A Case for Amillennialism: Understanding the End Times

I give this simultaneously a 4 and 5 star rating. What, you say? Let me explain.My Christian faith was forged from childhood, being raised in an evangelical home by God-loving parents. Mine was a home & church grounded in premillenarianism - that Jesus would rapture Christian believers before a great and terrible thousand years.But I had nagging questions that I just couldn’t reconcile; similar questions to those stated by Riddlebarger in the last 2-3 pages of this book. Others around me were studying end-times eschatology and excitedly finding answers to those questions … but those answers seemed to reinforce my confusion. This especially showed up as I explored the non-eschatological teachings of theologians who had overall views I found compelling - and who did not adopt the premillennial position.So on a whim I read this book, to see if it would help me at least see a different reading of this important biblical topic. Well, mission accomplished - this book is as thorough a treatment as you can imagine.In fact, it did more than explain amillennialism. Riddlebarger methodically and accurately lays out each interpretive approach to eschatology, then contrasts each with the amillennial view. In detail, element by element.This is both the strength of this work, and the reason I have my 4-star hedge. It is a fire hose of information. It completely answers every thing imaginable. It is a total - and successful - 5-star presentation of the amillennial (and other!) view(s). Enough so that I could be convinced to adopt an amillenialist view (though I may need some time, and another read-thru to truly get there (or not)).However, this is not a book that is easily consumed - especially if I wanted to share it with one of those enthusiastic premillennialist friends I refer to above. It’s almost too-big to consume. And for that average Christian premillennialist, it doesn’t have a workbook alongside (the way so many premillennial teaching books do) that makes it a good study book for a church home group / Bible study.This book is (rightly) aimed at being an authoritative, complete statement of its position, containing an assertion or defense about nearly anything and everything that one with a different view would need to know, or refute a criticism levied. It gets 5-stars for this.It is not a gentle, first step in helping the average premillennial dispensationalist believer see the difficulties in their position, and presenting enough - but not yet encyclopedic - of a case for amillennialism to get that person to this more comprehensive treatment. So, for that audience, I take away one star for this inapproachability.If Riddlebarger wants to trigger change among the average Christian believer in premillennialism, I hope he will write the “home group Bible study version” of this compelling work.

Chapter 1 and 2 give an excellent overview of the different views on eschatology. Riddlebarger explains the historical context of how these views arose and what they teach using the words of their own advocates.Chapter 3 on the different presuppositions when coming to the text of Scripture or hermeneutics is alone worth the price of the book for me. It highlights the dispensational hermeneutic and contrasts it with the historic Protestant hermeneutic: literal and seeing a distinction between Israel and church vs the analogy of faith, letting the clear explain the unclear, and letting the NT writers interpret the OT. Riddlebarger then argues persuasively that dispensationalism's commitment to literal interpretation is actually a commitment to literalistic readings divorced from how the NT itself interprets the OT. Acts 15 is brought up as one example where James interpreted the prophecy in Amos: "After this, I will return and rebuild David's fallen tent" as having been fulfilled in Christ's establishment of the Kingdom and expansion of Israel to include even the Gentiles.I really appreciated the context given such as which theologians throughout the centuries of the church believed and what contexts may have given the current advocates of each side to root themselves in each camp. For example, in the US many Christians were post-mil in the 19th century but with the rise of the horrors of total war and shattered optimism during the 20th century, the Schofield notes and Darby's views became more popular.The charts on pp 42-45 are very helpful to help the reader understand the timelines of each view.This was just part 1! Part 2 and 3 get into the meat of Scripture and expositions on the relevant texts. I would recommend this book to anyone interested in eschatology (as every thinking Christian should care since our theology will affect how we live and what sort of systems we will buy into as a church).I just can't say enough about how much I enjoyed reading this book. It is well written, logical, fair in presenting the other arguments, and persuasive.

Riddlebarger is thorough and clear. He is both a fine theologian and a good writer! I just gave the book to a friend of mine interested in Eschatology.

à recommander

O autor apresenta um panorama escatológico muito bem estruturado, concatenando, de forma muito lúcida, Velho e Novo Testamento. Apesar de argumentar a partir do ponto de vista amilenista, apresenta de forma muito generosa e justa as demais linhas de interpretação. Além do vasto conhecimento do tema, certamente fruto de muita reflexão e amadurecimento, o autor escreve também com muita paixão pelo Evangelho de Cristo.

Like Riddlebarger, I too was brought up premillenial/secret rapture/dispensational. And like the author, I too slowly converted to amillenialism. As the years past I became more convinced of my new position. In this volume, the author presents a thorough, well reasoned argument for the amillenial position. He does it walking the knife edge of passion and care. It is irenic in its presentation and as such it is easy to read even if you disagree with his thesis. Highly recommended.

This book I found to be extremely thorough yet easy to understand. It has been instrumental in my personal shift from dispensationalsm to amillanialism. I hugely recommend this book!

It doesn't matter if you subscribe to this view or not'...you owe it to yourself to learn what it is about simply to make yourself more informed. Because in all honesty, many have dismissed this view without even having a clue what it has to say for itself.Suffice to say, the case is one that deserves to be heard. What I learned quickly is that this view suffers from one thing in particular': bad press. Perhaps some of it deserved, much of it not. Ironically, the most aggressive criticism comes from the likes of Hal Lindsay and Jack Van Impe...'individuals who should be the LAST people anyone should get advise from regarding prophecy!I was simply amazed how this book completely decimated the popular notion that the amillennialist view is somehow a liberal non-literalist interpretation. On the contrary, I found that Kim Riddlebarger was able to share his views in a very Biblical manner and is probably the most articulate writer regarding end-times study that I perhaps have ever read.