Faith, History, and Who Belongs in Israel

The land of Israel, often called the Holy Land, is sacred to Jews, Christians, and Muslims alike. Yet the way each faith relates to this land, historically and theologically, is profoundly different. Much of today’s confusion, tension, and sometimes arrogance surrounding Israel comes from ignoring those differences. To understand why Jews view Israel as their indigenous homeland and why Christian and Islamic claims to rule or replace Jewish sovereignty are deeply problematic, we must look honestly at history and belief.

Christianity was born from Judaism, not alongside it as a parallel indigenous civilization. Jesus was a Jew, his disciples were Jews, and all early Christian texts are rooted in Jewish scripture and Jewish society in Judea during the Roman period. However, Christianity very quickly became a diaspora religion, spreading primarily through the Greco-Roman world and later becoming the official religion of the Roman Empire.

Christians as a group did not develop as a people indigenous to the land of Israel. They did not form an independent civilization there, nor did they maintain continuous political, linguistic, or national sovereignty tied to the land. After the Roman destruction of Jerusalem in 70 CE, Jewish presence remained continuous, despite exile, persecution, and foreign rule, while Christianity’s center of gravity moved to Rome, Constantinople, and later Europe.

Christian attachment to the land is theological and devotional,........

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)