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Free Online Books/MP: Andrew Perriman - Narrative-realism, Preterism, and the relevance of scripture / Discussion "Can anyone help me out with a bit of theological jargon and terminology that I’m trying to get my head around? I’ve been reading a fair bit of the articles on Open Source Theology and I keep coming up against, what many of their authors call the ‘narrative-historical argument’ or the ‘narrative-realist’ approach. Andrew Perriman, one of the authors, even describes himself as doing ‘biblical theology after Christendom in a narrative-realist mode’. In reading the various articles however this narrative-realism seems to sound a whole lot like classic preterism. My question for all the budding theologians out there is what is the difference between the two (preterism and the narrative-realist approach)? Or are they pretty much the same thing – in which case this narrative-realist approach is not really all that new. Help me please…" / Milton Terry: Biblical Hermeneutics / F.W. Farrar : The History of Interpretation

STUDY MATERIALS RELATING TO "FULL PRETERISM"
Major Fulfillment of Matt. 24/25 or Revelation in Past

(Not Full/Hyper Preterism)

Free Online Books Historical Preterism Modern Preterism Study Archive Critical Articles Dispensationalist dEmEnTiA Main Josephus Church History

"It has been usual to say that the Spanish Jesuit Alcasar, in his Vestigatio Arcani Sensus in Apocalypsi (1614), was the founder of the Præterist School.. But to me it seems that the founder of the Præterist School is none other than St. John himself." (The Praeterist Interpretation, in The Early Days of Christianity - F.W. Farrar, Chaplain to Queen Victoria, 1871-1876)

MODERN PRETERISM (MP) - A) Umbrella term covering all those who believe that the majority of Bible prophecy was totally fulfilled in the early centuries of the Christian era.  Determined by looking at where authors find a "transition" from the past to the future using the Olivet Discourse of Matthew 24/25 and the Apocalypse of John.   Differs from Full Preterism in that it does not make the Parousia, the General Judgment, nor the General Resurrection events solely of the past.   B) According to known literature, this class emerged during the Reformation or Counter Reformation and can be seen in a fully developed form at the beginning of the 17th century in the writings of the Jesuit Alcasar -- although many believe that the "Preterist Assumption" seen throughout church history reveals the ancient and medieval equivalents of the Modern Preterist view. (systematized the most notably perhaps in 310 by Eusebius in "Theophany").   This classification includes many who were formerly classified as partial preterists (such as Gary DeMar and Dr. John Brown of Edinburgh) -- as their views are a much more complete presentation of the prophetic fulfillment than those classified in Historical Preterism.  C) Teaches that the bulk of Bible eschatology has sole application to ancient Israel, but that some regards the "last day" -- sometimes that "end" being personal, not historical, in nature.  Transitions somewhere in Matthew 25, or near the end of the Apocalypse of John.

Henry Hammond
  (1605-1660)

THE FATHER OF ENGLISH EXEGESIS

PARAPHRASE
and
 ANNOTATIONS

Upon all the Books of the New Testament
(1653)

“This was the first commentary of any length to be published in the English language,” E. Early Ellis

The Treatifes added to this Addition are these:

  1. A Differtation concerning the Baptism of Infants, on Matth. xxviii. 19. p. 15.

  2. An Answer to Mr. Whifton's Difcourfe, on Matth. xxiv. p. 25.

  3. An Examination of his Difcourfe concerning Abiathar the High Priest, on Mark ii. 36.

  4. A Difcourfe concerning the Imputation of Chrift's perfect Righteoufnefs to us for Righteoufness or Juftification, p. 68

  5. A Defence of a Paffage in the Preface to the Epiflle to the Galatians.

  6. A Difcourfe enquiring whether the Apoftles, in their Writings, spake as conceiving that the Day of Judgment might be in their Days, p. 113.

