with the theology of John Nelson Darby and the Plymouth Brethren in mid-
19 th century Britain. Dispensationalist reading of scripture was taught in
well-attended Bible Prophecy conferences beginning in the last decades of
the 19th century. Dispensationalism is notably philo-semitic, teaching that
the Jewish people are distinct from
the church, that God’s covenant with
them is still valid, and they have
a promised destiny of their own
which includes a restoration of their
earthly kingdom.
What is most distinctive about
Dispensationalist reading of scripture
is its view that the interpretation of
prophecy should be a science based
on biblical data. The Dispensationalists are famous for their literalism, but
they do not take the imagery of the book of Revelation literally. Rather, they
take the numbers in prophetic books of the Bible as precise indications of the
date of future events. Thus biblical interpretation follows the commonsense
model of science: First gather the facts or data, then work out the best theory to
¿ t them.
Dispensationalism is most noted for its premillennialism, an eschatology of
the imminent return of Christ prior to a millennium of Christian rule on earth.
The millennium is a golden age coming at the end of history, mentioned in
Revelation 20:4. The predominant view among Dispensationalists is that
the rapture, when Christians will be taken secretly to heaven, will occur
before the tribulation, to spare them. During the tribulation many Jews,
living in their homeland, will be converted to Christ and then persecuted.
The tribulation will be ended by the return of Christ and the beginning of the
millennium on earth. In the premillennialist view, Christ will come before
the millennium, putting an end to a period of tribulation described in the
book of Revelation. Ŷ
When Fundamentalists began
deliberately re-entering the
American mainstream in the
1950s, they were labeled “neo-
evangelicals” and eventually
just “evangelicals.”