The Jews in English Baptist Eschatology: Conversion, Restoration, and National Identity, 1649-1815

Ivan E. Mesa explores how English Particular Baptists held a unique view of the Jewish people within God's unfolding redemption. As Dissenters themselves, Baptists empathized with the Jewish plight and connected their philo-Semitism to a larger theological vision that anticipated the Jews' conversion and eventual return to the land of Israel. English Baptists viewed Jews as the people of God, "beloved for the fathers' sake" (Rom. 11:28). They believed the nation of Israel would one day experience a transformative conversion, aligning with God's covenantal promises. Through figures such as Henry Jessey, John Gill, Andrew Fuller, and Charles Spurgeon, the author demonstrates how these Baptists advocated for Jewish readmission to England, prayed for the Jews' conversion, and engaged in charitable work. This Baptist perspective was distinct and influential, demonstrating a millenarian zeal that connected religious, political, and cultural realms within England, with implications stretching as far as the establishment of the modern state of Israel in 1948. Mesa offers a fresh perspective on Christian-Jewish relations, moving beyond the established narratives of anti-Semitism and toward a more comprehensive understanding of philo-Semitic eschatology.