  7.  A Parallel betwixt the Apoftacy of the Jewifh and the Papal Antichrift, p. 119.

  • Free Online Books: Firmin Abauzit: Discours Historique Sur L' Apocalypse (1770 French PDF) "Abauzit left behind him some writings, chiefly theological. Of these the principal was, an "Essay upon the Apocalypse," written to show that the canonical authority of the book of Revelation was doubtful, and to apply the predictions to the destruction of Jerusalem. This work was sent by the author to Dr. Twells, in London, who translated it from French into English, and added a refutation, - with which Abauzit was so well satisfied, that he desired his friend in Holland to stop an intended impression." (Lange)

  • Free Online Books: Johann Gottfried von Herder - Mara-natha, das Buch von der Zukunft des Herrn, des Neuen Testaments Siegel [Maran-atha; the Book of the Coming of the Lord: the Seal of the New Testament.] (1799 German PDF) "The historical perspective of this book is, like that of Abauzit, barren and contracted in the extreme: it consists of Jerusalem and the Jewish war. The formal treatment of the Apocalyptic theme, on the contrary, is enthusiastic, full of idealization, and appreciation of the figurative language of the Orient (see Lucke's commendation). Herder called the Apocalypse : "A picture-book, setting forth the rise, the visible existence, and the future of Christ's Kingdom in figures and similitudes of His first Coming, to terrify and to console."  (Lange)

    •

  • Bishop Bielby Porteus - Our Lord's Prophecies Regarding the Siege and Destruction of Jerusalem (1801)

  • Moses Stuart - Hints on the Interpretation of Prophecy (1842) "The destruction of Jerusalem put an end of course to the Jewish persecuting power in Judea. Consequently the period in which Christianity becomes triumphant over persecution there, is contemporaneous with the destruction of Jerusalem.  Nothing can be more clear, than that the period of the two witnesses is the same as that of "treading the holy city under foot by the Gentiles," Rev. 11:2,3.  Two witnesses, and but two, are specified, as we may very naturally suppose, because "by the mouth of two or three witnesses every word is established.   The sum of Rev. xi. is, then, that the Romans would invade and tread down Palestine for 3 1/2 years, and that Christians, during that period, would be bitterly persecuted and slain ; but still, that, after the same period, the persecution would cease there, and the religion of Jesus become triumphant.  The words of the Saviour in Matt. xxiv. compared with the tenor of Rev. xi., seem to lead us plainly and safely to these conclusions." (p. 113)

Elder Bob Algood - Old Line Primitive Baptist

  • Mystery Babylon, Mother of Harlots - "Most of Revelation has already been fulfilled IN Christ or IN time. I do not know of any unfulfilled events, other than the return of Christ for his saints, and the final judgment of the wicked. At that time those whose names were written in the Lamb’s book of life before the foundation of the world will be ushered into glory, and the wicked will be judged and cast into the lake of fire, along with the Devil, the beast and the false prophet."

Bahnsen and Gentry - Reconstructionist

  • House Divided, The Breakup of Dispensational Theology (1989) - 464 pages "In less than a dozen years, the world will change drastically. Will it be for the better or the worse? Dispensationalist automatically answer: "Worse!" But their system is in deep trouble. The year 1988 marked the beginning of Dispensationalism's "great tribulation": the Rapture did not take place."

Doug Beaumont

Mike F. Blume

  • What Do Preterists Believe About "The Prince" in the 70 Weeks of Daniel? - "This is undoubtedly referring to 70 AD. When the Christians saw Jerusalem encompassed with armies, they indeed did flee the city and went to Pella. Rome devastated the city for 3.5 years. And Jesus said that event would end the times of the gentiles. Jerusalem would be no more the home of the temple and the ritual sacrifice of Law. Thank God that there was a remnant of Israel who represented the whole, thus fulfilling prophecy that all Israel shall be saved!"

  • Jerusalem Missed the Blessing - "The words of Matthew 25 concern the siege of Jerusalem as do the words of Matthew 24 -- both chapters deal with the same discussion on the Mount of Olives.  What about the separation of the cursed goats from the blessed sheep?  How does this picture fit into the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD?  This study explains the connection."

  • Rightly Dividing the Order of Events and Chronology

  • What Does Partial Preterism Propose?

David Chilton - (Modern Preterist Works Listed)

R.W. Dale

  • The Jewish Temple and the Christian Church - A Series of Discourses on the Epistle to the Hebrews (1871 PDF) "The end of all things is at hand." "His voice then shook the earth, but now hath He promised, saying, yet once more I shake not the earth only but also heaven." In His last revelation to mankind, God's purposes are reaching their perfect accomplishment. Empires which had overshadowed the whole earth had decayed and perished. The institutions and laws which God Himself had originally established, the temple He had consecrated, the priests He had anointed, were now ready to vanish away."

