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End of An Exile: Israel, The Jews and the Gentile World

by James Parkes

Paperback    378 pgs
ISBN: 0-916288-50-1

. $22.95

A MUST-READ BOOK FOR RENEWED THINKING ABOUT ISRAEL

If historical amnesia is a problem besetting the modern world, the work of James Parkes is an antidote in the fields of Christian-Jewish relations and the Middle East quandary. He began his scholarly life with the monumental work, The Conflict of the Church and the Synagogue, first published in 1934, which helped set the groundwork for Christian-Jewish relations in the twentieth century. Parkes was an Anglican minister, with extensive knowledge of Jewish history. After the establishment of Israel in 1948, he traveled to the Middle East and wrote several books on the problems between Arabs and Jews: The History of Palestine; Whose Land?: A History of the Peoples of Palestine; and End of An Exile: Israel, The Jews, and The Gentile World. First published in 1954, Micah Publications reissued it in 1982, with an appendix containing essays by leading theologians. This third edition is further enhanced by four additional essays by leading contemporary religious thinkers. The new publication is also a response to today’s anti-Israel animosity. The book is a classic, and the new essays broaden our knowledge of the religious and political problems between Jews and Palestinians, Muslims and Christians.
The problems in the Middle East may seem engraved in stone, unresolvable and subject to journalistic repetition, but Parkes’ analysis is as fresh and as profound as when he first wrote this book. The contributions of nine outstanding historians/theologians give End of An Exile resonance with the past and the present Middle East.

"Parkes was unique in being one of the earliest writers to challenge head-on the historical record of Christian injustice towards Jewry...In fact, great strides have been made in the past 70 years since the appearance of The Conflict of the Church and Synagogue. Much is due to Parkes' pioneering research and provocative thought. He regarded his life's work as 'reversing the stream that has flowed in the wrong direction for 1900 years."

"[Parkes] disputed the view that the new state of Israel was a modern secular invention. Rather, he sought to claim that this was in accordance with the true and ancient tradition of being Jewish."
John S. Conway, "James Parkes: Recasting Christian-Jewish Relations," Congess Monthly, vol. 73, no. 5, Sept/Oct. 2006

“The reappearance of Parkes’ ground-breaking work 50 years on brings deep insights. The foundations of his analysis have stood the test of time....This book combines the treasures of a classic with the brilliance of fresh, timely scholarhip.”
Rev. Dr. Peter A. Pettit, Institute for Jewish-Christian Understanding, Muhlenberg College and Chair: Council of Centers for Jewish-Christian Relations.

“No one interested in the Middle East should ignore End of An Exile.”
Professor Jon D. Levenson, Albert A. List Professor of Jewish Studies, Harvard University

“End of An Exile is the penetrating reflection of an Anglican scholar who was fascinated by the uniqueness of the Jewish experience and its modern incarnation in the State of Israel....This welcome new edition is the eloquent testimony to both the urgency and the timelessness of his vision.”
David Harris, National Director of the American Jewish Committee

The third edition of End of An Exile includes an appendix with articles by outstanding religious commentators:

Robert A. Everett---------------A Christian Apology for Israel

Reinhold Niebuhr----------------Jews After The War

Rose G. Lewis-----------------James Parkes: Christianity Without Antisemitism

Richard Harries, Bishop of Oxford--------------------Israel in Christian Thought

Malcolm Lowe---------------------------Israel and Palestinian Liberation Theology

John Pawlikowski---------------------James Parkes on Zion: Some Reflections

Petra Heldt-------------------------------Jerusalem in Protestant Theology

James Parkes------------------------------The Parkes Library

Tony Kushner------------------------------Reflections on The Parkes Library

A. Roy Eckardt-----------------------------In Memoriam: James Parkes

Below are excerpts from reviews of the second edition:

Reviews

“A new edition of End of an Exile is cause for celebration. Written more than fifty years ago, its argument for justice and necessity for the return of the Jews to their homeland is as germane today as ever. It serves as a powerful corrective from within the Christian camp to so-called ‘liberation theology’ espoused by Protestant theologians who refuse to ackowledge that anti-Zionism is a form of anti-semitism, and argue that the very existence of the Jewish state is the root of evil in the Middle East that needs to be effaced.

In justifying the Jewish re-entry to a land that contained an Arab majority, for example, he demonstrates that Arab claims based upon historical continuity are spurious. As for Jews, however, if over the millennia their numbers have ‘constantly varied, it has been because of circumstances outside Jewish control, and not because Jews themselves lost interest in living in their promised land.’

