James Q. Wilson writes trenchantly on the relationship between American Christians (mainly conservative Christians) and Jews - specifically, on the fact that while most evangelical and fundamentalist Christians report positive feelings about both Jews and Israel, most Jews tend to have negative feelings about Christian evangelists and fundamentalists.
Wilson opines that much of the Christian attraction is a result of dispensationalism. I am not so sure of that; as Evangelical Outpost correctly notes, non-dispensationalist Christians have the same positive feelings. I think it is more likely that American Christians view the Jews as a people in much the same light that the Romans viewed the Greeks - we came from them, they are our cultural fathers, we owe them reverence. It is not unnatural for Christians to feel that way; the historical and theological legacies are quite clear. It’s also pretty understandable that the affection is not returned; nobody likes to think of themselves as being supplanted, and while Jews might not think of themselves as supplanted, Christians have a tacit assumption that this is in fact the case. And demographically, of course, it’s pretty obvious. Judaism at the time of the founding of Christianity was a major world religion; something like 10% of the population of the Roman Empire was Jewish, and Jews thrived elsewhere as well.
