When Donald Trump won the 2016 presidential elections with the help of 81 percent of self-identified white evangelicals, liberal commentators, relying on folk-conceptions of religion that privileged concepts like morality and belief, struggled to understand how someone who seemed to lack both could garner such support. Since then scholars have provided various explanations, relating to Christian nationalism evangelical appeals to authoritarianism, and straightforward racism. This article aims to expand this discussion by analyzing the way that evangelical Christian Zionists have supported Trump by rhetorically identifying him as God’s instrument on account of his support for Israel and withdrawal of the United States from the Iran Nuclear Deal. In addition to analyzing the process by which Trump is constituted as God’s instrument, the article also demonstrates more generally how religious discourse functions as a legitimating discourse for those who seek to gain, or maintain, positions of power.
ArielYaakov.2001.
“Doomsday in Jerusalem? Christian Messianic Groups and the Rebuilding of the Temple.” Terrorism and Political Violence13, no. 1: 1–14.
4.
ArielYaakov.2013. An Unusual Relationship: Evangelical Christians and Jews.
New York:
NYU Press.
5.
BauerGary.2010. “Israel 101: The Basics of the Arab-Israeli Conflict.” Speech. Christians United for Israel 5th Annual Washington, D.C., Summit, Washington, D.C., July 20, 2010. Author’s Transcription.
BoyerPaul.1992. When Time Shall Be No More: Prophecy Belief in Modern American Culture.
Cambridge:
Harvard University Press.
8.
BrittainChristopher Craig.2018.
“Racketeering in Religion: Adorno and Evangelical Support for Donald Trump.”Critical Research on Religion6, no. 3: 269–288.
DeMar, Gary. 2001. End Times Fiction: A Biblical Consideration of the Left Behind Theology. Tennessee, United States: Thomas Nelson Publishers.
15.
DeMar, Gary. 2009. Left Behind: Separating Fact from Fiction: American Vision Press.
16.
DurbinSean.2012.
“‘For Such a Time as This’: Reading (and becoming) Esther with Christians United for Israel.”Relegere: Studies in Religion and Reception2, no. 1: 65–90.
17.
DurbinSean.2013. “
‘I am an Israeli’: Christian Zionism as American Redemption.” Culture and Religion14, no. 3, 324–347.
18.
DurbinSean.2018. Righteous Gentiles: Religion, Identity, and Myth in John Hagee’s Christians United for Israel. Leiden: Brill.
Haynes, Stephen R. 1995. Reluctant Witnesses: Jews and the Christian Imagination. Knoxville: Westminster John Knox Press.
32.
HummelDaniel G.2019. Covenant Brothers: Evangelicals, Jews, and U.S.-Israeli Relations.
Philadelphia: Philadelphia University of Pennsylvania Press.
33.
LewisDonald M.2010. The Origins of Christian Zionism: Lord Shaftesbury and Evangelical Support for a Jewish Homeland.
Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press.
34.
Living Word Christian Centre. 2018. Email to the author. February 20, 2018.
35.
Lincoln, Bruce. 2007. Religion, Empire, and Torture: The Case of Achaemenian Persia, with a Postscript on Abu Ghraib. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
36.
McGuire, Paul and Troy Anderson. 2018. Trumpocalypse: The End-Times President, a Battle Against the Globalist Elite, and the Countdown to Armageddon. New York: FaithWords.
37.
McAlisterMelani.2010.
“A Virtual Muslim Is Something to Be.”American Quarterly62, no. 2: 221–231.
38.
McAlisterMelani.2018. The Kingdom of God Has No Borders: A Global History of American Evangelicals.
Oxford:
Oxford University Press.
39.
McDermottGerald R (ed.) 2016. The New Christian Zionism: Fresh Perspectives on Israel and the Land.
Illinois:
InterVarsity Press.
40.
McKayBill.2005. “Against All Odds: In Search of a Miracle.” DVD. American Trademark Pictures.
MerkleyPaul Charles.2004. American Presidents, Religion, and Israel: The Heirs of Cyrus.
London:
Praeger.
43.
O’DonnellS. Jonathon.2020. Antisemitism Under Erasure: Christian Zionist Anti-Globalism and The Refusal of Cohabitation. Ethnic and Racial Studies 2020: 1--19. DOI: 10.1080/01419870.2019.1704042
44.
OlsonJason M.2018. America’s Road to Jerusalem: The Impact of the Six-Day War on Protestant Politics.
London:
Lexington Books.
PhillipsElizabeth.2014. “Saying Peace When There is No Peace.” In Comprehending Christian Zionism: Perspective in Comparison, edited by GunnerGöranSmithRobert O., 15–31.
Minneapolis:
Fortress Press.
ShapiroFaydra L.2010.
“Taming Tehran: Evangelical Christians and the Iranian Threat to Israel.”Studies in Religion/Sciences Religieuses39, no. 3: 363–377.
52.
ShapiroFaydra L.2012.
“‘Thank You Israel, For Supporting America’: The Transnational Flow of Christian Zionist Resources.”Identities19, no. 5: 616–631.
53.
SmithRobert O.2013. More Desired Than Our Owne Salvation: The Roots of Christian Zionism.
Oxford:
Oxford University Press.
54.
SpectorStephen.2009. Evangelicals and Israel: The Story of American Christian Zionism.
Oxford:
Oxford University Press.
StonePerry.2017. “The Trump Presidency- Prophetic Projections and Patterns.” Manna-Fest, Episode 879, August 11, 2017. Accessed September 5, 2019. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iaBCBnDF5Rg
58.
StyrskyVictor.2009. Honest to God: Christian Zionists Confront 10 Questions Jews Need Answered.
New York:
Artzy Books.
59.
TaylorMark, and Mary Colbert. 2017. The Trump Prophecies: The Trump Prophecies: The Astonishing True Story of the Man Who Saw Tomorrow… and What He Says Is Coming Next.
Crane:
Defender.
60.
The Watchman. 2017. “Part 1: Pastor John Hagee on President Trump’s Support for Israel + Need to Keep Jerusalem Unified.” The Watchman with Erick Stackelbeck, March 10, 2017. Accessed September 4, 2019. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kq74JO-dTZc
61.
Wagner, Donald E. 1995. Anxious for Armageddon: A Call to Partnership for Middle Eastern and Western Christians. Herald Press.
62.
WeberTimothy P.2004. On the Road to Armageddon: How Evangelicals Became Israel’s Best Friend.
Grand Rapids:
Baker Academic.
63.
WhiteheadAndrew L, Samuel L Perry, and Joseph O Baker. 2018.
“Make America Christian Again: Christian Nationalism and Voting for Donald Trump in the 2016 Presidential Election.”Sociology of Religion79, no. 2: 147–171.
