Anglo-Israelism

Presentation for the  Jüd. Institut f. Erwachsenenbildung, Praterstern 1 , 1020 Wien , 21.01.2020, 18:30: https://www.vhs.at/de/k/288502204

Mit Eroberung des Reiches Israel durch die Assyrer im Jahr 722 v. Chr. und der Deportation der dort siedelnden nördlichen zehn Stämme verliert sich ihre Spur in der biblischen Überlieferung. Seit der Antike regte diese Geschichte die Fantasie von Bibelexegeten an, die die verlorenen Stämme meist weit im Osten suchen wollten. Mit der Entdeckung Amerikas begannen neue Vermutungen bis hin zum Buch Mormon. Der Vortrag geht der Geschichte dieser Spekulationen nach.

This paper examines the origins and utility of the key proof memes of the Christian Identity Movement, a heterogeneous racialist subsection of North American Protestant Christianity. These memes have been gathered by looking at conversion oriented texts of three diverse ministries that are commonly held to be members of the Christian Identity movement: Christogenea, The Ecclesiastical Council for the Restoration of Covenant Israel, and Mission to Israel. This paper traces the origins of the memes through primary texts of the Christian Identity movement and its direct ancestor, British Israelism, while addressing their utility within historical context. This paper will serve as a case-study in the value of claims about the past providing legitimacy and proof to fringe religious movements.

The research presented here examines the implications of the immigration of Israelis to America in terms of their identity, and what we can learn from their parenting experience about Israeli identity more broadly. Immigrant families are becoming an increasingly common element of American society with important political implications for the United States as well as for their homelands. According to the Center for Immigration Studies, the number of immigrants living in the United States reached a record high of 37.9 million in 2007, a figure comparable in its proportions to those from the Turn of the Twentieth Century. What is more, approximately one in every ten people identifying themselves as Israeli resides in the United States on a permanent basis. Yet, despite the growing significance of this group, scholars have not thoroughly explored the challenges immigrant families face and the political implications related. Based on a series of in-depth interviews and workshops with Israelis, who live in the big metropolitan areas in North America, we examine how political and national identities are influenced by immigration. To examine this question, we focus on the parenting experience. We investigate the processes of identity evolution and formation as those are reflected in the experience of emigrants as parents, and then draw conclusions about Israeli identity more broadly.