  • The Past Second Advent: The Coming of Christ (1887 PDF) "The Unseen King of men is near, and nearer than we know ; and if we listen to the voice of those that call us to His feet, the vision of Christ when it suddenly comes at a moment we look not for it. — Christ, King, and Judge, sitting on the clouds of heaven with power and with great glory — will occasion no mourning to us. It will be the fulfilment of all our most passionate hopes and the beginning of our eternal blessedness. What lies beyond we cannot tell. There are intimations in Holy Scripture elsewhere that the presence and glory of Christ in the invisible and eternal world, where He has ascended His throne as King and Judge of all, will, at last, after He has gathered through age after age His elect to Himself, break through even into the material order, and the last generation of mankind will suddenly pass into His presence."

Samuel G. Dawson

  • II Peter 3: Destruction of the Universe or Jerusalem? - "A verse-by-verse study of II Peter 3 shows how our ignorance of the Old Testament often causes us to jump to false conclusions about this important chapter. While many people believe this chapter deals with the destruction of the universe, the author proves that it prophesies about the destruction of Jerusalem."

  • The Destruction of Jerusalem vs. Final Judgment - "Matthew 24-25 is one of the most difficult, perplexing, abused, and misapplied passages in the Bible. It suffers the most speculative interpretations and many false doctrines about a final return of Christ rest upon it. For example, the Worldwide Church of God and Jehovah's Witnesses use Matthew 24-25 to substantiate their teachings. Misuse of it is also the basis for Hal Lindsay's popular Late Great Planet Earth."

Gary DeMar - President, American Vision

  • A Defense of Dispensationalism (2009) The same “hyper” argument can be applied to Calvinism. Seeing that MacArthur is a Calvinist, I can just hear some of his Arminian friends saying, “It is clear that the hermeneutical approach taken by Calvinists like John MacArthur is what laid the foundation for the hyper-Calvinism error.” Amillennialist David Engelsma, also a preterist critic, follows a similar slippery slope argument. Engelsma writes that partial “preterism will become consistent preterism.”[3] This is curious coming from Engelsma since he defends Calvinism against those who maintain that Calvinism inevitably leads to hyper-Calvinism or that Calvinism is in fact hyper-Calvinism. He writes in Hyper-Calvinism and the Call of the Gospel,

In most cases the charge “hyper-Calvinist” is nothing but a deceptive attack upon Calvinism itself. Someone who hates Calvinism, or the uncompromising, consistent defense of Calvinism; yet he hesitates to attack Calvinism openly and forthrightly, and therefore he disguises his attack as an attack on “hyper-Calvinism” and “hyper-Calvinists.”

This is exactly what Engelsma does in his attack on preterism. Instead of dealing with the detailed arguments of preterists, he immediately attacks hyper-preterism as if partial and hyper-preterism are synonymous. Let’s modify the hyper-Calvinist paragraph above by substituting hyper-preterist for hyper-Calvinist.

In most cases the charge “hyper-preterist” is nothing but a deceptive attack upon preterism itself. Someone who hates preterism, or the uncompromising, consistent defense of preterism; yet he hesitates to attack preterism openly and forthrightly, and therefore he disguises his attack as an attack on “hyper-preterism” and “hyper-preterists.”

  • The November Election and Claims that “The End is Near!” (2008) "With America’s self-conscious move toward unfettered socialism and fascism, some Christians will undoubtedly rev up the prophecy presses and inform the world that the end is near-again! History is a sober teacher of such foolishness."

  • Norman Geisler, "You," & "Zechariah the Son of Berechiah" (2007) "Geisler’s argument on the second person plural does not stand up to exegetical scrutiny. By not dealing with the above arguments, he shows that he is not a trustworthy critic of the preterist interpretation of prophecy."

  • Meet the Real Last Days Scoffers "You can hear the scoffers argue: The temple is still standing, the priesthood is intact, and animal sacrifices are going on as usual. The old covenant has not passed away; it’s a permanent fixture, even under Roman oppression. People are marrying and giving in marriage, eating and drinking, buying and selling, and planting and building (Luke 17:22–35).6 Everything is as it was since creation (2 Pet. 3:4). This Jesus, who claimed He would come in judgment before “this generation” passed away (Matt. 24:34), was a false prophet and you Christians are foolish to follow him. Return to the true faith of your fathers."

