Post by rgrove on Dec 27, 2004 20:11:01 GMT -5
The Victory of Christ's Kingdom: An Introduction to Postmillenialism (Amazon Link)
By John Jefferson Davis
This is an outstanding introduction to Postmillenialism. It's only 85 pages so of course it's not exhaustive, but it does a great job at fulfilling it's purpose, an introduction. :-)
1. Introduction
Dr. Davis first addresses the question "What is Postmillenialism?". He gives five key points that are held in common by postmillenialists that are: "1) Through the preaching of the gospel and dramatic outpourings of the Holy Spirit, Christian missions and evangelism will attain remarkable success, and the church will enjoy an unprecedented period of numerical expansion and spiritual vitality. 2) This period of spiritual prosperity, the millenium, understood as a long period of time, is to be characterized by conditions of increasing peace and economic well-being in the world as a result of the growing influence of Christian truth. 3) The Millenium will also be characterized by the conversion of large numbers of ethnic Jews to the Christian faith (Rom. 11:25-26). 4) At the end of the Millenial period there will be a brief period of apostasy and sharp conflict between Christian and evil forces (Rev 20:7-10). 5) Finally and simultaneously there will occur the visible return of Christ, the resurrection of the righteous and the wicked, the final judgment, and the revelation of the new heavens and the new earth." He follows this up with a section dealing with common miscunderstandings of evangelical postmillenialism. I'm not a full postmillenialist, but I have seen this understanding of eschatology (which I respect considerably) misrepresented with non-existent straw men so many times that I'm not surprised this is the second section of his book... He then establishes postmillenialism as a commonly held, historical, conservative evangelical position in the final section calld �Voices from the Past�. My only criticism is that I think he should have gone further back in church history than he did. Augustine had a lot of the seeds of the postimillenial hope in his eschatology and I have seen Gentry rightly call Athanasius "the father of postmillenialism". I am always a little disappointed when Protestants start at the reformation in establishing the orthodoxy of their doctrine. I would also have liked to have seen more non-reformed writers mentioned. Postmillenialism has had many great proponents in the Wesleyan tradition as well.
2. The Witness of the Old Testament
In this chapter I would say Dr. Jefferson has accomplished his task of establishing "the biblical basis for the vision of the advancing, victorious kingdom of Jesus Christ, foretold in the Old Testament and then more fully revealed and actually inaugurated in the New Testament." He begins with Gen 12:3 and the promises made by God to Abraham, covenental fulfillment of these promises in Christ, and then continues into the Messianic psalms and the kingdom promises there. (psalm 2, 22, 110 are focused on and their NT interpretations). Then goes on to the extraordinary promises contained in Isaiah 2, 9, 11 and 65 and their interpretation with NT light. Eziekiel 47ff with the NT light shone on that by John 7:37ff as well as it's ties to other OT prophesies. Daniel's prophesies are then covered with their kingdom promises ch 2 and 7 (again, with much NT light). The ever controversial Daniel 9 is also given brief attention. Jefferson takes a partial preterist view of Matt 24, although this is not forced by the postmillenial system.
2. The Witness of the New Testament
This chapter begins with an exposition of "The Greatness of Christ the King". One verse after another is brought forward to demonstrate that "The most serious obstacle to the success of the church's mission is not the power of its spiritual opponents, but the church's own weakness of faith and partial grasp of the invincible resources which are hers in Christ Jesus."
The chapter then moves to "The Growth of the Kingdom". Of course, as with all postmill writings, Matt 13:31-33 take center stage. More scripture than this review can deal with are marshalled to support the greatness of the great commission and the expectation we should have that the kingdom will indeed grow.
The final section is called "The Final Greatness of the Kingdom". Needless to say the postmill belief is that conquering power of the Holy Spirit will make it great indeed.
3. Contrary Texts in the New Testament
Here he deals well within the confines of this short of an introduction to the many protests that come from the premill and amill camps. He deals first with the tension that scripture contains regarding the immanence of Christ's return and exegetes quite a bit of scripture from a postmill perspective. He then deals with the futurist expectation of a future great tribulation. He gives some good exegesis to establish the partial preterist understanding and acknowledges that there is a final apostasy in Rev 20 anyhow so even if he's wrong about A.D 70 fall of Jerusalem, his hope is not diminished because Satan will indeed be loosed right before Christ's return.
4. Summary and Conclusions
He recaps the arguments made during the book quickly and effectively. You can go back and use this chapter as a reference for the future very easily.
