The Republican primary candidate for the 2016 elections, Donald Trump, arrived at Liberty University on January 18, 2016, one week before the frst primaries in Iowa. He was introduced to the students by Jerry Falwell Jr., the university's president and son of Jerry Falwell Sr., who followed in his father's footsteps and echoed Reagan's visit to the campus in 1980. During the speech, where Trump was portrayed by the popular conservative broadcaster Sean Hannity as the “defender of Christianity,” the candidate pledged to defend believers in the United States and around the world. In that same speech, Trump explicitly responded to the dangers of the nuclear deal with Iran and even vowed to cancel it. The support he received from Falwell Jr. on the eve of the frst primaries held in Iowa on February 1, 2016, was of signifcant value. Falwell Jr.'s political stance and support of Trump were extensively discussed in the American media, mainly in terms of the damage such support could have on Republican Senator Ted Cruz from Texas, whose father was an Evangelical pastor and should have received this portion of the Republican Party voters in the primaries. “This support [for Trump, K.B.] is a blow to Ted Cruz, less than a week before the primaries in Iowa, in which he needed the support of conservative Christians.”

What Is the Church Planting Movement?

David Garrison defnes the Church Planting Movement as “rapidly multiplying indigenous churches planting churches that sweep across a people group or population segment […]” Garrison argues that the key to the Church Planting Movement is that it occurs at high and recurring rates, with a known and identical pattern of action, accelerating the local growth rate and aiming to reach the maximum number of people in the community. The second signifcant part is replicating the founding of churches from the home camp to increase the number of believers, which is why churches set goals to add more churches in the same city, district, or state in which they operate. Finally, there are additional parameters, such as the internal duplication of congregation members who set out to establish new churches in the same community and the possibility that these churches will be able to convey the message, thus changing the lives of devotees.

Jonathan Edwards puts his fnger down on Falwell's 1971 speech, called “The Church at Antioch,” which was spoken before a group of fundamentalist church leaders, as the speech that advocated for the church planting methodology. In this speech, Falwell distinguished between two types of churches. On the one hand, ethereal, transparent, universal and intangible churches attempted to conquer the entire world but lacked any members. He referred to them as universal churches, belonging to the national umbrella organization of churches that dealt with universal issues.

The intersection of religion and politics in the United States has often been a potent force, shaping not only domestic policies but also international relations. Among the many religious movements that have infuenced American politics, the rise of Christian Zionism stands out as a particularly powerful and complex phenomenon. This book, Jerry Falwell, Liberty University, Church Planting, and the Rise of Christian Zionism in the United States, delves into the life and legacy of Dr. Jerry Falwell, a man whose vision and actions have left an indelible mark on both American politics and the relationship between the United States and Israel.

This book is an extension of my doctoral dissertation, which was awarded by the University of Haifa in November 2023. The aim of this book is to provide a comprehensive examination of Dr. Falwell's impact on American politics, particularly through the lens of the church planting movement initiated by Liberty University graduates and the unique relationship Falwell cultivated with Israeli prime minister Menachem Begin.

From its inception, Liberty University was envisioned by Dr. Falwell as more than just an educational institution; it was to be a hub for training and mobilizing a new generation of Evangelical leaders who would carry forward the conservative Christian agenda. This agenda was not limited to domestic issues; it had a signifcant international dimension, particularly in its support for Israel. The book traces the roots of this movement, exploring how the Evangelical community in the United States, under Falwell's leadership, became one of the staunchest supporters of Israel, infuencing U.S. foreign policy in profound ways.

