A ‘‘Practical Outlet’’ to Premillennial Faith: G. Douglas Young and the Evolution of Christian Zionist Activism in Israel Daniel G. Hummel Introduction ‘‘The Old Testament makes it clear,’’ wrote the evangelical George Douglas Young in 1960, ‘‘that there is a future for the Jewish people.’’ 1 This sentiment, shared widely among American evangeli- cals in the 1960s, only increased in the aftermath of the Arab-Israeli War in June 1967, which saw the state of Israel expand its borders to more closely resemble those of Old Testament Israel. Evangelical Christians around the world marveled at Israel’s military victory, but few did so with as much at stake as the fifty-seven-year-old, Canadian-born Young. In the spring of 1967, Young moved his life’s work, the American Institute of Holy Land Studies, from its original small property in West Jerusalem to the Bishop Gobat School, an abandoned nineteenth-century Anglican complex next to the Old City’s southern wall on Mount Zion. Straddling the line between East and West Jerusalem, the school’s new campus sat squarely in the war’s crossfire. For six days of fighting, Young and his students aided the Israeli war effort. They drove ambulances, served meals to soldiers, and prayed for Israel’s survival. After Israel annexed East Jerusalem, Young gladly remarked that the new campus ‘‘could not possibly be more central to both halves of the city.’’ 2 G. Douglas Young was an evangelical Christian and a self- described Christian Zionist; he supported the state of Israel because of his Christian beliefs, rooted in his interpretation of the Bible and under- standing of Jewish-Christian relations. He undoubtedly subscribed to dispensational premillennialism, a system of theology popular among evangelicals that elevated the role of Jews in biblical prophecy and divine history. 3 But he was also an enthusiastic participant in Jewish- Christian dialogue in Israel. He regarded his institute not just as Religion and American Culture: A Journal of Interpretation, Vol. 25, Issue 1, pp. 37–81, ISSN: 1052-1151, electronic ISSN: 1533-8568.  2015 by The Center for the Study of Religion and American Culture. All rights reserved. Please direct all requests for permission to photocopy or reproduce article content through the University of California Press website at http://www. ucpressjournals.com/reprintinfo.asp. DOI: 10.1525/rac.2015.25.1.37.