Dear Scot,
I wondered if you might do some blog posts addressing this (or maybe you have some past posts addressing this that I've missed and you could link me to).
Growing up in a typical conservative evangelical home and church in the 80's, I was exposed to pretty standard dispensational teaching - Thief in the Night movies, novels about the rapture and tribulation, fearing I'd be 'left behind', reading Revelation into current world events, etc... Those teaching were profoundly anxiety-causing and harmful to my spiritual development, and as an older teen I left them behind b/c I had seen nothing but negative effects such as fear.
I now find myself wanting to shy away from the topic of Christ's return altogether and pretend it doesn't exist - which I know is an overreaction and isn't accurate to teaching of Christianity either.
I have some acquaintances online who are getting really into the 'End is Coming in the next 7 years' complete with specific dates/predictions, and it bothers me immensely each time I see posts about it, bc it brings up so many emotions from my childhood and how hearing those things affected me. It makes me want to go to the extreme of saying "Christ is not returning in 7 years - you're just fear mongering."
I'm looking for balance on this issue that is solidly biblical - and I can't imagine I'm the only one who finds herself in that position. I was thinking about this issue and it seemed to me that the concept of a Third Way might have some helpful things to offer.
Thanks for reading this.
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Rob, I find that for many there is deep emotional connection wed to the pre-trib dispensational theology they grew up with. Whether it developed during childhood at summer camps, youth events, a special mentor type relationship, etc. I don't know. But I've talked to several bible teachers who broke away from their dispensational roots and have heard their stories. It seemed like such a tramatic and emotional event for them to change views, unlike any other change of theology I've encountered.
I'll echo the recommendation of Surprised By Hope. :)
You don't have to go much further than Scot McKnight's own words from many years ago, probably the best short story on Eschatology and all its many flavors, with, in my opinion, a beautiful conclusion:
Read it here: http://www.presence.tv/cms/f-tsunami.shtml
Dear reader, I hope you are able to navigate the deep waters of eschatology with humility and truth. You ask Scot for a third way approach to eschatology. While I appreciate the Third Way language, it is important to note that premillenial dispensationalism is not a first or second way. In fact, it is basically the youngest of any branch of eschatology. Find hope in the fact that by denying the left behind scenario you are actually uniting with the vast majority of Christian tradition over the past two thousand years. While there are many different ways to read about the end times, I find dispensationalism to be the least biblical personally.
I too was wrapped up in end of days (high school) until a close family friend went off the deep end, proclaiming the imminent end of the world. His zeal and lack of love showed me that his belief could not possibly be Christ-like. I searched for other beliefs, and find nearly every interpretation of the end to be more Christian than this one.
May God guide you (and us) on your (and our) quest for truth.
What is amazing to me is the contextual power of eschatology. The dispensational eschatology has trumped all other understandings of Revelation (nad many books related to the end times theories) throughout my 35 years on The Journey. I grew up in a CA PCUSA Church, and in high school in the late 70's was taught dispensational eschatology in our youth group (I had no idea what dispensational was until Seminary many years later...and propose that most have no idea what has shaped predominant views of the end times). I attended a Convenant Church in college, was on staff at an EV Free church, Crusade Staff, graduated from Denver Seminary, and was on staff at Evang. Pres. Churches. Though there were many theological frameworks on that journey, the eschatology in each circle remained pretty much he same: dispensational (and among people who would absolutely deny being dispensational!). As pastors, seminary students, theologians, we would debate millenial positions, but sermons on revelation and lay conversations seemed to always be based on a disp./end times framework. It's fascinating to look back on.
And when it comes to many aspects of living out our faith, or praxis, it is amazing how eschatology alwasy wins, evokes the greatest emotion (fear is common), and it is usually the least understood topic for anyone to explain. I think it was the vivid pictures presented in the end times literature of the 70's, 80's. Our minds think in pictures, and those dispensational writers were brilliant at painting vivid scenarios for us to remember.
N.T. Wright's work has been a blessing!! He paints new pictures.
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