Responsibilities And Dispensations

The purpose of this book is to describe the historical setting out of which dispensationalism has grown, to establish what dispensationalism is, and to point out its implications for contemporary church life. Beginning with a survey of the major features of dispensationalism in relation to the historic beliefs of the church, the book then examines the origins of dispensationalism in the thinking of John Nelson Darby.What kind of man was Darby? What were the circumstances in which his theology was fashioned? What were the practical consequences of his theology of the church for his own day? Dr. Bass offers well-founded answers to these questions, helping readers make their own evaluations about dispensationalism.Dr. Bass traces the development of Darby's thought and practice through the Plymouth Brethren movement. He clearly demonstrates how Darby not only introduced new theological concepts, but new principles of interpretation. This emerging system of interpretation, with its particular chronology of future events, has largely informed the popular Left BehindÓ eschatology. In this light, it is clear that Bass's discussion of Darbyite dispensationalism is just as relevant as when his book first came out in 1960.This study is the result of an intensive and exhaustive search for accuracy of detail with a fair, non-argumentative style. Those wishing to do further research will appreciate his classified bibliography regarding dispensational literature.

Dispensationalism emerged in the twentieth century as a hugely influential force in American religion and soon became one of America's most significant religious exports. By the close of the century it had developed into a global religious phenomenon claiming millions of adherents. As the most common form of contemporary prophecy belief, dispensationalism has played a major role in transforming religion, politics, and pop culture in the U.S. and throughout the world. Despite its importance and continuing appeal, scholars often reduce dispensationalism to an anti-modern, apocalyptic, and literalist branch of Protestant fundamentalism. In Dispensational Modernism, B. M. Pietsch argues that, on the contrary, the allure of dispensational thinking can best be understood through the lens of technological modernism. Pietsch shows that between 1870 and 1920 dispensationalism grew out of the popular fascination with applying engineering methods -- such as quantification and classification -- to the interpretation of texts and time. At the heart of this new network of texts, scholars, institutions, and practices was the lightning-rod Bible teacher C. I. Scofield, whose best-selling Scofield Reference Bible became the canonical formulation of dispensational thought. The first book to contextualize dispensationalism in this provocative way, Dispensational Modernism shows how mainstream Protestant clergy of this time developed new "scientific" methods for interpreting the Bible, and thus new grounds for confidence in religious understandings of time itself.

Fifteen years after its original publication comes a thoroughly revised edition of the Evangelical Dictionary of Theology. Every article from the original edition has been revisited. With some articles being removed, others revised, and many new articles added, the result is a completely new dictionary covering systematic, historical, and philosophical theology as well as theological ethics.