Abstract
This thesis examines the history of Jewish-Christian relations in Scotland from 1880-1948. It explores the changing role of the Jew in the Scottish religious consciousness by analyzing the concept of “saving Jews.” From the advent of Scottish missions to the Jews in 1839 until the early 1900s, “saving Jews” meant saving Jewish souls through conversion to Christianity. However, by the 1930s, “saving Jews” came to mean preserving Jewish life by supporting the establishment of a Jewish homeland in Palestine and by urging the British government to intervene in Nazi Germany. By the founding of the State of Israel in 1948, the Scottish evangelistic impulse had essentially been abandoned, and the Jewish and Christian communities in Scotland had developed a strong, sincere friendship. Yet, this shift was hardly a manifestation of Scottish Christian secularization. Rather, Scottish Christians viewed their ties to the Jewish community, their commitment to Zionism, and their efforts to fight antisemitism and Nazism as fundamental expressions of their Christian faith. Drawing on a large collection of primary sources including church records, Scottish and Jewish newspapers, interviews, autobiographies, and other archival documents, this thesis offers an alternative interpretation of the popular notion that secularization is always a benefit to the Jewish community.