Why I Am Not A Christian Zionist
Many thoughtful Christian leaders have looked carefully at Christian Zionism and been surprised at what they find there. And they have decided they cannot follow this teaching. We asked a number of these people to write for us. In each case, the writers explain how and why they changed their thinking. In one case, we asked a Jewish writer to reflect with us as well. Watch this space for additional essays.
Scroll down to see our essayists
Gary Burge
“This Arab pastor told me that even though I thought I had been to the Holy Land a dozen times, I had only been there once. I had been on the “tourist trail” and never gone astray. He was right. This tourist trail kept people from seeing behind the scenes... But now I had peeked behind that curtain. And there was no going back.”
Originally from Southern California, Gary Burge was an undergraduate at the University of California, Riverside, and The American University of Beirut, Lebanon. He attended Fuller Theological Seminary and King's College, The University of Aberdeen, Scotland. After 25 years on the faculty of Wheaton College (Illinois) he joined the faculty of Calvin Theological Seminary (Michigan) in 2017. Gary speaks widely in churches and conferences both in the United States and in various countries. He has traveled extensively, particularly in the Middle East. He is ordained in the Presbyterian Church, USA, and served as a military chaplain (USNR). For over 15 years he was a regular teacher at Willow Creek Community Church in South Barrington, Illinois.
Gary’s full essay (click here): Gary Burge essay.
Mark Braverman
“And here is the wonderful, miraculous irony – my search for what it meant to be a Jew today brought me to a Palestinian Anglican priest… It was grace that brought me to Palestine to meet my purported enemy. Like Jacob reunited with Esau, when I met these brothers and sisters on the other side of the wall of separation we had built, I saw the face of God.”
Mark Braverman devoted his professional career to working with groups and individuals undergoing traumatic stress. Returning to the Holy Land in 2006, he was transformed by witnessing the occupation of Palestine and by encounters with peace activists and civil society leaders from the Muslim, Christian and Jewish communities. He is the author of “Fatal Embrace” and “A Wall in Jerusalem,” and is currently Executive Director of Kairos USA.
Mark’s full essay (click here): Mark Braverman essay.
Thomas Getman
“The Archbishop (Desmond Tutu) stopped his car to say, ‘Thank you for your presence, the years of solidarity, the financial, spiritual and legislative support. (Now) turn your eyes to the Palestinians… You are dismissed from here’! Needless to say, my eyes were opened and my heart set alight!”
Thomas Getman served as an aide to the late Sen. Mark Hatfield. He then held a number of executive roles for World Vision, including director for international relations in Geneva, where he liaised with various United Nations groups and the World Council of Churches. From 1997 to 2001, he was director of World Vision’s programs in Jerusalem, the West Bank, and Gaza. He also served on the board of the U.N. Deputy Secretary for Emergency Relief as the chair of the International Council of Voluntary Agencies. He retired from World Vision in 2009.
Tom’s full essay (click here): Thomas Getman essay.
John Kleinheksel
“I want my life to elevate the new and renewed communities God is raising up here and around the world, where ALL nations are blessed, where help is extended to any in all nations who are hungry, thirsty, strangers, naked, sick or in prison (Matthew 25). I pray and work for the kairos/time when followers of our Lord will be celebrated more for the purity of their purpose than the power of their politics, where goodness floods the old creation, and where right relationships flourish.”
John Kleinheksel has a master’s degree in theology from Western Theological Seminary in Holland, Michigan. In 1975, Kleinheksel participated in 22-day immersion tour of the Middle East sponsored by the Reformed Church of America (RCA). This tour included meetings with religious leaders in Cairo and Jerusalem, a visit to Barj El Barjneh refugee camp near Beruit, and visits to RCA mission sites in Oman, Kuwait and Bahrain. This tour and subsequent tours gave Kleinheksel the opportunity to meet and form bonds of friendship and solidarity with Israeli Jews and Arab Palestinians—bonds which he continues to renew to this day. In 2014 he helped found Kairos West Michigan, an organization providing education and advocating for a just peace in Palestine/Israel.
John’s full essay (click here): John Kleinheksel essay.