Author: Fazio James, Marsh, Cory
Genre: Theology - Dispensationalism
Tags: Dispensationalism
Series:
Rick Shrader‘s Review:
This is a recent book (2013) edited by Cory Marsh and James Fazio. It is a good book on the history of dispensationalism that confirms that dispensationalism did not begin with John Nelson Darby (1800-1882) although Darby did organize and systematize it. This book begins with the church fathers and follows church history, in 13 chapters, up to the 21st century. You might recognize some of the authors: Paul Hartog on the Nicene Era; William Watson on the Medieval Era; Mark Snoeberger on the Pre-Darby era; Larry Pettegrew on “Transition across the Atlantic;” Thomas Ice on the Golden Years (1900-1930); and then Darrell Bock ont the Progressive Movement. In the chapter on John Nelson Darby himself, Max S. Weremchuk writes, “It is clear that Darby did not develop his ideas in a vacuum. Regardless of how original or novel he might have been he did not receive some revelation separated from all that happened before him or was taking place around him . . . Darby was able to sift, sort, filter, and ultimately settle upon a resolution which answered the questions of this day; thus, reducing the theological chaos to a semblence of order” (p. 206). Especially enlightening were: Paul Hartog on premillennial and related issues among the church fathers; Weremchuk on Darby’s life and how he went from Anglican to start the Brethren movement; Pettegrew on the Bible Conference movement, especially the Niagara conferences; and Thomas Ice on the developing years of the twentieth century, that dispensationalism was first promoted in America by Reformed thinkers whose postmillennialism did not square with Scripture or history, but who were very Calvinistic. As a whole, this is a good book helping to set right various misconceptions and legends about dispensationalism.