History
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Proto-Dispensationalism
Advocates of dispensationalism have sought to find similar views of dispensations in Church history, referencing theologians or groups such as Francisco Ribera, the Taborites, Joachim of Fiore, Denis the Carthusian and others.[29][30] Joachim's theory of three stages of human history has been argued to have anticipated the later dispensationalist view of organizing history into different dispensations.[7]: 65 Joachim's stages were divided into the "Age of the Father" which was under the Law, the "Age of the Son" which was a period of tribulation, and the "Age of the Spirit" which was a period of bliss on earth.[31]: 155 Fra Dolcino taught Fiore's theory of the stages of history, and dispensationalists Mark Hitchcock and Thomas Ice have suggested that Dolcino's teaching was of a pretribulational rapture.[31]: 157 The relevant teaching was that when Antichrist appears, Dolcino and his followers would be taken away and preserved from Antichrist, and that following the death of Antichrist, Dolcino and his followers would return to Earth to convert those then living to the true faith.[31] However, this actually comes from an anonymous 1316 Latin text titled The History of Brother Dolcino and it is uncertain as to whether this came directly from Dolcino.[31]: 158-159
William C. Watson argued that multiple 17th century theologians anticipated dispensational views, he argued that Ephraim Huit and John Birchensa in his The History of Scripture published in 1660 taught that God has differing plans for Jews and Gentiles. He also argued that Nathaniel Holmes taught a pretribulational rapture.[29]
Pierre Poiret has been said to have been the first theologian to develop a dispensationalist system, writing a book titledThe Divine Economy. Poiret taught that history should be organized into multiple dispensations in which God works with humans in different ways, including the millennium as a future dispensation.[32] Poiret's eschatology includes a belief in two resurrections, the rise of the Antichrist and the nation of Israel being regathered, restored and converted.[6][29] Poiret divided history into seven dispensations, early childhood (ended in the Flood), childhood (ended in Moses's ministry), boyhood (ended in Malachi), youth (ended in Christ), manhood (most of the Church), old age ("human decay", meaning the last hour of the Church), and the restoration of all things (the Millennium, includes literal earthly reign of Christ with Israel restored).[7]: 65
Isaac Watts presented a dispensational view in a forty-page essay titled The Harmony of All the Religions Which God Ever Prescribed to Men and All His Dispensations Towards Them.[33] Charles Ryrie points out that Scofield's outline of dispensationalism, with the exception of the millennium, is exactly that of Watts, and not Darby.[7]: 67
Edward Irving in some ways anticipated dispensationalism. He used a literal approach to prophetic interpretation, he believed in a restoration of national Israel, he believed there would be a great apostasy and that Christ would return to establish a literal earthly kingdom.[6] However, he also preached that Christ had a fallen nature, which led to him being defrocked by the Scots Presbyterians.[6][34]
Formalization by Darby
Dispensationalism developed as a system from the teachings of John Nelson Darby, considered by some to be the father of dispensationalism (1800–1882),[22]: 10, 293 who strongly influenced the Plymouth Brethren of the 1830s in Ireland and England. The original concept came when Darby considered the implications of Isaiah 32 for Israel. He saw that prophecy required a future fulfillment and realization of Israel's kingdom. The New Testament church was seen as a separate program not related to that kingdom. Thus arose a prophetic earthly kingdom program for Israel and a separate "mystery" heavenly program for the church. In order to not conflate the two programs, the prophetic program had to be put on hold to allow for the church to come into existence. Then it is necessary for the church to be raptured away before prophecy can resume its earthly program for Israel.[35]
In Darby's conception of dispensations, they relate exclusively to the divine government of the earth. The Mosaic dispensation continues as a divine administration over earth up until the return of Christ, and the church, being a heavenly designated assembly, is not associated with any dispensations.[36]
While his Brethren ecclesiology failed to catch on in America, his eschatological doctrine became widely popular in the United States, especially among Baptists and Old School Presbyterians.[37]: 317
Expansion and growth
Dispensationalism was introduced to North America by James Inglis (1813–1872) through the monthly magazine Waymarks in the Wilderness, published intermittently between 1854 and 1872.[38]: 100–102 During 1866, Inglis organized the Believers' Meeting for Bible Study, which introduced dispensationalist ideas to a small but influential circle of American evangelicals.[38]: 132–133 They were disturbed by the inroads of religious liberalism and saw premillennialism as an answer. Dispensationalism was introduced as a premillennial position, and it largely took over the fundamentalist movement over a period of several decades. The American church denominations rejected Darby's ecclesiology but accepted his eschatology.[38]: 101 Many of these churches were Baptists and Old School Presbyterians, and they retained Darby's Calvinistic soteriology.[37]: 317
After Inglis's death, James H. Brookes (1830–1898), the pastor of Walnut Street Presbyterian Church in St. Louis, Missouri, organized the Niagara Bible Conference (1876–1897) to continue the dissemination of dispensationalist ideas. Brookes was well known within millenarian circles as a prominent speaker for the Believers' Meeting for Bible Study conferences and having written for Inglis's Waymarks in the Wilderness.[38]: 134
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Brethren theologian C. H. Mackintosh had a profound influence on Dwight L. Moody (1837–1899).[39][40]: 49 Moody worked with Brookes and other dispensationalists and encouraged the spread of dispensationalism.[40]: 46–47 It was during this time that dispensational doctrine became widely accepted by American evangelicals.[41]: vi It also marked a shift in dispensational theology from Darby's Calvinist and doctrinal rigor to a non-Calvinist view of human freedom in personal salvation under evangelists like Moody.[19]: 46
Other prominent dispensationalists in this period include Reuben Archer Torrey (1856–1928), James M. Gray (1851–1925), William J. Erdman (1833–1923), A. C. Dixon (1854–1925), A. J. Gordon (1836–1895), and William Eugene Blackstone (1841–1935). These men were active evangelists who promoted a host of Bible conferences and other missionary and evangelistic efforts. They also gave the dispensationalist philosophy institutional permanence by assuming leadership of new independent Bible institutes, such as the Moody Bible Institute during 1886, the Bible Institute of Los Angeles (now Biola University) during 1908, and Philadelphia College of Bible (now Cairn University, formerly Philadelphia Biblical University) during 1913. The network of related institutes that soon developed became the nucleus for the spread of American dispensationalism. Torrey served as first superintendent of the Bible Institute of the Chicago Evangelization Society (now Moody Bible Institute) when it formally opened in 1889.[42]
Although the revivalist evangelicals such as Moody and Torrey did not believe the gift of tongues continued past the Apostolic age, their emphasis on the baptism of the Holy Spirit merged well with holiness ideas. This encouraged the spread of dispensationalism within the Pentecostal movement.[19]: 94
During this time, E. W. Bullinger began teaching what became known as "ultradispensationalism" or "Bullingerism", Bullinger taught that the Church did not begin until Acts 28, that the Lord's Supper and water baptism were for Jewish believers, and that Paul's epistles were written to the Jews.[21]
Scofield and his influence
A disciple of James Brookes, Cyrus Scofield, began attending the Niagara conferences and became an advocate of premillennialism, specifically pre-tribulationism.[38]: 223 After several years of work, in 1909, Scofield introduced dispensationalism to a wider audience in America by his Scofield Reference Bible. The publication of the Scofield Reference Bible during 1909 by the Oxford University Press for the first time displayed overtly dispensationalist notes on the pages of the biblical text. The Scofield Bible became a popular Bible used by independent Evangelicals in the United States.[38]: 222–224 The premillennialism of the Scofield Reference Bible led to a pessimistic social view within evangelicalism, to "not polish the brass rails on the sinking social ship", focusing the evangelism of saving the lost rather than expanding Christendom.[41]: 5
The Scofield Reference Bible came out at the apex of Bullinger's influence. Scofield's Bible confronted some of the ultradispensationalists' (Bullingerites) positions, specifically, the divisions of dispensational time, and as the Scofield Bible became popular among dispensationalists, it marginalized the hyperdispensationalist position in the United States.[5]
Having been influenced by Scofield, evangelist and Bible teacher Lewis Sperry Chafer (1871–1952) along with his brother, Rollin Chafer, founded Evangelical Theological College in 1924. The school would eventually become the Dallas Theological Seminary, which has become the main institution of dispensationalism in America.[43] The Baptist Bible Seminary in Clarks Summit, Pennsylvania became another dispensational school.
The Fundamentals
In the 1910s, another publication took hold within American evangelicalism. A twelve-volume publication known as The Fundamentals was published between 1910 and 1915 by the Testimony Publishing Company. Managed by an executive committee of dispensationalists including Clarence Dixon and Rueben Torrey, The Fundamentals helped solidify dispensationalism within American Christian fundamentalism and the evangelical movement.[5]
The Scopes trial in 1925 served to unify the fundamentalists, and with them, dispensationalism. However, very shortly after, fundamentalism as a movement began to decline. Scopes trial prosecutor and public face of the fundamentalist movement William Jennings Bryan died a week after the verdict, and H. L. Mencken portrayed supporters of the verdict as largely uneducated. In Bryan's absence, a decentralizing of the movement began. The fate of dispensationalism was tied to the breakdown in fundamentalism.[5]
In 1928, Philip Mauro, seeking to re-invigorate the fundamentalist movement, pointed the finger at dispensationalism, and in the process coined the term. He alleged the view was more recent than Darwinism and that it eroded the fundamental truths of scripture, singling it out as the source of division within the larger fundamentalist movement.[5]
Evangelical Theological College acquired the historical theological journal Bibliotheca Sacra in 1934. In its pages, Lewis Chafer first publicly declared that he was a dispensationalist. In 1936, Chafer published a 60-page response to the criticisms of Mauro and other fundamentalists entitled Dispensationalism. That same year, Chafer renamed his school Dallas Theological Seminary.[5]
Through the 1930s and 1940s, the conflict within fundamentalism continued between dispensationalists and covenantalists, leading to permanent divisions within fundamentalism, ultimately giving shape to the entire fundamentalist movement.[5]
Influence of Dallas Theological Seminary
By the mid 20th century, dispensationalism was being promoted by evangelical stalwarts such as Charles Feinberg, J. Dwight Pentecost, Herman Hoyt, Charles Ryrie, and John Walvoord.[5][44]: 269 All of them either studied or taught at Dallas Theological Seminary.[5] Pentecost taught at DTS for more than 60 years, and published one of the primary works on dispensational eschatology, Things to Come (1956). During this time period, Ryrie published what has become the primary introduction to dispensational theology, Dispensationalism Today (1965).[5]
Furthering the rift between covenantalism and dispensationalism, Ryrie wrote in Bibliotheca Sacra in 1957 that dispensationalism is "the only valid system of Biblical interpretation". In 1959, Walvoord stated that all non-dispensationalists, including Catholics and mainline Protestants, offered no defense against modernism and that they were under the influence of hermeneutical and theological errors.[5]
Throughout this period, the influence of DTS was growing as other schools and seminaries hired DTS graduates as faculty. In 1970, DTS graduate Hal Lindsey published The Late Great Planet Earth that would launch dispensational eschatology beyond anything previous. His book sold 10 million copies and made "rapture" and the "tribulation" household terms.[5]
Pop prophecy
With the success of Late Great Planet Earth, the rapture theology of dispensationalism triggered a flood of books. Lindsey released Satan is Alive and Well on Planet Earth (1972), There's a New World Coming (1973), and The Liberation of Planet Earth (1974). Other books included The Beginning of the End (1972) by Tim LaHaye, and DTS graduate Thomas McCall's Satan in the Sanctuary (1973) and Raptured (1975).[5] In 1972, Iowa filmmakers Russell Doughten and Donald W. Thompson released A Thief in the Night, a fictional film about the aftermath of the rapture that has been seen by an estimated 300 million people.[45] Televangelist Jack van Impe covered current events in light of Bible prophecy with a dispensational premillennialist spin.[46]
Emergence of the Christian Right
The late 20th century marked a change from the separatism of earlier in the century to one of more political engagement through the emergence of the Christian Right, rooted in the dispensational theology that Israel is at the center of God's purpose in the world.[44]: 270
In 1978, dispensationalist television evangelist Jerry Falwell began making trips to Israel that were sponsored by the Israeli government. He became the first major American political figure to insist that the U.S. must support Israel for the fate of the nation.[47] Falwell listed Feinberg, Pentecost, Hoyt, and Walvoord as his primary influences.[44]: 269 In 1979, Falwell, along with Tim LaHaye, founded the Moral Majority with the objective to get people saved, baptized, and registered to vote.[48]: 354 The Moral Majority also provided a platform of political activism.
