I was wondering if I could get someone to catigorize some major theologians into their Eschatological view. The two catigories that I would like to use would be amillennialism and postmillennialism. I'm not really concerned who holds to the premillennialism eschatology. Some names that I would be interested in would be, Calvin, Murray, Owen, Baxter, Boston, Pink, Ryle, Spurgeon, Vos, Edwards, Warfield, Watson, Hodge, Bahnsen, Sprule, Piper, Packer, Hendriksen and so on... I would like to try to understand Eschatology a little better.
I was also wondering if anyone would like to share their Eschatological views and how and why a better understanding of this might be important to someones overall faith?
I've also been looking at a book and I was wondering if anyone had any opinions on it. "A Case for Amillennialism" by Kim Riddlebarger?
Thanks.
Dave.
Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified. - Galatians 2:16
You might be interested in Warfield's view. I believe he was a postmillenialist while he was alive. I think this maybe published in several books. The book I have is the Princeton Theology 1812-1921, by Mark Noll.
I was also wondering if anyone would like to share their Eschatological views and how and why a better understanding of this might be important to someones overall faith?
This is one area I would like to explore more some day too. With all of the stuff I'd like to read I'm not sure if I'll ever get there. I would say I'm dispensationalist because this is what I've been taught. That's an interesting question of why understanding all of this would be important to one's faith. From where I stand right now I've seen it be almost "divisive". I'm thinking of one particular person I know. She loves John MacArthur. He's dispensationalist. She's looking for a new church. She won't even consider a church that would have an amillenial view. Now me on the other hand I would be open to attending such a church I think. Maybe I would think different after fully exploring this topic. I don't know. What strikes me at this point is the way different interpretations between amillenialism and dispensationalism. (I just have a general understanding between these two views and that's it for me). Am I correct in that dispensationalism began somewhere around the 1800s or so??? I'm curious about the history of this view. Can someone give a little insight here?
John Nelson Darby (1800-1882) and then Scofield synthesized most of the beliefs that make up dispensational theology. Thus, Dispensationalism in its earliest form was born among the Plymouth Brethren, though there is evidence of a pretribulational eschatology in such sermons as "On the Last times, the Antichrist, and the End of the World." Ephraem the Syrian (306-373 a.d.) asserted that at the imminent coming of the Lord "all saints and the elect of the Lord are gathered together before the tribulation which is about to come and are taken to the Lord." (Grant R. Jeffrey, "A Pretrib Rapture Statement in the Early Medieval Church," When the Trumpet Sounds, pp. 110-111). Others "claim" Justin Martyr (A.D. 110-165), Iranaeus (A.D. 130-200), Clement of Alexandria (A.D. 150-220), Augustine (A.D. 354-430), and then Pierre Poiret (1646-1719), John Edwards (1637-1716), and Isaac Watts (1674-1748) supported primitive or early dispensational concepts... (The Moody Handbook of Theology by Paul Ennis). Big Mac has his own form of dispy....
Eschatology impacts many other issues in theology and thus "must" be studied to remain balanced elsewhere. As you study dispy balance it with a good study of CT which hopefully will reveal the errors of the dispy hermeneutic.
