Theodor Herzl Knew More about Early Christian Zionism Than Anyone Realized

In 1891, an American evangelical lay leader named William Blackstone wrote a memorandum (or “memorial”) calling for the U.S. to take an active role in working toward the restoration of the Jewish people in their ancient homeland, collected the signatures of 413 of America’s most prominent people, and delivered it to then-President Benjamin Harrison. This was a full five years before Theodor Herzl published The Jewish State. Historians have generally assumed that Blackstone’s efforts were little known in Europe, and that Herzl only found out about them later on. Philip Earl Steele has found evidence to the contrary. Of equal importance, he notes the influence on Blackstone of the pre-Herzlian Zionist movement that began in Russia in the 1880s: