Post by rgrove on Jan 11, 2005 20:35:34 GMT -5
"Darby, Dualism and the Decline of Dispensationalism: Reassessing the Nineteenth Century Prophetic Movement for the Twenty-First Century" by Ronald M. Henzel.
Despite the rather aggressive sounding title, this is not an anti-dispensational polemic. I think whoever decided on the title (I hear the writers frequently don't get to do this, although they do have input) was trying to get people to purchase with something a little more provocative than the book actually is. Mr. Henzel seems to backpedal on this title in the preface quite a bit:
"... the unseemly level of invective that too often characterizes anti-Dispensationalist polemics troubles me. By setting forth the results of my research here - which was originally the thesis of my master's degree at Wheaton College - it's not my intention to add fuel to that fire, and I disapprove of anyone's using it in that way."
So if you're put off by the Title, please don't be. What you find is that he actually disagrees with many commonly held beliefs about the history of dispensationalism and gives quite a bit of good documentation to back these statements up. I'm referring to "Darby got it all from a nutcase girl that had dreams" or "Darby got it all from a nutcase preacher named Irving that was defrocked for heretical ideas on Christ". I personally found his case against these kinds of statements to be quite convincing. Henzel also was a Dispensationalist for a long time and clearly understood the system well. He was saved in a Brethren church, remained there twelve years and went to Dispensational schools. Similar to myself, introduction to Reformed writers doomed his Dispensationalism. Anyhow, on with the actual review.
The vast majority of this 198 page book is about Darby and documenting how he came to what we know now as dispensationalist teachings and his hermeneutical heavenly/earthly dualism. He quotes from Darby extensively, which is hard sometimes because Darby was an awful writer. Part of it is that we're not used to reading their writing style from back then. But, really, he is pretty hard to read. Henzel posits that this is one of the major reasons why so many people aren't aware of his work. He quotes Lewis Sperry Chafer as lamenting how little Darby's work is read. But once you read a little, you stop...
Henzel documents how his system was actually popularized by a series of people around him such as his fellow Brethren preacher C.H. McIntosh. Personally, I think the work he has done on Darby, which is consistent with what I have read from Dispenstationalists and even handed Covenenalists, is what you should get this book for. There's not much out there with depth on Darby himself. The things that stood out to me in the book were the heavenly/earthly dualism that Darby had and how every aspect of his theology was controlled by this presupposition. I had already read of his conversion, but the book takes this much further and documents what he wrote about his conversion experience and how much of an impact this had on everything else from that point on. The author provides the conversions of Luther and Wesley for contrast. Instead of seeing himself as guilty before a just and holy God, and justified by faith in Christ and His work on the Cross, we see Darby grasping that he is now "in Christ" in heaven and that is his assurance of salvation. This resulted in his pronounced heavenly/earthly dualism that came to control every aspect of his reading of scripture. Not just prophecy Please note the Canons in the chapter titles below. The names give a pretty good idea of how he looked at things, as well as how these principles were changed by those that came afterward like Scofield and Chafer. The pronounced heavenly/earthly dualism became an Israel/Church dichotomy based upon Darby's Canons 3 & 4. Don't miss the footnotes in this book. They contain many of the quotes that make this book so valuable as a reference. I expect many of them were moved there to make the regular text flow better. But I think many of them should have remained in regular the text of the book.
The chapter titles give a great deal of insight into the book so I'll list them here They are as follows:
Ch 1 - Defining Dispensationalism
Locating Dispensationalism's origins
Tracing the Lineage
Ch 2 - The Essence of Darby's Thought
Watching Darby Grow
The Heavenly Versus the Earthly
Darby's Spiritual Breakthrough
The Origins of Darby's Dualism
Universalizing His Insights
The Believer and the World
The Chruch's Lack of Place in the World
Conclusion
Ch 3 - Darby's canons of Prohetic Interpretation
Canon 1: Prophecy Must be Interpreted Dualistically
Canon 2: Prophecy Only Concerns the Earth
Canon 3: The Church is Never Mentioned in Prophecy
Canon 4: The Prophetic Clock Does Not Run While the Church is on Earth
Ch 4 - The New Covenant Prophecy: A Test Case
Darby's Canons Versus Hebrews
Allusion versus Application
Gospel versus Covenant
Declarations versus Explanations
Dispensationalism versus Christ's High Priesthood
Conclusion
*Reviewer's Note - Chapter 4 ends at page 150. That's why I said in the review that the real value in the book is in these four chapters. The remainder is a fairly common material and nothing special to purchase the book for per se. It's good, don't get me wrong, but you can find the information that comes after the first section of chapter five in any number of other books.
