Christian Zionism is an unusual phenomenon with no other like it in the history of interactions between religious traditions. In no other case have adherents of one community of faith looked upon members of another ethnic-religious group as chosen by God to play a decisive role in bringing about the Kingdom of God on earth. Conservative Christians who insist that only those born again in Christ are justified before God and promised eternal lives, view the Jews and the Land of Israel as embodying a promise of redemption as the soldiers and ground zero, respectively, of the events that would lead to the arrival of the Messiah.

In the last decade, journalists, scholars and statespersons have paid much attention to Christian Zionism and its political implications. The movement, however, has a long history and has promoted other goals besides support for Zionism and Israel. The presentation wishes to offer a comprehensive analysis of Christian Zionism, its theological premises, historical development, political ramifications and its significance for Christian-Jewish relations.

A graduate of the Hebrew University and the University of Chicago, Yaakov Ariel is a professor of Religious Studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. His research focuses on Christian-Jewish relations in the modern era, on Christian attitudes towards Palestine and Israel and on the Jewish movements of modernity and post-modernity. His book, Evangelizing the Chosen People, won the Outler Prize of the American Society of Church History. His latest book, An Unusual Relationship: Evangelical Christians and Jews, was published by New York University Press.