Church, State, and the Holy Land: British Protestant Approaches to Imperial Policy in Palestine, 1917–1948

Year 2025, Volume: 3 Issue: 1, 13 - 34, 01.01.2025

Translator: Celal Öney

Abstract

British Protestants had long held to the notion of a legitimate Protestant interest in the Christian ‘Holy Land’, a concept that helped bolster Britain’s political claim to Palestine in the aftermath of the First World War. Evangelical Protestant visions of the return of the Jews to their biblical homeland encouraged imperial support for Zionism and helped define the unique conditions of British mandate rule. But once the British actually assumed power over Palestine, British Protestants began to find themselves seriously at odds over their moral and political obligations in the new possession their interests had helped to shape. This article explores three broad Protestant attitudes towards the question of Britain’s policy towards Palestine during the mandate period, demonstrating the ways in which Lambeth Palace, Protestant metropolitan mission institutions, and Protestant church workers in Palestine itself developed radically different conceptions of their religious and political responsibilities in what they regarded as their ‘Holy Land’.

Keywords

Church, State, Ottoman, Protestantism, Holy Land, England

Kilise, Devlet Ve Kutsal Topraklar: Filistin’de İngiliz İmparatorluk Politikasına Protestan Yaklaşımlar, 1917- 1948

Abstract

İngiliz Protestanlar, Birinci Dünya Savaşı sonrasında İngiltere’nin Filistin üzerindeki siyasi iddiasını güçlendirmeye yardımcı bir kavram olan Kutsal Topraklar’a yönelik meşru bir Protestan ilgisi kavramına uzun süredir bağlıydı. Yahudilerin İncil’deki anavatanlarına dönüşüne dair Evanjelik Protestan vizyonları, Siyonizm’e yönelik imparatorluk desteğini teşvik etti ve İngiliz manda yönetiminin kendine özgü koşullarının tanımlanmasına yardımcı oldu. Ancak İngilizler, Filistin’de fiilen iktidarı ele geçirdikten sonra, İngiliz Protestanlar, çıkarlarının şekillenmesine yardımcı olan yeni topraklardaki ahlaki ve siyasi yükümlülükleri konusunda, ciddi anlaşmazlıklar yaşamaya başladılar. Bu makale, manda döneminde İngiltere’nin Filistin politikasına yönelik üç geniş Protestan tutumunu incelemekte ve Lambeth Sarayı’nın, Protestan metropoliten misyon kurumlarının ve Filistin’deki Protestan kilise çalışanlarının ‘Kutsal Topraklar’ olarak gördükleri yerde dini ve siyasi sorumluluklarına dair radikal biçimde farklı anlayışlar geliştirdiklerini göstermektedir.

Keywords

Kilise, Devlet, Osmanlı, Protestanlık, Kutsal Topraklar, İngiltere

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