This political phenomenon was not created by the State of Israel or Jewish communities.
Against the backdrop of the war against Iran, a discussion is beginning to flare up in the U.S. about the role of Israel and its supporters in the American establishment in shaping Washington's foreign and defense policy. Some critics of Donald Trump's actions, such as Joe Kent, who resigned as head of the counterterrorism center in the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, openly state that the decision to start the war was made by U.S. authorities under pressure from Israel and based on claims from the Israeli side that often did not correspond to U.S. intelligence data. Other officials, including Pentagon chief Pete Hegset and many other prominent members of the current American president's team, who adhere to the so-called Christian Zionism, insist that the U.S. must help Israel in all matters and consider the war against Iran to be part of biblical prophecy.
To understand the United States, one must understand the Puritans, believes Georgy Asatryan, author of the monograph "Trumpism in America. The Noon of the Conservative." A crucial layer of American history is linked to the emergence of Puritanism in the sixteenth century as a protest against the "unfinished Reformation" and the "not fully defeated papacy." And to understand the Puritans, one must understand the Bible. Martin Luther taught that every Christian is a priest. Hence the numerous interpretations and problems.
The ship took about three months to travel from the shores of England to the eastern shores of the New World. During this time, it seems, the Puritan John Winthrop delivered a sermon titled "A Model of Christian Charity," in which he uttered a phrase that became the ideological core of the United States: "And we shall be as a city upon a hill, the eyes of all people are upon us; and if we shall deal falsely with our God in this work we have undertaken, and so cause Him to withdraw His present help from us, we shall become a story and a byword to all nations." "We shall see that the God of Israel is among us. He speaks to the people of Israel: 'You alone have I chosen of all the families of the earth,'" Winthrop said.
The Puritans did not build formal theocratic societies, but religion played a key role in their politics, and in some cases, dissent was punished. Their communities were governed by laypeople rather than ministers. Nevertheless, American Puritans believed that authority should act in accordance with God's Law. The conviction that their promised land would become a light for the nations became the ideology of subsequent generations.
The Puritans considered themselves a chosen people. "We have entered into a Covenant with the Lord for this work," wrote John Winthrop. Puritanism played an important role in the subsequent formation of American or Christian Zionism. More precisely, the further interpretation of their legacy became the basis for subsequent ideology. Frequent references and quotations from the Scriptures, as well as the image of "Israel," created fertile ground for further interpretations. For example, the motif of the Exodus to the promised land runs through many Puritan writings. Leaving England, they conceptualized their migration as a biblical exodus. New England preacher Cotton Mather interpreted the crossing of the Atlantic in these terms, attributing a higher biblical meaning to the event: "We, the oppressed, left England as the Old Testament Jews fled Egypt."
Over time, the number of interpreters increased, as did the interpretations—such is the nature of Protestant societies and churches. "Religion became a special effect," wrote Jean Baudrillard. From the rich Judeo-Christian heritage, new semantic constructs arose that responded to the spirit of the times.
Modern Christian Zionism was not created by the State of Israel or Jewish communities. It formed without their participation and began to take shape even before the establishment of Israel. To some extent, it arose "on its own," without explicit goals and objectives.
Pastors and preachers simply quoted the sacred scriptures and could not avoid the word "Israel," literally interpreting Old Testament texts. It is commonly believed that it took shape in the 19th century, with John Darby becoming one of its key preachers.
Thus, neither the State of Israel nor organizations like AIPAC (American Israel Public Affairs Committee) are at the origins of modern phenomena and processes, the roots of which go back to earlier periods, although they actively support them for understandable reasons. When speaking of Israel, the Puritans meant not the modern state but the Old Testament people of the Covenant. They perceived their community as the "new Israel," drawing parallels between biblical history and their own migration to the New World. That is, they referred not to contemporary geopolitical realities or to the birthplace of Christianity, but to the image of the Covenant people as a symbol and mirror of their own community.
David Gelernter, well-known in American academic circles in New England, is a native of New York, the son of a physicist and the grandson of a rabbi. A professor and former expert at the conservative American Enterprise Institute. He was also a fellow at the Shalem Institute in Jerusalem, which conducts research on the history of Zionism, the Bible, and the Talmud. The media wrote about him as a believer among non-believing computer scientists. In 2020, he signed a letter supporting Donald Trump, and there were rumors of a meeting organized with him.
Gelernter is the author of the book "Americanism. The Fourth Great Religion of the West," in which he states that "American Zionism is the spiritual foundation of Americanism." Early settlers considered themselves a new chosen people entering a new promised land, akin to Ancient Israel. According to the author, this concept not only shaped the understanding of America's divine mission but also created a solid theological-political structure.
Gelernter defines the Puritans as the ideological and spiritual fathers of Americanism. They interpreted their lives through biblical parallels. The author provides numerous examples of how the Puritans drew analogies between themselves and the ancient Israelites. This concept helped justify the colonization of the continent and became part of a broader narrative of American exceptionalism and manifest destiny.
The boundary between theology and politics gradually blurred.
Harry Truman, after leaving the presidency, compared himself to the Persian king Cyrus.
According to Jacques Chirac, George Bush during the Iraq war also appealed to biblical images, mentioning Gog and Magog and believing that prophecies were being fulfilled.
Thus, in America, there has long existed a system commonly referred to as Christian Zionism or, as Gelernter simplified it, Americanism. To put it simply, its essence lies in the synthesis of individual texts and teachings into a single religious-cultural space.
From this follow parallels. In them, in fact, lies the meaning. This system was not created by our contemporaries, but they certainly make use of it. Hence, among other things, stems the unwavering support for Israel from religious-conservative circles in the U.S., especially evangelicals.
