The End Of History Pentecostals And A Fresh Approach To The Apocalypse

Many have grown tired of confusing interpretations of the book of Revelation which feature end-time scenarios that either miss the mark or appear largely irrelevant to their lives. A fresh approach is needed if we are to recapture the vitality of John’s message and receive its desperately needed truths. The End of History offers precisely this, with its call for Pentecostals in general and the Assemblies of God in particular to reassess doctrinal statements rooted in a dispensational premillennial perspective. In their place, Menzies offers eight eschatological essentials—all of which flow from a careful reading of the Apocalypse—that call us to face the future with purpose and hope.

How can people believe that the supernatural end of the world lies just around the corner when, so far, every such prediction has been proved wrong? Some scholars argue that millenarians are psychologically disturbed; others maintain that their dreams of paradise on earth reflect a nascent political awareness. In this book Damian Thompson looks at the members of one religious group with a strong apocalyptic tradition--Kensington Temple, a large Pentecostal church in London--and attempts to understand how they reconcile doctrines of the end of the world with the demands of their everyday lives. He asks such questions as: Who is making the argument that the world is about to end, and on whose authority? How is it communicated? Which members are persuaded by it? What are the practical consequences for them? How do they rationalize their position? Based on extensive interviews as well as a survey of almost 3000 members, Thompson finds existing explanations of apocalyptic belief inadequate. Although they profess allegiance to millennial doctrine, he discovers, members actually assign a low priority to the "End Times." The history of millenarianism is littered with disappointment, Thompson notes, and the lesson has largely been learned: "predictive" millenarianism--with its risky time-specific predictions of the end--has been substantially supplanted by "explanatory" millenarianism, which uses apocalyptic narratives to explain features of the contemporary world. Most apocalyptic believers, he finds, are comfortable with these lower-cost explanatory narratives that do not require them to sell their houses and head for the hills. He does uncover a handful of "textbook" millenarians in the congregation--people who are confident that Jesus will return in their lifetimes. He concludes that their atypical beliefs were influenced by their conversion experiences, individual psychology, and degree of subcultural immersion. Although much has been written about apocalyptic belief, Thompson's empirically-based study is unprecedented. It constitutes an important step forward in our understanding of this puzzling feature of contemporary religious life.

Religion. For thousands of years this thing has dictated which people should live and which people should die, what shape our buildings should have or what colors our garments should contain, what food people should eat or what words people should speak. If religion is the opium of the masses, then beliefs about the end of the world are like overdoses. People touched by such beliefs no longer rely on a hidden, personal and intimate god, contemplated upon from the safe distance of the beating human heart. They live with the promise of divine intervention at a grand scale on the current coordinates of space and time. This can be an exceptional motivator and a game changer in terms of civil obedience, both at an individual and collective level. In the name of an immediate and palpable deity people can commit shocking cruelties. However, such belief can also account for some of the most exceptional social developments in human history.

This new commentary approaches Revelation from a Pentecostal perspective, but you may be surprised at what this does and doesn’t mean in this case. This is a serious commentary based on the Greek text and includes discussion of all the standard topics (authorship, date, audience, etc.). It gives interpretive priority to the original context and audience while also discussing application today. Newton eschews all populist interpretations of Revelation and questions many assumptions built on futurist or historicist readings, but includes a survey of recent scholarly Pentecostal work on Revelation and an extended discussion of what an authentic Pentecostal reading of Revelation might look like. The commentary highlights features of Revelation that Pentecostals often look for, such as its pneumatology, but also draws attention to features that Pentecostal readers should take more seriously than they often do, such as its missional focus, the narrative flow, intertextual references, and the focus on atonement. This makes it a more optimistic commentary than many available. The commentary interacts in depth with five leading commentaries over the past twenty-five years as well as over two hundred other books and articles, including the oldest existing commentary on Revelation.

This collection of essays from established scholars and rising stars offers fresh perspectives in eschatology for the Pentecostal and Charismatic movements. The fresh readings of eschatology in this volume are valuable because they demonstrate that Pentecostals no longer need to look to others to interpret their theology for them but can stand as scholars and thinkers in their own right.

"[The Book of] Revelation has served as a "language arsenal" in a great many of the social, cultural, and political conflicts in Western history. Again and again, Revelation has stirred some dangerous men and women to act out their own private apocalypses. Above all, the moral calculus of Revelation—the demonization of one's enemies, the sanctification of revenge taking, and the notion that history must end in catastrophe—can be detected in some of the worst atrocities and excesses of every age, including our own. For all of these reasons, the rest of us ignore the book of Revelation only at our impoverishment and, more to the point, at our own peril." The mysterious author of the Book of Revelation (or the Apocalypse, as the last book of the New Testament is also known) never considered that his sermon on the impending end times would last beyond his own life. In fact, he predicted that the destruction of the earth would be witnessed by his contemporaries. Yet Revelation not only outlived its creator; this vivid and violent revenge fantasy has played a significant role in the march of Western civilization. Ever since Revelation was first preached as the revealed word of Jesus Christ, it has haunted and inspired hearers and readers alike. The mark of the beast, the Antichrist, 666, the Whore of Babylon, Armageddon, and the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse are just a few of the images, phrases, and codes that have burned their way into the fabric of our culture. The questions raised go straight to the heart of the human fear of death and obsession with the afterlife. Will we, individually or collectively, ride off to glory, or will we drown in hellfire for all eternity? As those who best manipulate this dark vision learned, which side we fall on is often a matter of life or death. Honed into a weapon in the ongoing culture wars between states, religions, and citizenry, Revelation has significantly altered the course of history. Kirsch, whom the Washington Post calls "a fine storyteller with a flair for rendering ancient tales relevant and appealing to modern audiences," delivers a far-ranging, entertaining, and shocking history of this scandalous book, which was nearly cut from the New Testament. From the fall of the Roman Empire to the Black Death, the Inquisition to the Protestant Reformation, the New World to the rise of the Religious Right, this chronicle of the use and abuse of the Book of Revelation tells the tale of the unfolding of history and the hopes, fears, dreams, and nightmares of all humanity.

In this commentary, Pentecostal biblical scholar John Christopher Thomas offers a fresh reading of the Apocalypse informed by three decades of research and writing devoted to the Johannine literature. While engaging the best of critical scholarship he avoids simply recounting the views of other scholars on a variety of interpretive issues. Rather, he gives priority to the world of the text by means of literary, intertextual, and theological analyses, as he seeks to discern the effect of this visionary experience upon the hearers (both implied and actual) of this text. The most extensive reading of the Apocalypse offered by a Pentecostal scholar to date, this commentary is shaped by the Pentecostal and wider communities via times of engagement with local worshipping communities, scholarly audiences at academic conferences, and academic settings at a variety institutions around the globe. Thomas' distinctive literary and theological hearing of the Apocalypse, which adheres closely to the final form of the text and reflects the heart of Pentecostal theology and spirituality, marks a major transition in Pentecostal approaches to the Apocalypse and may well assist, along with others, in the reclamation of this canonical book for the Pentecostal community and beyond.

For the first time in complete form, the results of recent analyses of the Apocalypse are presented in a way that is easily understood by the beginning student and challenging to the scholar looking for a fresh approach. In a clear and vivid manner, Adela Yarbro Collins discusses the authorship of the book of Revelation, when it was written, the situation it addressed, the social themes it considered, and the psychological meaning behind apocalyptic language.