Dispensationalism before Darby: Seventeenth-Century and Eighteenth-Century English Apocalypticism Paperback – March 5, 2015

This book is fairly easy to read. It does have quotes in "old English" which just takes time to read through. But the organization of the book, the stand alone chapters, and the in-depth study is great. I have read several chapters already and plan to incorporate some of the information into my small group and teens class.

A needed book to affirm one’s premillennial eschatology against Amillennial , Post Millennial, Preterist lies .. that our 1-2 century forefathers fought and taught before Darby .. Premillennialism

Many Presbyterians believed that Dispensationalism started in the late 1800s with Darby, Scofield, Chafer, and the founders of Dallas Seminary. This book traces the history of dispensational thinking back to the 1300s by analyzing a newly-scanned archive of old documentation what had been previously unavailable.Part of the reason the idea was banned was that Darby was a “restorationist,” who thought that the past history of the church represented such a mass of corruption and degeneration that the church had to be re-founded by the Plymouth Brethren, who alone really met in Christ’s name. My ancestors participated in some of these discussions. I was told that a significant part of the reason for banning discussion was that a) Dispensationalism was new and b) Darby was so hostile in his discussions and presentations that he was sowing dissent among the brethren.This book shows that the idea of dispensationalism goes back to the very beginning of the church. Part of the problem is that we humans tend to regard Covenant Theology and Dispensationalism as different ways to look at God instead of thinking of each of them as possibly helpful ways to understand our infinite God.The whole Darby / Dispensation saga is a reminder that we're commanded to "speak the truth in love."Ephesians 4:15 But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ:There are covenants in the Bible and there are dispensations. Darby's stirring up enough hostility to have an entire denomination ban discussion of his ideas denied the benefit of another view of God to generations.As I see it, the Bible is neither covenantal nor dispensational, the Bible is Holy. This book sheds useful light on another way to look at it.

Great read even for those who subscribe to covenant theology.

The completeness and accuracy of the endnotes was quite astonishing, but as in every worthwhile academic research you do need to slog through portions. The large number of very long quotes do demonstrate the thoroughness in uncovering the apocalyptic mentality in 17th and 18th century England and America. Sadly his excellent history exposed the shallowness of much theological research on the history of the roots of Dispensationalism and its irregular development in time. It is in both the richness of the original sources, and the number of the famous supporters that tickled my fancy. This is a resource of depth, width, and length that you can enjoy in rebutting the shallow scholarship of some who irrationally rationalize their dislike of Dispensationalism. Have fun and enjoy the hard work that Dr. Watson poured into his Magnum Opus.

Very well written

This book is very good but I wish that some of the quotations were not in ye olde English. It would have been better had the author given us the quotation with modern spelling and punctuation. I understand that author is trying to be exact but it really would have been better to update the spelling in a lot of these quotations. But overall an outstanding book!

If you still believe Darby is the father of dispensationalism; buy, study and read this book as soon as possible. The scholarship that went it this book is nothing short of amazing. The information within this book is exactly what my Bibliography needed, to be that much better. Amazing.