Search Results (3)

This article argues that the influential role played by the Reverend William Hechler in the early Zionist movement cannot be understood apart from the transnational evangelical networks within which he operated. Drawing on Herzl’s diaries, archival correspondence, and contemporary evangelical periodicals, the study situates the Herzl-Hechler encounter within the convergence of longstanding Christian and Jewish restorationist currents, rather than treating it as a purely coincidental meeting between isolated individuals. It shows that Hechler functioned not as a marginal enthusiast but as a strategically positioned mediator, whose engagement with Herzl reflected a broader trajectory of evangelical interest in Jewish restoration dating back to the 1880s and sustained patterns of mediation across religious and diplomatic contexts. Rather than claiming empirical novelty with respect to the existence of restorationist networks per se, the article offers an analytically disciplined reframing of Hechler’s role within a wider ideological and diplomatic field, highlighting mediation, chronological continuity, and network plausibility as key interpretive coordinates for understanding the religious and political infrastructures that shaped the formative phase of modern political Zionism. Full article

“After this I will return, and I will rebuild the dwelling of David, which has fallen; from its ruins I will rebuild it, and I will set it up” (Acts 15:16 NRSV). This verse, quoting Amos 9:11, is part of James’ speech to the Jerusalem “council” considering the issue of Gentile believers and their relationship to the Law. In some Pentecostal circles, especially those influenced by the “Latter Rain” revival of 1948, this verse has taken on a different force based on the Greek skēnē, literally a tent or traditionally “tabernacle.” This teaching is based on the “tabernacle of David” as described in 1 Chron. 16:1–6 and other places and likely the venue in which some of the original psalms were performed. Their argument is that this is part of a model for experiencing the dynamic presence of God in worship and the restoration of the NT church. It forms a theological basis or rationale for contemporary praise and worship with the use of musical instruments, lifted hands, dance, clapping, etc., following the Psalms. However, this interpretation of “David’s fallen tent” seems to fail interpretive tests such as context, authorial intention and audience understanding. This article discusses the interpretive challenges raised by Acts 15:16, how skilled interpreters have understood the “tent of David,” and some weaknesses in these readings. The argument of “Latter Rain” authors on the “Tabernacle of David” is explained and evaluated in the light of some other contemporary research and hermeneutical principles associated with typology. The Latter Rain position is found to have considerable strengths but overreaches in some key points especially by making structure too central. Full article

On 6 April 1830 Joseph Smith Jr. legally established what he claimed to be the restored Church of Jesus Christ that had existed previously during the New Testament times. This bold claim was bolstered by stories of angelic visitations in the hemlock–northern hardwood forest of New York and Pennsylvania by biblical and nonbiblical figures alike. In one of Smith’s supernatural encounters he claims that immediately prior to his theophany the Devil tried to intercede and prevent his communion with God. Thus, Smith and his followers have embraced a complex worldview concerning the nineteenth-century American forest, host to both the Divine and the Devil. The nineteenth-century American forest was complicated by its dangerous elements, its economic opportunities, and the sublime quality popularized in landscape paintings. Forests existed as environments that were equal in their ability to leave one desolate, well-provisioned, or inspired. Navigating these sometimes paradoxical views, Joseph Smith’s stories of otherworldly visitations in forest settings have resonated with many people seeking understanding in a confusing world. The founding story of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and artistic depictions thereof demonstrate an evolving view of the American forest. The American forest is a malleable, liminal space in which Latter-day Saints have continually combined elements of faith and memory to create a unique faith tradition with roots in a transformative place in American society. This interdisciplinary paper examines the physical appearance of the hemlock–northern hardwood forest, the socioeconomic climate, shifting sentimental values, and the philosophical ideas popularized by transcendentalists and the Hudson River School of painters that provided the scaffolding for this resilient religious movement’s origin story. Full article