On the whole it may be argued that it was always as large as possible in view of conditions existing at any one time.’ Thus End of An Exile, is an elegant justification of classical Zionism.....

The editors Korn and Kalechofsky have not only re-released Parkes’ writing, but have ganished the text with a rich array of essays....”

Haim Chertok, author of James Parkes: He Also Spoke As A Jew

“Unlike other Christian theologians who saw Judaism only as the predecessor of Christianity he [Parkes] saw it as a living religion with the creation of Israel proof of its vitality. Years of Jewish study made it impossible for him to see the state as ‘a foreign intrusion in the middle east.’....Essays written fifty years ago have an extrordinary relevance: his efforts to rid Christianity of its theological anti Semitism and his attacks on ‘bad’ history made his works contentious and controversial....Interfaith efforts tend to focus on what Jews and Christians have in common; Parkes focused on their differences, and their right to be different. Whether or not it was his intention, he helps his readers understand the behavior of the Council of Churches, the Vatican, the United Nations, the indifference to the Holocaust while it was going on, and the struggle between Jews and Arabs at the moment....He was a reasonable man who expected others to be reasonable.”

Sylvia Rothchild, The Jewish Advocate

“Parkes was an Anglican minister who wrote extensively, and infuentially on Jewish-Christian relations and the situation of Jews in Israel especially their conflict with the Palestinians....The historical tie of Jews to the land of Israel and the fundamental role of ‘Palestinian Jewry...in shaping Jewish history’ are two of several avenues pursued in forming an understanding of the vital place of Israel in Jewish history, religion, and psychology. Parkes’ work and the elucidating commentaries aim not at resolutions for the conflict, but for understanding and comprehension of it--and in this they succeed estimably.”

Henry Berry, Henry’s Bookshelf, Reiewer’s Bookwatch

“Written by a British churchman and first published in 1954, End of An Exile: Israel, the Jews, and the Gentile World is a testimony in direct response to anti-Israel animosity perpetuated both then and fifty years later. Affirming Israel’s ‘right to exist’ on religious grounds, and analyzing the history of the land and its people through sociology and history, End of An Exile does not shy from problems the Middle East has faced, applying the author’s knowledge of demographics, immigration patterns, and cultural norms. The no-holds-barred of a ‘Christian Zionist’ before that term became widespread, End of An Exile is an important contribution to Judaic and Middle Eastern studies shelves, especially since it reminds readers of the long and complex history behind present day issues concerning Israel.”

Able Greenspan, Greenspan’s Bookshelf, Reviewer’s Bookwatch.

Reviews of 1983 Edition

"Parkes (d. 1981) was one of this century's lesser known but most significant human bridges. A passionate historian in a time deracinated by 'scientific' history....This reissue, thirty years after its initial publication, is enhanced by a valuable introductory essay by Roberta Kalechofsky which sets Parkes' lifetime study of the relationship between the Jews and the land of Israel, Christianity, and Christian Antisemitism into the context of his biography and the story of the Christian Zionist movement....His arguments for Zionism from the beginning were not only humanitarian and political but also essentially religious. He encouraged Jews to claim the Land on the basis of their continuous presence there, a presence which responded to a divine promise....Parkes' treatment of Judaism is sensitive to the unity and dynamic of Jewish history, which he perceived to be a dialectical movement between center and periphery, the Judaism of the Land and the Judaism of the Diaspora, exile and return....The prophetic qualities which Parkes attributes to the Jews as a whole in this book he exhibited himself in extraordinary measure."

"The memory of James Parkes..., the Christian scholar of Israel among the nations, has been worthily honoured by an American publisher, Dr. Roberta Kalechofsky...."

"When the record of resistance to religious hatred, with emphasis on the courageous who assumed leadership in the battles against anti-semitism, is fully chronicled, the name of James Parkes will be among those whose spiritual armor was the most effective."

"It was soon after the establishment of the State of Israel, with the controversies accompanying it, that Parkes wrote the book that he meant to be the Christian answer to the Arab case....[The Jewish case], he explained, rests not on the immediate political situation in which Britain made its promises about Palestine during World War l, 'but on the long history, little known even to many Jews, and not easy to assess in terms of political decision.' Realizing then that without some knowledge of that past association between the Jewish people and Palestine no fair judgment could be made, Parkes set out to trace the historical-religious roots of Israel."

The Jerusalem Post Magazine

"A new edition of the 1954 classic by Parkes....Parkes delineates the powerful forces of divine call, history and tradition among the Jews....A necessity for both college and seminary libraries."

Religious Studies Review