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✡ Foundations Reforming the Church 9

Although the first Christian believers were Jewish, the influx of Gentiles from

pagan backgrounds turned the Church away from its roots and persecution

of the Jews became commonplace. The Church was in desperate need of

change, and 500 years ago that Reformation began. David Elms explores

the first 300 years of that history

Reforming the Church

o many Jewish people, the expression ‘Christian Zionist’ is an
oxymoron. Sadly, and not without some justification, many who
T consider themselves Christian have been anything but Chris-
tian in their attitudes and conduct towards Zionism. On the other hand,
Christian critics of Christian Zionism see the origins as purely political,
emerging solely from events of the 19 century. Today, as we celebrate one
th
hundred years since the passing of the Balfour Declaration, as Christian
Zionists we lay claim to roots which go much further back in time: the
Jewish roots of the Christian faith itself.
It is true that there was a symbiotic
relationship at the genesis of contem- ‘There is no song
porary 19 century Zionism, such as
th
that between Theodor Herzl and Wil- comparable to the
liam Hechler , but Western Christian
1
Zionism emerged much earlier, from song of Zion; and no
the time of the Reformation.
The Reformation also has a special politics like those Oliver Cromwell was an influential
birthday this year. It is 500 years since believer who allowed Jews to return to
Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses Scripture teaches.’ England, overturning a pernicious law
2
to the church door at Wittenberg in which had banned Jewish people from
Saxony. In Germany that day of 31 Oc- John Milton the country since 1290
tober is remembered as Reformation
Day. The Reformation began a process ers into the vernacular (the language of ed and for the first time the Scriptures
of radical change which resulted, not the people); no longer to be the preserve were translated directly from Hebrew.
just in the inauguration of Protestant- of Latin scholars and interpreters. This was the first mass-produced ver-
ism, but a re-examination of the basic A contemporary of Luther was the sion of the Bible available to the general
beliefs of Christianity. scholar Desiderius Erasmus, who in public. But above all it was popular
There are many aspects to what the 1516 produced an acclaimed New Tes- because it contained annotations of
Reformation was all about, but argu- tament in Greek. When asked why he marginal notes, illustrations and maps.
ably, and certainly for this magazine, had done this Erasmus replied: “I wish It became the primary Bible of the early
the focus is on the Reformation slogan: the farm worker might sing parts of Reformers and preceded the King James
‘sola Scriptura’ – by Scripture alone. Scripture at the plough and the weaver Version by 51 years.
The source of authority was found in at the loom.” This version of the Bible was taken
the Bible, not in the dictates of religious Soon the availability of Scripture to to America by the pilgrims on board the
hierarchies and their interpretations. the ordinary person was to bring dra- ‘Mayflower’ in 1620 and caused later
But that begged a difficult question: matic challenges to the accepted order Puritans to incorporate the Mosaic
how could the ordinary person know and understanding of the tenets of the code into the legal framework of the
what the Scriptures said when they Christian faith. Indeed many Christian early American constitution. It was
were written in Latin? Zionists prefer the nomenclature Bibli- the Bible used by William Shakespeare,
The answer was soon found when cal Zionists. John Knox, John Bunyan and Oliver
the Bible was translated by the Reform- By 1560 the Geneva Bible was print- Cromwell.