Full Description
Christian concepts of the end times involve complex beliefs that have developed over the centuries. They range from popular ideas about the rapture when believers will be swept up to meet Christ in the air, to suspicions about the Antichrist who will deceive and enslave the world, to teachings about the millennium when Christ himself will return victoriously to earth to reign in peace for a thousand years. And Christians have disagreed, sometimes violently, on exactly how and when these events will occur - or whether they will occur at all.
With insightful and broad knowledge of the historical, religious and contemporary contexts of these writings, distinguished scholar Robert G. Clouse guides you through the fascinating and intricate world of apocalyptic literature. He examines key verses from Christian and Hebrew scriptures; visionary writings from Augustine and other Church Fathers; accounts of radical millennial movements of the 1600s; bold sermons from preachers such as Jonathan Edwards and Dwight L. Moody; and popular books circulating in our own day, including 1970s prophecy sensation The Late Great Planet Earth and the mega best-selling Left Behind novels.
Accessible facing-page commentary explains the apocalyptic writings for you even if you have no previous knowledge of Christian teachings on the end times. Will Christ come on the clouds in power and in judgment? Or is it up to us to usher in the golden age of the millennium? Or is the millennium spiritual, made real only within believers' hearts?
This book will help you understand the complex Christian visions of the end of the world.
Contents
Introduction ix
1. Biblical Foundations
The Seventy Weeks of Years
Increase in Apostasy
The Rapture
The Tribulation
Armageddon
The Millennium
The Last Judgment
2. Premillennialism and the Church Fathers
Papias
Irenaeus
Justin Martyr
Tertullian
Hippolytus
Commodianus
Lactantius
Origen
3. Augustine's Spiritualized Amillennialism
from The City of God
4. Radical Millennialist Movements and the Church's Response in the Medieval and Reformation Eras
Anabaptist Millennialism
John Calvin
Martin Luther
Guy de Bray
The English Congregational Church
5. Seventeenth-century Revival of Premillennialism
Johann Alsted
Joseph Mede
John Archer
John Rogers
Anna Trapnel
6. Eighteenth-century Postmillennialism
Daniel Whitby
Jonathan Edwards
7. Nineteenth-century Dispensationalism
John N. Darby
William E. Blackstone
Dwight L. Moody
8. Twentieth-century Developments
Cyrus I. Scofield
William S. McBirnie
Christabel Pankhurst
Dr. Leonard Sale-Harrison
9. Into the Twenty-first Century
Hal Lindsey
Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins
Notes
Glossary
Suggestions for Further Reading
