Secular Zionism reinterpreted theology rather than departing from it

Evidence

Secular Zionism was thus not separate from Jewish-Christian theology, but rather an interpretation of it based on the biblical promise and the Jewish prayer book. Not only was a theological dimension attached to the idea of the nation, but national secular consciousness itself was a kind of reinterpretation of the theological myth and the messianic principle. — Ivan Davidson Kalmar, Derek Penslar, Orientalism and the Jews, 641 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

These statements are interesting ones coming from consciously secular and even atheist figures. It illustrates a central element of the Zionist attitude: Mizrahi “secularism” seemed threatening because it was Arab secularism and reflected a different model of secularization and modernization. The notion of the “secular” in Zionist discourse was thus a cultural identity, European by definition. The “secular” and the “orientalist” are completely identical. — Ivan Davidson Kalmar, Derek Penslar, Orientalism and the Jews, 663 (#complicates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Benjamin secularized Jewish messianism into his Marxist theory of revolutionary time — Martin Jay, The Dialectical Imagination: A History…, 600; Zionism’s professed secularism carried hidden messianic theology — Nadim N. Rouhana and Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian, When Politics Are Sacralized:…, 300; Suppressing messianism produced a secular national theology that erased the land’s non-Jewish history (+32 more)

Broader Connections

• Secular Zionism reworked Jewish messianic theology rather than replacing it. #corroborates (1.00) — Ivan Davidson Kalmar, Derek Penslar, Orientalism and the Jews, 641
• Zionist secularism was a European cultural identity by definition #complicates (0.82) — Ivan Davidson Kalmar, Derek Penslar, Orientalism and the Jews, 663