ABSTRACT
Gush Emunim (bloc of the faithful) is both a product of, and an active participant in, helping to shape significant changes in contemporary Israeli political culture. It is a movement that has sought to achieve religious ends through political means, and that has justified extraparliamentary and illegal political actions through the evocation of religious sentiment and authority. To categorize such a movement as either religious or political, or even simply to combine the two terms, inadequately characterizes its complex nature. Even when social scientific concepts, such as charismatic, messianic, and revitalization movements, are employed in the analysis to explain various characteristics of Gush Emunim, these terms must be adapted by emphasizing the unique attributes of the movement, as well as those that it shares with others.
