The ideas that inspired American Christian Zionism

Whether or not you believe in - or even know about "the Rapture", "the Tribulation", "the End Times", and "Armageddon", your life is influenced by the idea that Jesus Christ will not only return, he’ll go to Jerusalem, and from there, for exactly one thousand years, he’ll rule the world. Yet, this concept is not in the Bible...at least not directly. But a bible, published in America in 1909, and written by an American made it the most influential concepts in American Christian fundamentalism. The story of the Scofield Reference Bible is an extraordinary one. Not least because it lies at the heart of Christian Zionism which is more consequential today than ever. GUESTS: Professor Donald Akenson is from Queen's University in Ontario, his latest book The Americanization of the Apocalypse: Creating America's Own Bible. Dr Robyn Whitaker is Associate Professor of New Testament at Melbourne’s University of Divinity – among her titles Revelation for Normal People.