  • Tommy Ice and Dispensationalism under the Microscope -- Again "The difference is, preterism is right and dispensationalism is wrong, and because it’s wrong, it’s dangerous to Jews and the rest of us and those people who are reading the Left Behind series as if the prophetic content is actually taught in the Bible. As I’ve demonstrated in End Times Fiction, it’s not."

  • Thomas Ice and the Time Texts - "By never raising the issue of how the second person plural ("you") is used throughout Matthew 10, he is counting on his loyal readers not to notice. And who would think to go to Mark's account of the Transfiguration to see that the "disciples" is a larger group than Peter, James, and John? Of course, we all know the answer to this question: Preterists would."

  • The People of God, the Land of Israel, and the Impartiality of the Gospel - Among Signatories: R. C. Sproul, Ph.D., President, Ligonier Ministries, Orlando, FL | Gary DeMar, M.Div., American Vision, Powder Springs, GA  "At the heart of the political commitments in question are two fatally flawed propositions. First, some are teaching that God's alleged favor toward Israel today is based upon ethnic descent rather than upon the grace of Christ alone, as proclaimed in the Gospel. Second, others are teaching that the Bible's promises concerning the land are fulfilled in a special political region or "Holy Land," perpetually set apart by God for one ethnic group alone. "

  • Bible Minimalism and "The History of Preterism" -  (Parts One and Two) "Ice and LaHaye get off on the wrong foot in their analysis of preterism. The historical argument is a death blow, or to use Mark Hitchcock's metaphor from his chapter on the dating of Revelation, "A Stake in the Heart" to their brand of futurism. The earliest historical sources, the Didache, the testimony of James, the brother of Jesus, and 1 Clement demonstrate that preterism's history is a first-century history." "The publication of The End Times Controversy is a great opportunity for preterists to get out their message since the authors quote extensively from preterist works. More astute Christians will follow the trail of end notes and books listed in the bibliography and read them. The brighter bulbs in the box will find preterist arguments convincing and reject the dispensationalism of their youth. Many will be surprised that over the centuries so many sound and trusted Bible expositors have been preterists."

  • Will the Real Anti-Prophets Please Stand Up? - " If modern-day preterists are "anti-prophets," then we are in good historical company. A survey of the most widely read and respected commentaries over the past four-and-a-half centuries will show that preterism, not the strained futurism of dispensational premillennialism, was the predominate prophetic system held by Bible believing Christians. "

  • The Passing Away Heaven and Earth - "The parables of Matthew 24­25 are clear on the duration of the delays -- the two masters who go on a journey return to the same people they left. There is no need to allegorize these parables to force them to depict a distant coming of Christ."

  • Defending the Indefensible "The Second Coming does not compare favorably with The Gospel According to Jesus. Detailed analysis and comparative study are exchanged for superficial and misleading rhetoric. MacArthur scrupulously avoids the heart of the debate over the time texts."

  • Zechariah 14 and the Coming of Christ - "describes events leading up to and including the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70. God will act as Judge of Jerusalem and its inhabitants. As the king, He will send "his armies" and destroy "those murderers, and set their city on fire" (Matt. 22:7)."

  • No Fear of the Text - "Tim LaHaye has written another book on prophecy. No Fear of the Storm[1] was written because LaHaye recognizes that dispensational premillennialism is in trouble. "

  • Dispensationalism : Being "Left Behind" - "I opened this article with a "Best-Seller List" where three of the five non-fiction books on the list are preterist. How can these two authors ignore the subject of Preterism when the publisher claims that the authors "will clarify, magnify, and maybe even rectify your thoughts on a critical theme of God's written word: prophecy"? Zondervan, Kregel, and Baker have published high-profile books that deal with preterism. Three are in a debate-style format. LaHaye and Jenkin's failure to deal with Preterism makes this book a work of fiction. It would be like writing a history of the cola wars while leaving out either Coke or Pepsi."

  • Time's Puff Piece: The Devil is in the Details

Jack Van Deventer

  • A Case For Preterism - "The advantage of Preterism is that it 'saves the phenomena' of the New Testament time-frame references; it interprets biblical prophecy according to the images used in Scripture itself."