Ch 5 - The New Covenant and the Stepsons of Darby
The Post-Darby Canons of Prophetic Interpretation
Scofield and the New Covenant
Chafer and the New Covenant
Walvoord and the New Covenant
Other Stepsons
John R. Master and the New Covenant
Master and the High Priestly Ministry of Christ
Conclusion
Ch 6 - Conclusion
Understanding the Consequences of Revision
The Original Dualism's legacy
Issues for further Study
The Prospects for Traditional Dispensationalism
Despite the rather aggressive sounding title, this is not an anti-dispensational polemic. I think whoever decided on the title (I hear the writers frequently don't get to do this, although they do have input) was trying to get people to purchase with something a little more provocative than the book actually is. Mr. Henzel seems to backpedal on this title in the preface quite a bit:
"... the unseemly level of invective that too often characterizes anti-Dispensationalist polemics troubles me. By setting forth the results of my research here - which was originally the thesis of my master's degree at Wheaton College - it's not my intention to add fuel to that fire, and I disapprove of anyone's using it in that way."
So if you're put off by the Title, please don't be. What you find is that he actually disagrees with many commonly held beliefs about the history of dispensationalism and gives quite a bit of good documentation to back these statements up. I'm referring to "Darby got it all from a nutcase girl that had dreams" or "Darby got it all from a nutcase preacher named Irving that was defrocked for heretical ideas on Christ". I personally found his case against these kinds of statements to be quite convincing. Henzel also was a Dispensationalist for a long time and clearly understood the system well. He was saved in a Brethren church, remained there twelve years and went to Dispensational schools. Similar to myself, introduction to Reformed writers doomed his Dispensationalism. Anyhow, on with the actual review.
The vast majority of this 198 page book is about Darby and documenting how he came to what we know now as dispensationalist teachings and his hermeneutical heavenly/earthly dualism. He quotes from Darby extensively, which is hard sometimes because Darby was an awful writer. Part of it is that we're not used to reading their writing style from back then. But, really, he is pretty hard to read. Henzel posits that this is one of the major reasons why so many people aren't aware of his work. He quotes Lewis Sperry Chafer as lamenting how little Darby's work is read. But once you read a little, you stop...
Henzel documents how his system was actually popularized by a series of people around him such as his fellow Brethren preacher C.H. McIntosh. Personally, I think the work he has done on Darby, which is consistent with what I have read from Dispenstationalists and even handed Covenenalists, is what you should get this book for. There's not much out there with depth on Darby himself. The things that stood out to me in the book were the heavenly/earthly dualism that Darby had and how every aspect of his theology was controlled by this presupposition. I had already read of his conversion, but the book takes this much further and documents what he wrote about his conversion experience and how much of an impact this had on everything else from that point on. The author provides the conversions of Luther and Wesley for contrast. Instead of seeing himself as guilty before a just and holy God, and justified by faith in Christ and His work on the Cross, we see Darby grasping that he is now "in Christ" in heaven and that is his assurance of salvation. This resulted in his pronounced heavenly/earthly dualism that came to control every aspect of his reading of scripture. Not just prophecy Please note the Canons in the chapter titles below. The names give a pretty good idea of how he looked at things, as well as how these principles were changed by those that came afterward like Scofield and Chafer. The pronounced heavenly/earthly dualism became an Israel/Church dichotomy based upon Darby's Canons 3 & 4. Don't miss the footnotes in this book. They contain many of the quotes that make this book so valuable as a reference. I expect many of them were moved there to make the regular text flow better. But I think many of them should have remained in regular the text of the book.
The chapter titles give a great deal of insight into the book so I'll list them here They are as follows:
Ch 1 - Defining Dispensationalism
Locating Dispensationalism's origins
Tracing the Lineage
Ch 2 - The Essence of Darby's Thought
Watching Darby Grow
The Heavenly Versus the Earthly
Darby's Spiritual Breakthrough
The Origins of Darby's Dualism
Universalizing His Insights
The Believer and the World
The Chruch's Lack of Place in the World
Conclusion
Ch 3 - Darby's canons of Prohetic Interpretation
Canon 1: Prophecy Must be Interpreted Dualistically
Canon 2: Prophecy Only Concerns the Earth
Canon 3: The Church is Never Mentioned in Prophecy
Canon 4: The Prophetic Clock Does Not Run While the Church is on Earth
Ch 4 - The New Covenant Prophecy: A Test Case
Darby's Canons Versus Hebrews
Allusion versus Application
Gospel versus Covenant
Declarations versus Explanations
Dispensationalism versus Christ's High Priesthood
Conclusion
*Reviewer's Note - Chapter 4 ends at page 150. That's why I said in the review that the real value in the book is in these four chapters. The remainder is a fairly common material and nothing special to purchase the book for per se. It's good, don't get me wrong, but you can find the information that comes after the first section of chapter five in any number of other books.
Ch 5 - The New Covenant and the Stepsons of Darby
The Post-Darby Canons of Prophetic Interpretation
Scofield and the New Covenant
Chafer and the New Covenant
Walvoord and the New Covenant
Other Stepsons
John R. Master and the New Covenant
Master and the High Priestly Ministry of Christ
Conclusion
Ch 6 - Conclusion
Understanding the Consequences of Revision
The Original Dualism's legacy
Issues for further Study
The Prospects for Traditional Dispensationalism
I'm trying to make time to do them to work on my pathetic writing skills. I think I need to outline them. Right now it's just free flow of thought which isn't good enough and doesn't practice writing as it ought to be done.