The Beginning of Jerry Falwell's Journey

Jerry Falwell (1933–2007) was a Fundamentalist Evangelical Baptist denomination pastor from Lynchburg, Virginia. He was born on August 11, 1933, into a family that sufered trauma. His father, Carey Falwell, killed his uncle, who was considered Lynchburg's “troublemaker.” This event shaped the future of his father and the rest of his family. Although the court acquitted his father, it did not change the course of his life. Instead, he became an alcoholic and sufered from it until his death. Jerry was only 15 years old at the time; however, his father's memory continued to shape his life over time. His father's fondness for alcohol was a signifcant trigger in his life to engage in the rescue and healing of alcoholism: “I believe that observing my father drinking heavily throughout my childhood has afected me, and that's why I have a hatred for that bitter drop, and why it has never been a problem in my personal life.” The Mother, Helen Falwell was an Evangelical Born-Again Christian who grew up in a family of 16 siblings, all working in their father's tobacco feld, harvesting tobacco leaves. Jerry's mother raised her children according to Evangelical Christian values, and he absorbed his love for Christianity from her. “I owe my personality to my mother; there's no question about it.

About the Decision to Enter Politics

Patricia A. Pingry, author of the book about Jerry Falwell, was asked: “How can it be that one person, who holds the answer for the nation's redemption, manages to convince people to surrender to GOD?” She answers that Falwell, a man who believed in GOD when he founded a church in an old bottle factory with 35 devotees, and since then, it has grown to 17,000 followers by 1980; a man who turned a 30-minute radio program into the most-watched televangelist program in the world; and a man who turned a college with a meager student body into a large university—never doubted how it should be done. Falwell is quoted saying:

In an age of unprecedented information access, the discovery of overlooked historical narratives becomes all the more remarkable. Dr. Kobby Barda's scholarship stands as just such an achievement—unearthing crucial yet forgotten connections that illuminate our present moment.

Where others have relied on assumptions about Evangelical-Jewish relations, Dr. Barda approached his research with extraordinary objectivity and scholarly persistence. What emerged from his meticulous investigation was not merely isolated historical fragments, but a rich tapestry revealing the depth and complexity of a once-unimaginable alliance: the profound friendship between hundreds of millions of Christians and the Jewish people worldwide.

By opening this new scholarly domain, Dr. Barda has revealed compelling narratives that demonstrate how Jewish-Christian relations have fundamentally shaped both modern Israel and America during its period of global preeminence. His initial discoveries provided the catalyst for my own doctoral research, allowing me to further develop crucial aspects of this historical relationship.

My life's work centers on transforming Jewish-Christian relations—particularly regarding the hundreds of millions of Christian Zionists—from sentimental goodwill into substantive partnership. In this mission, Dr. Barda's research proves invaluable. We must acknowledge uncomfortable truths: Jewish communities often question Christian motivations, while Christians frequently fail to recognize how history justifes such wariness. Yet Dr. Barda reveals that we stand at the threshold of a new era in this relationship.

Nathalie Carnes takes a fine selection of concrete examples from different times and cultures to show that material objects, icons, images, and art can be a natural extension of Christian worship. Through the incarnation and its continuation, they can carry a set of meanings that enhance and clarify the liturgy and make it a sensory reality in complementary ways.

Clare Johnson provides a careful discussion of the “other” six sacraments that the Roman Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church celebrate. Relying on the liturgical books themselves, she investigates their biblical roots, the logic behind their coherence, and their theological significance.

I begin by highlighting three characteristics that ancient elites imagined that enslaved persons ought to have: usefulness, loyalty, and property. I start by noting how discourses of enslavement and utility are intertwined. The Shepherd’s concern for utility is most clearly expressed in its two visions of a tower under construction, in which enslaved believers are represented as stones who will be useful (or not) for the construction of the tower before the eschaton. Second, I turn to the concept of loyalty (pistis), suggesting that the Shepherd uses such language in a way that encourages God’s enslaved persons to exhibit loyalty to God at all costs. Finally, I point to how enslaved persons in antiquity were often characterized as commodified by placing the Shepherd alongside inscriptions about enslaved people from Delphi and documentary correspondence. Not only does the Shepherd portray its protagonist Hermas as lacking bodily autonomy while being exchanged between divine actors, but the text also calls on God’s enslaved persons to purchase other enslaved people who are imagined to be their physical property (e.g., as houses, fields) when they arrive in God’s city.