Few issues generate as much heat among Christians (and non Christians!) as the politics of the Middle East generally, and Israel in particularly. It was almost with a sigh of relief that I read this excellent book of essays by theologians who discuss what the scriptures actually tell us about the Holy Land and God’s promises.

Stepping into the minefield are the book’s editors Philip Church and Tim Meadowcroft of Laidlaw College, Peter Walker of Oxford University’s Wycliffe Hall in the UK, and our own Tim Bulkeley of Carey Baptist College, as they and other authors explore various Christian approaches to the Holy Land.

And I can only applaud their courage in going where others fear to tread in offering us such a reasoned, scholarly and easy to digest discussion of how Christians should relate to the Holy Land today, in the light of both Old and New Testament teaching.

The authors explore the land as it relates to pilgrimage, politics, people and scripture. In so doing they will inevitably have dispensationalists and Christian Zionists sharpening their pencils or massaging their mouse muscles.

This is an important book that provides much-needed guidance for those Christians who desire to see an informed, just and theologically sound approach to Middle East events and politics in the  21st Century.

Edited by Philip Church, Peter Walker, Tim Bulkeley and Tim Meadowcroft
Pickwick Publications
ISBN  13: 978-1-60899-545-5

– Duncan Pardon