrelevant in the true story of what God is doing in Jerusalem. He attacks, albeit subtly, the view that evangelicals are fishers of men, while the ancient Eastern churches are merely aquarium attendants! And quite right too. Baruch Maoz, a Jewish believer from Israel, reminds us of an easily ignored group of believers in Jesus for whom Jerusalem plays a central role. In fact they claim that in one sense they have a stronger bond linking them to the first generations of believers in Jerusalem than even the Palestinian Arab Christians. How can Christians in the West who are neither Jewish nor Arab best support both these communities of brothers and sisters? This question receives serious airing in these papers.

Finally, the concerns of Zionists and Christian Zionists are brought by Margaret Brearley to our attention. There is no single Jewish attitude to Zionism, and there is no single Christian attitude to support for Israel. Brearley might like to push for one legitimate Christian view, but the fact is that most Christians are confused by the complexities of the spiritual-political realities. This debate is far from over, and perhaps this is the weakest contribution in the book. Nevertheless there is no doubt about the high calibre of contributions, and the seriousness with which the issues are enjoined. We are led further on in our search for the answer to the question as to whether there is a distinctively evangelical Christian perspective on Jerusalem. It’s worth buying!


Walter Riggans

General Director of Churches’ Ministry among the Jews (CMJ) based in St Albans