One of the lasting impacts of Daniel G. Hummel’s new book, The Rise and Fall of Dispensationalism: How the Evangelical Battle over the End Times Shaped a Nation, will be its delineation of old premillennialism, new premillennialism, and then dispensationalism. The only ones for whom these distinctions matter are (1) historians or (2) those old enough to have been there, and there aren’t any of #2 left.
I think I saw this influence up close as I lived in Dallas at the time and attended Scofield Bible Church during the time John Walvoord was president of Dallas Seminary (1953-1986). I have not yet read Hummel's new book, but would imagine he addresses the influence that flowed from those years of leadership as well. I see where shining a light on this spread of premillennialism and dispensationalism is helpful. I'd love to hear from others.
My 93 year old mother passed away a year ago. She had so many commentaries including a well used Scofield Bible in her bookcase. How I remember her warning us all about the end times. To this day if I come into an empty house and don’t know where anybody is I still have a quick thought “the rapture happened and I have been left behind”
Dispensationalism nearly killed me - at least I feared it would because my parents were sure to go to heaven, but I would be LEFT BEHIND as a child age ten. I now see that dispensationalism was not merely a "Christian" doctrine. It was as far from Scripture as some of the most destructive non-Christian teachings around at that time.
In the tiny Kansas town I grew up in there was an old woman who attended our church and she did not have running water in her house. When I was around 13 I would go pump water from her well and fill multiple containers in her house. I earned a dollar a week for doing this. I saved those dollars and purchased my Scofield Reference Bible which was THE Bible in my church. Mom and Dad had well-used Scofield bibles and I wanted my own. Of course, by the time I got to Moody Bible Institute the Ryrie Study Bible was the one to have so I scraped together some money and got that one, too. I'm still trying to shake loose of dispensationalism, still working to not read the Bible through that lens, even though it has not been my frame of thought for years.
Not as well known as Moody or Biola were the Bible Institute of PA founded by W.W. Rugh and PA School of the Bible founded by C.I. Scofield. They eventually merged to form Philadelphia School of the Bible which upon regional accreditation became Philadelphia College of Bible, later Philadelphia Biblical University and now Cairn University. When I was a student there in the 70's, dispensationalism was dispensed with passion in every Bible and Theology course. Without dispensationalism, who would have known the Sermon on the Mount was not for Christians and applicable for us today! Many grads from PCB went directly to Dallas Seminary to become further entrenched in dispensationalism. These days at Cairn, most students have no clue of its dispensational heritage, and it is rarely barely mentioned in Bible and Theology classes.
I think I saw this influence up close as I lived in Dallas at the time and attended Scofield Bible Church during the time John Walvoord was president of Dallas Seminary (1953-1986). I have not yet read Hummel's new book, but would imagine he addresses the influence that flowed from those years of leadership as well. I see where shining a light on this spread of premillennialism and dispensationalism is helpful. I'd love to hear from others.
My 93 year old mother passed away a year ago. She had so many commentaries including a well used Scofield Bible in her bookcase. How I remember her warning us all about the end times. To this day if I come into an empty house and don’t know where anybody is I still have a quick thought “the rapture happened and I have been left behind”
Dispensationalism nearly killed me - at least I feared it would because my parents were sure to go to heaven, but I would be LEFT BEHIND as a child age ten. I now see that dispensationalism was not merely a "Christian" doctrine. It was as far from Scripture as some of the most destructive non-Christian teachings around at that time.
In the tiny Kansas town I grew up in there was an old woman who attended our church and she did not have running water in her house. When I was around 13 I would go pump water from her well and fill multiple containers in her house. I earned a dollar a week for doing this. I saved those dollars and purchased my Scofield Reference Bible which was THE Bible in my church. Mom and Dad had well-used Scofield bibles and I wanted my own. Of course, by the time I got to Moody Bible Institute the Ryrie Study Bible was the one to have so I scraped together some money and got that one, too. I'm still trying to shake loose of dispensationalism, still working to not read the Bible through that lens, even though it has not been my frame of thought for years.
Not as well known as Moody or Biola were the Bible Institute of PA founded by W.W. Rugh and PA School of the Bible founded by C.I. Scofield. They eventually merged to form Philadelphia School of the Bible which upon regional accreditation became Philadelphia College of Bible, later Philadelphia Biblical University and now Cairn University. When I was a student there in the 70's, dispensationalism was dispensed with passion in every Bible and Theology course. Without dispensationalism, who would have known the Sermon on the Mount was not for Christians and applicable for us today! Many grads from PCB went directly to Dallas Seminary to become further entrenched in dispensationalism. These days at Cairn, most students have no clue of its dispensational heritage, and it is rarely barely mentioned in Bible and Theology classes.