The Rev. Dr. Stephen Sizer is an acquaintance of mine (I would call him a friend, yet we have only chatted on Facebook) who has written two very fine books about the dangers of Christian Zionism and the many injustices that Zionist Israel inflicts on the Palestinian people.
After receiving his MA in theology from Oxford University he became a long-time vicar in the Church of England at Christ Church, Virginia Water, in Surrey, England. He retired from parish ministry in 2017.
He is now the director of the charitable organization Peacemaker Trust.
Dr. Sizer’s two books are Zion’s Christian Soldiers? The Bible, Israel and the Church, and Christian Zionism: Road-map to Armageddon?
Both books arise from Dr. Sizer’s doctoral research into the histories of
dispensational theology (to which Christian Zionism has always been a favored handmaiden), the emergence of political Zionism in
Europe and Israel, and the relationships between the them.
I am very happy (and somewhat proud) of the fact that the publisher of my forthcoming book on Christian Zionism is also the publisher now reissuing both of Dr. Sizer’s important works.
Let me say again that I highly recommend them both!
Zion’s Christian Soldiers? is available for order HERE from the Wipf & Stock publications website. The second book, Christian Zionism Road-map to Armageddon?, will also become available from Wipf & Stock in the near future. So, keep your eyes open.
So why are Dr. Sizer’s books being reissued?
Both books were originally published by Inter-Varsity Press in the UK. Dr. Sizer quickly became public enemy #1 for the Israel Lobby and other pro-Israel, pro-Zionist apologists who immediately set their sites on him as their next target.
Consequently, he has been viciously slandered and attacked by people who care less about facts than they do about winning.
I suspect that the publisher, IVP-UK, came under great pressure to withdraw these books from their catalogue. I know that Dr. Sizer endured a tremendously savage campaign of pro-Zionist opposition, including all manner of slander and false accusations.
While I confess that I have not been privy to the details, I strongly suspect that, in the end, profit margins proved more important than principle to the publishing powers at IVP-UK.
Which now makes it all the more important that Dr. Sizer’s work is being reissued by Wipf & Stock in the USA. Hip hip hurrah!
As the voice of the Holy Spirit once said to St. Augustine, “take up and read.”
I agree with the importance of being critical both of Christian Zionism and of the dispensational theology that undergirds it (and being critical of the latter for many, many more reasons beside this one!). However, I am dismayed to read of your suspicions concerning IVP-UK, all the more as they are just that — suspicions without a shred of evidence. IVP-UK, like IVP in the USA, is run by principled and honorable Christian sisters and brothers, and we should not air suspicions that are demeaning or dishonoring to them. We should approach them directly about our suspicions and give them an opportunity to answer.
I am too old and have been around the block too many times to still imagine that Christian businesses are necessarily morally superior to any others. I know that in all businesses the bottom line and brand recognition are what matters. The circumstances surrounding the decision to pull Sizer’s books put the matter in a very dubious light. IVP was under a public pressure campaign by pro-Israel, pro-Zionist activists to pull the books. Vicious, slanderous attacks against Sizer and his work were embroiled in the public hysteria stirred up at the time by the same organizations then launching baseless accusations of antisemitism against Jeremy Corbyn and the entire Labour Party. These slanders were proving very effective. Labour politicians were being kicked out of offices due to the specious, baseless, and libelous accusations. It helped to prevent Corbyn from winning the election. In the midst of this, IVP chooses to pull Sizer’s books, which are being attacked by the same forces for the same reasons. Yes, as I said, SUSPICIOUS is exactly the right word to use here.