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But Christian Zionism didn't just produce the "anything for Israel" activism noted, and derided, by the Post. Its momentum could take unexpected turns, as the story of Horatio Spafford's American Colony illustrates.

Spafford, the Chicago lawyer—and friend of William Blackstone—who famously lost four daughters at sea, didn't just write about the day when "the trump shall resound, and the Lord shall descend." He wanted to be in the Holy Land when it happened. So, in 1881, he and what remained of his family moved to Jerusalem and established the American Colony. "Jerusalem is where my Lord lived, suffered and conquered," Spafford said, "and I wish to learn how to live, suffer and especially to conquer."

Members of the colony, known as "Spaffordites" or "Overcomers," firmly believed in dispensational premillennialism. For a while, they journeyed daily to the Mount of Olives in hopes of being the first to greet the returning Savior. They even packed snacks for him. But the colony poured far more effort into religious education and humanitarian aid.

The colony extended an especially warm embrace to a large group of impoverished Jews who came to Jerusalem from Yemen in 1882, but members also provided education and healthcare for local Arabs. Medical work gained importance during World War I, when the colony was used as a Red Cross facility. Eventually humanitarian concerns edged out millennial fervor completely, and by 1930 the colony dropped its explicitly religious character. Significantly, by this time the colony had also reversed its position on Zionism, viewing it as a threat to the indigenous, mostly Arab population.

As Moshe Fox told the Post, it would be interesting to know what President Bush thinks of all this history. His answer, though, might not yield the sort of information journalists and pundits could plug into a policy-defining formula. If he did confirm a connection to Christian Zionism, would that put him in the camp of millennial evangelist William Blackstone, diplomat Arthur James Balfour, or the humanitarian Spaffordites? It certainly wouldn't paint him into the most conservative corner of conservative Christianity, no matter what the Post tries to insinuate.

Elesha Coffman is managing editor of Christian History magazine.

Copyright © 2002 Christianity Today. Click for reprint information.

More Christian History, including a list of events that occurred this week in the church's past, is available at ChristianHistory.net. Subscriptions to the quarterly print magazine are also available.

Timothy Weber explored this topic at greater length in an October 5, 1998, Christianity Today article, "How Evangelicals Became Israel's Best Friend."

A November 1998 article in The Christian Century also examined the early connections between evangelicals and Zionism.

"God's Little Errand Boy" provides a biographical sketch of William E. Blackstone

The University of Southern Colorado's history department offers a paper on Bertha Spafford Vester, The American Colony, and The Red Cross

The American Jewish Historical Society examines "Chicago: Incubator of American Zionism."

Evangelicals and Israel: Theological Roots of a Political Alliance

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January (Web-only) 2002, Vol. 46