Religion

Responses to Methodists and the Former Bishop of Durham On Christians & Israel

by Joseph W

Two pieces I would like to draw your attention to.

The first is a response to the Methodist Church’s recent resolutions concerning Israel and Palestine, and the partial boycott that the Church agreed to carry out against Israel, as well as the underlying theology that justified it.

It is available to download and read here:  A Response to the British Methodist Report on Palestine and Israel.

I’ve previously posted this on the Methodist Connexions blog.

The second is a response to the former Bishop of Durham, N. T. Wright, who may well be the most widely read scholar in the Christian world today. He has a number of negative things to say about Jews in his theological writings.

I certainly don’t think N. T. Wright is the wisest political analyst in Christendom. He does, though, have some very interesting insights into the theology of the New Testament, particularly on the Christ-event.

N.T. Wright also provides many of the intellectual and theological arguments about Israel that underpin Christian anti-Zionism. His words are often seized upon and further politicised by Christian anti-Zionist polemicists like Stephen Sizer, Colin Chapman and others. That is chiefly why I felt a need to respond to some of Wright’s more objectionable comments on this issue.

My piece is available to download and read here: N.T. Wright and the Jewish People.

I hope these articles come across as fair and reasonable, and I hope they can be of some benefit to people interested in this topic. Do let me know your thoughts as I really appreciate any feedback.