Berkhof’s view that the modern state of Israel cannot claim the blessing of eschatological promise because of its militant nationalism, its commitment to the ideology of Zionism, which excludes the prophetic witness of Martin Buber and other pathfinders who challenge the appeal to ethnocentrism. The repossession of the land of Israel is quite another question, since biblical prophecy gives credence to this particular hope. Yet unless the return of Israel to the land of Zion leads to the acceptance