  • Israel and the Church

Canon F.W. Farrar

  • THE PRÆTERIST INTERPRETATION - "It has been usual to say that the Spanish Jesuit Alcasar.. was the founder of the Præterist School.. But to me it seems that the founder of the Præterist School is none other than St. John himself."

  • The Apocalypse and its Date - "The Apocalypse was written before (John) had witnessed the Coming of Christ and the close of the Old Dispensation, in the mighty catastrophe which, by the voice of God in history, abrogated all but the moral precepts which had been uttered by the voice of God on Sinai"

  • The Fall of Jerusalem - "It was to this event, the most awful in history that we must apply those prophecies of Christ's coming in which every one of the Apostles and Evangelists describe it as near at hand.   To those prophecies our Lord Himself fixed these three most definite limitations -- the one, that before that generation passed away all these things would be fulfilled; another that some standing there should not taste death till they saw the Son of Man coming in His kingdom; the third, that the Apostles should not have gone over the cities of Israel till the Son of Man be come.  It is strange that these distinct limitations should not be regarded as a decisive proof that the Fall of Jerusalem was, in the fullest sense, the Second Advent of the Son of Man, which was primarily contemplated by the earliest voices of prophecy."

  • Life of Christ Index -  "Behold, your house is left unto you desolate!" And has not that denunciation been fearfully fulfilled? Who does not catch an echo of it in the language of Tacitus—"Expassac repente delubri fores, et audita major humana vox excedere Deos." Speaking of the murder of the younger Hanan, and other eminent nobles and hierarchs, Josephus says, "I cannot but think that it was because God had doomed this city to destruction as a polluted city, and was resolved to purge His sanctuary by fire, that He cut off these their great defenders and well-wishers"

  • The Early Days of Christianity (1882)

Jim Fowler

  • Jesus - The Better Everything - An Introductory Commentary of the Epistle to the Hebrews (2001) "The Old Testament scriptures were lodged in Paul’s memory, and he quotes from them again to explain the “need for endurance” (36). “FOR YET IN A VERY LITTLE WHILE, THE ONE COMING WILL COME, AND WILL NOT DELAY.” Quoting from the Greek Old Testament, the Septuagint (LXX), as he does throughout this epistle, Paul allows the words of Habakkuk 2:3 to speak to the situation of the Jerusalem Christians. The delayed consummation of Christ’s victory to be revealed in the second advent created an “enigma of the interim” for the early Christians, but Paul uses Habakkuk’s words as his words to indicate that “the Coming One,” Jesus, will come “in a very little while,” very soon, i.e. imminently. This may refer to the “second coming of the parousia, as in Revelation 2:25, “Hold fast until I come.” More likely, Paul is referring to the imminent coming of Christ in judgment, when (perhaps within a year after the receipt of this letter) the Romans came against the residents of Palestine from 66-70 AD, destroying everything and decimating the population. This is the same “coming of the Son of Man” (Matt. 24:27,30,37,42) that Jesus referred to in His Mount of Olives discourse (Matt. 24:3-45). Paul is warning the Hebrew Christians again that judgment is coming, and everything in the old covenant will “disappear” (8:13)."

FREE ONLINE BOOKS

  • William S. Urmy, D.D. - Christ Came Again : The Parousia of Christ a Past Event ; The Kingdom of Christ a Present Fact ; With a Consistent Eschatology (1900) "We commence by quoting 1 Cor. xv, 20-28, a passage which has proved difficult of solution principally because it has been made by the majority of commentators to refer to a far-distant period, when all earthly affairs should be ended and the universe cease to be.   But another view is tenable - one which has been presented by Preterists, and is a much more satisfactory explanation of an intricate subject."

  • Sam. Lee: Preliminary Dissertations on The Theophany (1843)  "Add to this, (the book of Revelation's) own repeated declarations, that what was then said was shortly to come to pass [Chap. i. 1, 3; iii. 11; xxii. 7,10, 12, 20.]; and we shall be led to a conclusion as strong as words and facts can make it, that the purposes of God, as declared by the Prophets, and generally summed up in this Book, have been long ago fulfilled and finished."