Due in large part to the influence of dispensational premillennialism, the Moral Majority advocated for pro-Israel U.S. foreign policy positions, including protection of the Jewish people in Israel and continued aid for the state of Israel.[49][50] Opposed to Jimmy Carter's affirmation of a Palestinian homeland, the Moral Majority endorsed Ronald Reagan for President in 1980.[51] In Reagan, they found a candidate that shared their apocalypticism. Reagan had read Hal Lindsey's The Late Great Planet Earth and it is suggested that his Middle East policies were driven by this eschatological view.[47]: 43 [52]: 177 In an interview with televangelist Jim Bakker, Reagan stated that "[w]e may be the generation that sees Armageddon".[53]: 355 Dispensational theology affected more than just Middle East foreign policy in the Reagan administration. James G. Watt, a member of the Assemblies of God and Reagan's first Secretary of the Interior, stated to Congress that preservation of the environment was made irrelevant due to the imminent return of Christ.[54]: 148
In 1980, Hal Lindsey wrote a follow-up to his Late Great Planet Earth titled The 1980s: Countdown to Armageddon. Previously, Lindsey had not drawn a connection from a Christian's personal obligations to their responsibility for social change. But this changed with The 1980s. He began encouraging his readers to elect moral leaders who would reflect that morality within government, an agenda closely aligned with the administration of Ronald Reagan.[5]
Tim LaHaye, who was a lifelong fundamentalist and dispensationalist, became a primary figure in the Christian Right.[5] He served as head of the Moral Majority for a time and in the mid-eighties created the American Coalition for Traditional Values. In 1987, he served as co-chairman of Republican Jack Kemp's presidential campaign, until it was reported that he had called Catholicism "a false religion".[55]
Peak and decline
By the 1990s, a younger generation of academics emerged as "progressive dispensationalists", presenting a rift in the united front that Ryrie had advocated for in Dispensationalism Today (1965). This school of thought was led by Craig A. Blaising, Darrell Bock, Kenneth Barker, and Robert L. Saucy.[5]
After the influence of dispensationalism within the New Christian Right grew into the 1990s and building on the success of Hal Lindsey's The Late Great Planet Earth, the 1995 novel Left Behind pushed pop prophecy to further commercial success.[5][56]: 3 Conceived by Tim LaHaye and written by Jerry B. Jenkins, the book spawned a multimedia franchise of 16 books as well as multiple movies, video games, and other spinoff works. The series brought dispensational premillennialism into the mainstream.[56]: 3
As with Reagan in the 1980s, the New Christian Right helped elect another 'born again' president, George W. Bush, who, like Reagan, spoke in terms of prophecies being fulfilled in a way that had meaning to dispensationalists.[5] Bush referenced Gog and Magog in the War on Terror and stated that the confrontation was "willed by God, who wants to use this conflict to erase His people's enemies".[57]
Dispensational ideas were experiencing commercial success, but the primary standard-bearers of dispensationalism had become Hal Lindsey and Tim LaHaye who were different from their academic predecessors John Walvoord, Dwight Pentecost, and Charles Ryrie.[5] By the 2010s, the movement had peaked and was largely in decline within academic settings.[5] A 2009 survey of Southern Baptist seminaries showed that the majority view was covenantal, and that flagship Southern Baptist Theological Seminary had no dispensationalists within its faculty.[5][58]
While dispensationalism collapsed in academic areas, its cultural influence remained. Dispensational ideas continue within the culture. A 2004 Newsweek poll indicated that 55 percent of Americans believe that Christians will be taken up in the Rapture.[59] By the turn of the 21st century, the term "dispensationalism" had become synonymous with "sectarian fundamentalism" and came to be more of a political perspective than a set of theological doctrines.[5]
