Book Review: The End of Days

by Peter Ryan

Gorenberg's book, the End of Days: Fundamentalism and the Struggle for the Temple Mount, isn't a history of Israel, it's not a history of the Middle East or Palestine, it's not even a history of Jerusalem-it's very specifically the history of the Temple Mount, a 35 acre stretch of land, which is considered to be the most violently contested real estate in the world. To Jews, it is the site where the Temple once stood. To Muslims, it is the Dome of the Rock, one of the most sacred centers of Islamic life and identity. Some Jewish and Christian groups believe that the Dome of the Rock must be destroyed and the Jewish Temple must rebuilt before God's kingdom is established on Earth. As Gorenberg demonstrates, the apocalyptic fever of both groups could lead to disastrous consequences and has influenced the way even more mainstream Westerners view the Islamic world.

But this is nothing new. Apocalyptic fever has influenced Western interactions with the Islamic world throughout the ages. When the crusaders marched to Jerusalem, slaughtering countless local Jews, Muslims and even fellow Christians, it was popularly believed that their war would initiate the second-coming of Christ. Even before there was significant interest within the Jewish community to establish a homeland in Palestine, Christian followers of John Darby were pushing for just such a maneuver, some believing that such an act was a prerequisite for the beginning of the end.

In modern times, in some evangelical circles, Western Christians see the war against Iraq and the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories as signs that judgment day is nearly at hand. These beliefs have even led some to reject the ethical injunctions of the Bible, in favor of endorsing an "all-for-Israel" approach-an approach which includes the endorsement of their confiscation of land and the military occupation. Some Westerners have even made calls for a campaign to ethnically cleanse the Palestinians, removing them from the West Bank entirely so that Israeli settlements could expand unperturbed. As the crusaders before them who slaughtered Arabs-even fellow Christians-to win their prize, many of the modern Zionists have been accused with ignoring the needs of the Palestinian community, including Palestinian Christians.

Though Gorenberg chronicles the exploits of both Jewish and Christian millenialists, it is the Christian extremists who I became the most fascinated with while reading this book-who are they? What was at stake for them in all of this? According to Gorenberg's account, several internationally-based Christians over the years have been arrested for attempting to blow up the dome of the rock or otherwise disrupt or desecrate the Muslim holy site in the hopes that such acts would initiate the apocalypse. Consider the case of Dennis Michael Rohan, an Australian Christian who left a burning kerosene-soaked scarf in the Al-Aqsa Mosque. Christian-Zionists everywhere, of course, immediately distanced themselves from the act, calling Dennis "insane"-but Gorenberg isn't so easy to let the more moderate Millenialists off the hook.

"Are preachers," Gorenberg asks us, "who tied the Rapture to Israel's birth or conquest of Jerusalem, who spoke of the Temple as a prerequisite for the Second Coming responsible for Rohan standing in a dawn-lit mosque with a flaming scarf? The question has no simple answer. It can be asked of any leaders of any political or religious movement when their rhetoric is taken with deadly seriousness by the insane or the extreme. Perhaps no one can be expected to plan for the craziest of listeners. Then again, if you happily predict the apocalypse, explain how and where you begin, can you avoid all blame when someone goes to the spot you've marked and acts?"

But another question, in my view, also naturally comes to mind: if Dennis can commit an immoral act based on apocalyptic ideology isn't it also possible for other, supposedly more "moderate," Christians to commit less extreme immoral acts based on the same principles? For example, a Christian could make comments that are blatantly racist against Palestinians because he sees them as enemies of "God's chosen people." Or a Christian could advocate unnecessary war or violence based on their desire to see prophecy fulfilled. Apocalyptic fever should in no cases trump morality. If a Millenialist finds themselves advocating racism against Arabs, ethnic cleansing, murder, destruction of property or any other crime based on their desire to see the events of Armageddon come to fruition, they would be wise to repent and to apologize publicly.

Despite the new found zeal and "love for Israel" proclaimed by some Christian groups, suspicions of deeply-rooted anti-Semitism have not subsided. Within contemporary Christian-Zionism, an interesting contradiction has arisen-as Gorenberg puts it: "The theology of apocalypse popular in evangelical Christianity teaches love for Jews-and implies hostility toward the people who reject Jesus." This has led many within the movement to reach some very bizarre and very misleading confusions about Judaism and Jewish people in general. Gorenberg holds his worst criticism in this area for the authors of the popular Left Behind series. "[Tim Lahaye and Jerry B. Jenkin's] Israel is a landscape of the imagination, and the characters called 'Jews' might as well be named hobbits or warlocks. Israel and Jews are central to� the hugely successful Left Behind series-but the country belongs to the map of Christian myth; the people speak lines from a script foreign to flesh-and-blood Jews."

It should not be surprising that the Left Behind author so greatly misunderstands Judaism. In an interview with Jeffrey Goldberg in Slate magazine, LaHaye made a comment that "some of the greatest evil in the history of the world was concocted in the Jewish mind." Jerry Falwell also drew criticism when he made comments that the antichrist would must likely be Jewish-a statement which he later apologized for after it led to accusations of anti-Semitism by some critics within the Jewish community. Many Israeli-Zionists have also been frightened by the apparent glee of some Christians when they describe the events of the apocalypse, including the mass slaughter of Jews. Though Christian and Jewish Zionists have formed an alliance, it is an uneasy one at best.

Gorenberg's End of Days shows us the dark side of religion within the framework of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict-that is his focus. "We live in a time," states the author, "when extremism is confused with religious authenticity." But it's perhaps also worth noting that many religious groups have also been able to play a positive role in the ongoing efforts to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. There are many in Islamic, Christian and Jewish leadership positions who have spoken out for a genuine and lasting peace between Israelis and Palestinians-a peace with justice. Those who spend more time being inspired by the moral injunctions of the Torah, Bible and Qu'ran-and less time on questionable prophetic considerations-seem to hold the true key to peace in this region, because the value of human life, freedom and dignity is firmly honored by all three faiths.

The only drawback of reading a book like the End of Days is that we tend to lose sight of those who are seeking the true path toward peace and we inevitably get trapped in the cynicism characteristic of our era. We need to equip ourselves with knowledge about those who would spurn peace but we also need to equip ourselves with something far more precious: a reason to hope for the future.

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This article is a Middle East Window exclusive. It cannot be republished without the prior written consent of the editor. For information about republication rights, please contact: peter@middleeastfellowship.org