A critique of christian zionism in South Africa: an analytical mapping

Abstract

Israeli apartheid, occupation, and settler colonialism is sustained through a robust lattice, the material of which is both military and ideological. Christian Zionism has been recognised as arguably the most important aspect of the latter. While in many respects, the Global North — and the United States in particular — represents the most powerful stronghold of Christian Zionism, for numerous reasons, the necessity of understanding its manifestation within the Global South is becoming more recognised. South Africa, as a majority Christian context, and a country with a deeply contested historical and contemporary relationship with Israel, represents an interesting case in this regard. As of yet, scholarly work exploring Christian Zionism in South Africa is largely absent. This article situates itself in this gap through providing an initial broad lay of the land in terms of Christian Zionism’s manifestation in South Africa through an initial scoping and mapping of various actors involved on this landscape.