The Israel Group of Nations
- Title:
- The Israel Group of Nations
- Alternate Title:
- The Israel Group of Nations
- Collection:
- Persuasive Maps: PJ Mode Collection
- Creator:
- Rutherford, Adam
- Date:
- 1939
- Posted Date:
- 2024-04-25
- ID Number:
- 2555.01
- File Name:
- PJM_2555_01.jpg
- Style/Period:
- 1920 - 1939
- Subject:
- Ethnocentrism
Other Moral & Social
Religion - Measurement:
- 17 x 23 (centimeters, height x width)
- Notes:
- The collection includes three maps from Adam Rutherford's "Anglo-Saxon Israel," a book that sets out the views of the British Israelite movement. The movement has been described as a melange of "Protestant apocalypticism, British nationalism, New Age belief, and racial pseudo-science." Cottrell-Boyce 2021. According to the British Israelites, the white, Protestant people of Britain - including the British royal family - are directly descended from the Lost Tribes of Israel, specifically the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh. As such, these Protestant "Anglo Saxons," including Americans and others from the British Colonies, are divinely blessed and the inheritors of the biblical prophecies and promises bestowed on the descendants of Jacob and Joseph. From the end of the 19th century until World War II, the movement flourished in Britain and spread to the United States and Canada. See generally Kidd 2006, 43-44 & ch. 7. In the view of many historians and religious scholars, British Israelites "propagated a religious justification for white superiority," and "served to sanctify the British imperialist enterprise," as well as American Manifest Destiny and sometimes virulent anti-Semitism. Ibid 213-14, 220.
Rutherford sets out the Israelist view that "the rapid ascendency of the Anglo-Saxon Race in modern times has occurred at the exact time predicted" by the Bible, and that "there remain prophecies concerning this powerful group of Anglo-Celto-Saxon peoples due to be fulfilled in the near future." Rutherford p. ix. Rutherford's world map, "The Israel Group of Nations" (ID #2555.01), shows the "Territory Belonging to the Israel Nations" in dark red. This is primarily the British Empire plus the United States along with "Celtic" countries Denmark, Norway, Sweden, and Iceland. Finland appears to be the unique country in the light red category, "Other Regions - Partially Israel Stock."
Rutherford's work was first published in 1934. Following publication of the third edition in 1936, "a flood of light has been thrown upon the function and Divine mission of the small Icelandic branch of our great race," as well as "an astronomical confirmation of incalculable value establishing the Great Pyramid's chronological revelation." Rutherford p. ix. These developments led to a substantial enlargement of the fourth edition, published in 1939, including a new chapter entitled "The Special Call to Iceland" (pp. 715-764). Plate VII of the book, "British, Icelandic and Judaean Axes" (ID #2555.02), sets out purported ties between Judea and the Great Pyramid in the south and Iceland and the remote Scottish island of Iona.
The case of British Israelism is bolstered by evidence suggesting that Jesus himself was taken to England as a boy by Joseph of Arimathaea. Rutherford's map of "Jesus' Journey in Britain" (ID #2555.03) "shows the route taken by Jesus and Joseph of Arimathaea, as indicated by the coordination of all available data." Rutherford 189. And we are told that Jesus returned to Britain later, as a young man, along the same route, residing at Glastonbury "for a considerable time." Ibid.
The collection includes other British Israelite materials: Search > "Israelite".
For other examples of geographic and cartographic pseudo-science in the collection, Search > "pseudo*".
For other religious charts and timelines in the collection, Search > "Religious Charts."
Cornell University Library is pleased to present this digital collection of Persuasive Maps, the originals of which have been collected and described by the private collector PJ Mode. The descriptive information in the “Collector’s Notes” has been supplied by Mr. Mode and does not necessarily reflect the views of Cornell University. - Source:
- Rutherford, Adam. 4th ed. 1939. Anglo-Saxon Israel, or Israel-Britain. An Explanation of the Origin, Function and Destiny of the Norse-Anglo-Celto-Saxon Race in the British Empire, U.S.A., Holland, Scandinavia and Iceland. London: the Author.
- Format:
- Image
- Rights:
- For important information about copyright and use, see http://persuasivemaps.library.cornell.edu/copyright.