Bibliography
The bibliography is reasonably good. I was able to cull a couple of books out to add to my library which I always like ;D
In Christ,
Ron
By John Jefferson Davis
This is an outstanding introduction to Postmillenialism. It's only 85 pages so of course it's not exhaustive, but it does a great job at fulfilling it's purpose, an introduction. :-)
1. Introduction
Dr. Davis first addresses the question "What is Postmillenialism?". He gives five key points that are held in common by postmillenialists that are: "1) Through the preaching of the gospel and dramatic outpourings of the Holy Spirit, Christian missions and evangelism will attain remarkable success, and the church will enjoy an unprecedented period of numerical expansion and spiritual vitality. 2) This period of spiritual prosperity, the millenium, understood as a long period of time, is to be characterized by conditions of increasing peace and economic well-being in the world as a result of the growing influence of Christian truth. 3) The Millenium will also be characterized by the conversion of large numbers of ethnic Jews to the Christian faith (Rom. 11:25-26). 4) At the end of the Millenial period there will be a brief period of apostasy and sharp conflict between Christian and evil forces (Rev 20:7-10). 5) Finally and simultaneously there will occur the visible return of Christ, the resurrection of the righteous and the wicked, the final judgment, and the revelation of the new heavens and the new earth." He follows this up with a section dealing with common miscunderstandings of evangelical postmillenialism. I'm not a full postmillenialist, but I have seen this understanding of eschatology (which I respect considerably) misrepresented with non-existent straw men so many times that I'm not surprised this is the second section of his book... He then establishes postmillenialism as a commonly held, historical, conservative evangelical position in the final section calld �Voices from the Past�. My only criticism is that I think he should have gone further back in church history than he did. Augustine had a lot of the seeds of the postimillenial hope in his eschatology and I have seen Gentry rightly call Athanasius "the father of postmillenialism". I am always a little disappointed when Protestants start at the reformation in establishing the orthodoxy of their doctrine. I would also have liked to have seen more non-reformed writers mentioned. Postmillenialism has had many great proponents in the Wesleyan tradition as well.
2. The Witness of the Old Testament
In this chapter I would say Dr. Jefferson has accomplished his task of establishing "the biblical basis for the vision of the advancing, victorious kingdom of Jesus Christ, foretold in the Old Testament and then more fully revealed and actually inaugurated in the New Testament." He begins with Gen 12:3 and the promises made by God to Abraham, covenental fulfillment of these promises in Christ, and then continues into the Messianic psalms and the kingdom promises there. (psalm 2, 22, 110 are focused on and their NT interpretations). Then goes on to the extraordinary promises contained in Isaiah 2, 9, 11 and 65 and their interpretation with NT light. Eziekiel 47ff with the NT light shone on that by John 7:37ff as well as it's ties to other OT prophesies. Daniel's prophesies are then covered with their kingdom promises ch 2 and 7 (again, with much NT light). The ever controversial Daniel 9 is also given brief attention. Jefferson takes a partial preterist view of Matt 24, although this is not forced by the postmillenial system.
2. The Witness of the New Testament
This chapter begins with an exposition of "The Greatness of Christ the King". One verse after another is brought forward to demonstrate that "The most serious obstacle to the success of the church's mission is not the power of its spiritual opponents, but the church's own weakness of faith and partial grasp of the invincible resources which are hers in Christ Jesus."
The chapter then moves to "The Growth of the Kingdom". Of course, as with all postmill writings, Matt 13:31-33 take center stage. More scripture than this review can deal with are marshalled to support the greatness of the great commission and the expectation we should have that the kingdom will indeed grow.
The final section is called "The Final Greatness of the Kingdom". Needless to say the postmill belief is that conquering power of the Holy Spirit will make it great indeed.
3. Contrary Texts in the New Testament
Here he deals well within the confines of this short of an introduction to the many protests that come from the premill and amill camps. He deals first with the tension that scripture contains regarding the immanence of Christ's return and exegetes quite a bit of scripture from a postmill perspective. He then deals with the futurist expectation of a future great tribulation. He gives some good exegesis to establish the partial preterist understanding and acknowledges that there is a final apostasy in Rev 20 anyhow so even if he's wrong about A.D 70 fall of Jerusalem, his hope is not diminished because Satan will indeed be loosed right before Christ's return.
4. Summary and Conclusions
He recaps the arguments made during the book quickly and effectively. You can go back and use this chapter as a reference for the future very easily.
Bibliography
The bibliography is reasonably good. I was able to cull a couple of books out to add to my library which I always like ;D
In Christ,
Ron
