BRITISH-ISRAELISM

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 79, Issue 306, 31 December 1935, Page 5

BRITISH-ISRAELISM

BISHOPS’ PASTORAL WARNING TO ANLGICANS A warning to the people of the Anglican Church in New Zealand against what they describes a* “the views which are being widely propogated under the name of BritishIraelism” has been issued by Archbishop Averill and the six Bishops in New Zealand in a pastoral letter published in the Church Gazette. The signatories to lhe pastola are Bishop Averill, and Mishops /WestWatson (Christchurch), Sprott (Wellington), Cherrington (Waikato), Williams (Waiapu), Fitch-ell (Dunedin., and Hilliard (Nelson). “We, the Arrhbirhop and Bishops of the Anglican Church in New Zealand, desire to warn our people against the views which are being widely propagated under the name of BritishIsrael ism,’’ the Bishops state. “Without reflecting on the sincerity of those who are pressing these views with such earnestness, we must nevertheless record our cc-nbictions that the views in question are founded on grave misinterpretations of Scripture, of history, of ethnology, and of language.

“A Question of Fact.” • Whiie the holding of them as a speculation may not be incompatible with loyal churchinanship, yet the adoption of them as a cult or as a master-key to the understanding of iXj Bible and of God’s plan for the world docs in our opinion seriously upset the proportion ot the Christian faith. “A question of this kind is a question of fact, not of assumption. The British-Israel theory appears to ns to begin with the assumption that the Britirli are Israel, and then to go on to interpret Scripture and to seek for or assert facts to support th-e assumption. When brought to the ‘acid test’ of facts the theory fails.” Jn outlining their reasons for this statement, tne Bishops state that they believe that historically the theory jests on a misconception, as th-eie was no deportation of the ten tribes en masse. They freely acknowledge that Jewish exiles and Jewish merchants wandered far and wide, and add that there ie nothing, except lack of evidence, to prevent them believing that Jews had travelled as far as the British Isles, though as a race Jews had no Jove for the sea. • THE KEYSTONE OF THE .. THEORY.” • But,” the Bishops continue, “we believe it to be historically impossible to accept the Britich-lsrael belief that in less than .100 years the comparatively small band of disillusioned and scattered Israelite exiles should have changed their religious, racial, and cultural and even facial characteristics, and bav-e then appeared as the va*?t nomad horde of expert horsemen and bowmen known as {Scythians, who terrorised Eastern Europe and Media, in turn. ‘•And yet this is the keystone of the British-Israelite theory. ‘•We believe that, subconsciously, the pacsionate desire to prove the British race part of the so-called ‘lost ten tribes’ is largely inspired by a sense of racial destiny, and a desire to claim permanence for the prominent position in lhe world now held by the British peoples,” state.? the Bishops. “The British-Israel belief is, in our opinion, a ‘throw-back’ to the ideas [and aspirations of the old ( ovenant and a failure Io realise that in Christ all things have become new. It does not explain, but rather confounds, the Bible mCrsagc of salvation. “We issue this solemn warning because we are convinced that many of our people, and notably some of those most devoted to the Scriptures, are being induced to accept an interpretation of those Scriptures which is quite at variance with the ‘good news’ proclaimed by Our Lord and His A por ties.” .