Hardback

Paperback

eBook

Add to GoodReads

Britain, the Bible, and Balfour

Mandate for a Jewish State, 1530–1917

Jonathan Immanuel

In 1917 only Britain would have taken the decision to favor a Jewish “national home” when the opportunity occurred to dismantle the Ottoman Empire, for it had been interlocked with the Hebrew Bible since political and theological crises in sixteenth- and seventeenth-century England released the so-called Old Testament from its defined role as a christological premonition of the New Testament. Britain, the Bible, and Balfour unpacks the tumultuous history of the idea of a unique Jewish home state—and the development of Zionism—as it took shape over the course of several centuries in England. The author argues that, in fact, the theopolitical vision of Zionism is a peculiarly British phenomenon with roots that go back to the English Reformation. The religious and political battles over the Bible, the role of Hebrew scripture, the monarchy, and national identity provided the fortuitous, if providential, groundwork for the recovery of a vision of the Jewish people as a unique community with a mandated home. Zionism emerged from this context as a powerful movement that advocated for the return of the land and the people as a divinely ordained religious and political project. Yet, as this volume demonstrates, that idea is explicable only on the basis of the contextual events in early modern England, and would take nearly five hundred years to become a geopolitical reality. This volume provides a critically important genealogical account and illuminates the fascinating history of how England became the surprising progenitor of a revolutionary idea.

Lexington Books

Pages: 436 • Trim: 6½ x 9

978-1-4985-9073-0 • Hardback • October 2019 • $146.00 • (£112.00)

978-1-4985-9075-4 • Paperback • October 2021 • $52.99 • (£41.00)

978-1-4985-9074-7 • eBook • October 2019 • $50.00 • (£38.00)

Series: Lexington Studies in Modern Jewish History, Historiography, and Memory

Subjects: Religion / Judaism / History, Religion / Biblical Commentary / Old Testament / Historical Books

Britain, the Bible, and Balfour

Mandate for a Jewish State, 1530–1917

Hardback

Paperback

eBook

Summary

In 1917 only Britain would have taken the decision to favor a Jewish “national home” when the opportunity occurred to dismantle the Ottoman Empire, for it had been interlocked with the Hebrew Bible since political and theological crises in sixteenth- and seventeenth-century England released the so-called Old Testament from its defined role as a christological premonition of the New Testament. Britain, the Bible, and Balfour unpacks the tumultuous history of the idea of a unique Jewish home state—and the development of Zionism—as it took shape over the course of several centuries in England. The author argues that, in fact, the theopolitical vision of Zionism is a peculiarly British phenomenon with roots that go back to the English Reformation. The religious and political battles over the Bible, the role of Hebrew scripture, the monarchy, and national identity provided the fortuitous, if providential, groundwork for the recovery of a vision of the Jewish people as a unique community with a mandated home. Zionism emerged from this context as a powerful movement that advocated for the return of the land and the people as a divinely ordained religious and political project. Yet, as this volume demonstrates, that idea is explicable only on the basis of the contextual events in early modern England, and would take nearly five hundred years to become a geopolitical reality. This volume provides a critically important genealogical account and illuminates the fascinating history of how England became the surprising progenitor of a revolutionary idea.

Details

Lexington Books

Pages: 436 • Trim: 6½ x 9

978-1-4985-9073-0 • Hardback • October 2019 • $146.00 • (£112.00)

978-1-4985-9075-4 • Paperback • October 2021 • $52.99 • (£41.00)

978-1-4985-9074-7 • eBook • October 2019 • $50.00 • (£38.00)

Series: Lexington Studies in Modern Jewish History, Historiography, and Memory

Subjects: Religion / Judaism / History, Religion / Biblical Commentary / Old Testament / Historical Books

Author

Jonathan Immanuel is a fellow of the Van Leer Jerusalem Institute in Jerusalem.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments

Introduction

Part. I The Root of the Matter 1530-1840

1 England's Political Reformation

2 The Rise of the Puritans

3 A Jew in Peru

4 “No More Our Ancient Enemy”

5 The Hartlib Circle

6 Cromwell's Secular Dilemma

7 Three wise Machiavellians

8 A Complex Messiah

9 Deists Assault the Bible

10 A Tale of Two Enlightenments

11 Science and Restoration in the Age of Reason

Part II From Belief to Action 1840-1914

12 Shaftesbury and Palmerston: "The Time has Come"

13 Two Rabbis and a Socialist Saint

14 The View from Afar. America, Australia and Russia

15 Gladstone or Disraeli

16 The Evolution of George Eliot

17 Herzl in Wonderland

18 Science, Faith and Balfour

Postscript

Bibliography

About the Author

Reviews

There could not be a better or more authoritative book to emerge in this centenary year of the Balfour Declaration than Jonathan Immanuel’s extraordinarily scholarly yet highly readable analysis of how it came about. Connecting the Bible and Zionism with British thinkers and statesmen stretching back over centuries, Immanuel builds a truly compelling argument about British Zionism, both Jewish and non-Jewish, that will fascinate and convince. Far from being either cynical or miraculous, the genesis of the Declaration was logical and, as Immanuel categorically proves, steeped in the best motives and instincts of Britain’s long history.
— Andrew Roberts, King’s College, author of A History of the English-Speaking Peoples Since 1900 and Founder Member of the Friends of Israel Initiative

This book makes the fascinating assertion that the restorationist tradition, if effaced, did continue through the 18th century and acts as a link between the earlier and later phases. In lucid writing, Immanuel traces the link between English Protestantism and Judaism back to the Reformation and Henry VIII seeking Old Testament/Jewish support for his divorce. The unfolding story of Puritanism and its links with Judaism from then on is convincingly laid out. There is much to be learnt about the main theme as it is cogently spelled out from the Reformation to Puritanism all the way through the 18th century.

— Munro Price, professor of European history at Bradford University, author of The Road to Apocalypse

[W]hat Immanuel maintains is that Restorationism was a necessary but not sufficient condition for the issuance of the declaration. The immense amount of evidence that he brings to bear in support of this proposition makes it very difficult to disagree with him. In any case, his well-written and accessible book merits the serious attention of every individual who is interested in the history behind the Balfour Declaration.

— Israel Affairs Journal

Britain, the Bible, and Balfour

Mandate for a Jewish State, 1530–1917

Jonathan Immanuel

Britain, the Bible, and Balfour

Mandate for a Jewish State, 1530–1917

ALSO AVAILABLE