After Dispensationalism: Reading the Bible for the End of the World
What God wants his people to know about the end times
Christians’ fixation on the end times is not new. While eschatological speculation has sometimes resulted in distraction or despair, Scripture does speak about the end. So what does God most want us to know and do with prophecy?
In After Dispensationalism, Brian P. Irwin and Tim Perry sympathetically yet critically sketch the history, beliefs, and concerns of dispensationalism. Though a minority view in the sweep of church history and tradition, dispensationalism is one of the most influential end-times systems today, and there is much to learn from it. And yet, sometimes it gets sidetracked by overlooking the prophets’ main concerns.
Irwin and Perry reexamine the key texts and show how prophecy is primarily God’s word of hope for his people.
Praise for After Dispensationalism
Whether you have thought often about the end times, or whether you never pronounced the word ‘dispensationalism’ before, this book is for you!
—Adrian D. E. Sieunarine, principal, St. Andrew’s Theological College
After Dispensationalism is such a welcome addition to Christian eschatology. In this scholarly but accessible book, Brian Irwin and Tim Perry patiently show us how to read the prophetic passages of Scripture in a way that is sound, sane, and hopeful. As such it is a gentle antidote to the sensationalist, fear-mongering eschatology of recent decades.
—Brian Zahnd, author of When Everything’s on Fire
The interpretation of some parts of the Bible is undoubtedly challenging. Some have exploited this difficulty to construct elaborate schemes by combining one bit with another in a way the Bible itself never advocates. The focus is often to give particular and specific focus to the nature of the end times in ways which can bring the church into disrepute because time and again things do not work out as anticipated. In a clear and irenic spirit, Irwin and Perry patiently explain how this relatively new way of Bible interpretation arose and why it can detract from the more important questions of how the Bible was understood at the time it was written and hence how it should be applied to our Christian lives today. ‘Rightly dividing the word of truth’ must eschew ‘wrongly dividing’; this book will help readers escape that danger.
—H. G. M. Williamson, Emeritus Regius Professor of Hebrew, University of Oxford
- Introduction
- Part 1: The World of End-Times Teaching
- End-Times Prediction through the Ages
- Who Are the End-Times Teachers?
- The Dispensational End-Times Story
- The Belief and Behavior of Dispensationalism
- Part 2: The World of Prophecy and Apocalyptic
- Part 3: The Meaning of Biblical Apocalyptic
- Ezekiel
- Daniel
- Revelation
- Conclusion
- Title: After Dispensationalism: Reading the Bible for the End of the World
- Authors: Brian P. Irwin with Tim Perry
- Publisher: Lexham Press
- Publication Date: 2023
- Pages: 328
- Format: Logos Digital, Hardcover
- Trim Size: 5x8
- ISBN: 9781683596813
Brian P. Irwin is associate professor of Old Testament and Hebrew Scriptures at Knox College in Toronto, Ontario.
Tim Perry is professor of theology at Providence Seminary in Otterburne, Manitoba.
Reviews
1 rating
Ross Purdy
7/20/2024
I got through part 2 before abandoning the read. I regret having bought this work. I just don't enjoy reading what others make up as they go along. I felt like I was being pranked by the authors as it is just not credible that someone would publish such nonsense. This book promotes the "genre" of "apocalyptic" as an interpretive tool and it confirmed my suspicion that it is just so much liberal rubbish. It promotes the notion that history was written as prophecy to apparently give its original audience warm fuzzy feelings when things were not going good. That really is just a point of view that makes Scripture dishonest and disingenuous and has been long debunked. It should have been titled: Why Liberal Interpretive Methods Drove Folks to Dispensationalism: How Not To Read the Bible for the End of the World!Betty Johnson
7/25/2023
Christ Follower
6/1/2023
If non-dispensationalists are still interacting with Darby to validate an argument or laymen, or classical dispensationalist such as Scofield or chafer, then the book is not even worth reading. Contemporary Dispensationalist don't even hold to these views. I graduated from a dispensationalist seminary with both my master's and PhD. As soon as I see books like this, both that primarily focus on the history and not contemporary adherents, then it is already a "thumbs down." Also, for the authors to likely consider themselves to be scholars I am always baffled that they lack to interact with a book entitled "Dispensationalism before Darby."