  • Samuel Lee: The Events and Times of the Visions of Daniel and St. John (1851) "These predictions.. therefore were fulfilled to the very letter : and the facts of the case make it utterly impossible they can be fulfilled again."

 

F.W. Farrar
(1831-1903)

Chaplain to Queen Victoria, 1871-1876 | Headmaster of Marlborough College | Canon of Westminster Abbey | Rector of St. Margaret’s, Westminster | Archdeacon of Westminster | Dean of Canterbury

THE APOCALYPSE | FALL OF JERUSALEM | PRÆTERIST INTERPRETATION

Commentary on New Testament from Talmud and Hebraica
 (1658)



Arthur Ogden
 The Avenging of the Apostles and Prophets

Dr. Kenneth L. Gentry - Reconstructionist

  • The Book of Revelation and Eschatology - "I believe that Revelation was written in about A.D. 65. I further believe that it speaks to the original Christian audience regarding difficulties they were facing and in explanation of the coming final removal of Jerusalem by God’s wrath. "

  • Back to the Future - The Preterist Perspective -  "One of the best known and most accessible of the ancient preterists is Eusebius (A.D. 260-340), the "father of church history." In his classic Ecclesiastical History he details Jerusalem's woes in A.D. 70. After a lengthy citation from Josephus's Wars of the Jews, Eusebius writes that "it is fitting to add to his accounts the true prediction of our Saviour in which he foretold these very events" (3:7:1-2.)"

  • Christ's Resurrection and Ours - "Unfortunately, a new gnosticism is infecting the church: hyper-preterism. One major feature of hyper-preterism is its denial of a future physical resurrection of the believer at the end of history. As we shall see, this contradicts a major result of the resurrection of Christ."

  • The Spiritual Nature of the Kingdom - "it was just that sort of kingdom (natural) that the first-century Jews wanted and that Christ refused: "When Jesus therefore perceived that they would come and take him by force, to make him a king, he departed again into a mountain himself alone" (John 6:15)."

  • The Beast of Revelation Identified - "Nero and Nero alone fits the bill as the specific or personal expression of the Beast."

  • Apocalypse Then - "To insist that the events described therein are yet to happen sometime in the future is to do violence to the plain meaning of the phrases "shortly take place," and "the time is near."

  • "Revelation: Four Views" - Book Review - "David Chilton’s Days of Vengeance (despite some flights of fancy, use of astrology, and high liturgy) is an extremely insightful commentary."

  • Recent Developments in the Eschatological Debate - "A cult-like enthusiasm fuels this unorthodox movement, which teaches that the total complex of end time events transpired in the first-century: the Second Advent, the resurrection, the rapture of the saints, and the great judgment. It is to preterism what hyper-Calvinism is to historic Calvinism: a theological pushing beyond Biblical constraints. This view is not supported by any creed or any council of the church in history."

  • On the "transitional verses" in Matthew 24

  • As lightening comes from the East

Henry Hammond - First Generation Modern Preterist

  • A Paraphrase and Annotations upon all the Books of the New Testament (1653)  "Having gone through all the other parts of the New Testament, I came to this last of the Apocalypse, as to a rock that many had miscarried and split upon, with a full resolution not to venture on the expounding of one word in it, but onely to perform one office to it, common to the rest, the review of the Translation:   But it pleased God otherwise to dispose of it ; for before I had read (with the design of translating only) to the end of the first verse of the book, these words, which must come to pass presently, had such an impression on my mind, offering themselves as a key to the whole prophecie, (in like manner as, this generation shall not passe till all these things be fulfilled, Matt. 24.34. have demonstrated infallibly to what coming of Christ the whole Chapter did belong) that I could not resist the force of them, but attempted presently a general survey of the whole Book, to see whether those words might not probably be extended to all the prophecies of it, and have a literal truth in them, viz., that the things foretold and represented in the ensuing vision ; were presently, speedily, to come to passe, one after another, after the writing of them."

James B. Jordan - Reconstructionist

J. Marcellus Kik

  • Appearance of the Sign - "The sign of the reigning Christ was seen in the destruction of Jerusalem. The contemporary generation, indicated in verse 34, witnessed fulfillment of these things as Christ had prophesied."

Dr. Samuel Lee  (MP vs FP View: The Fall of Pagan Rome Was Likewise Contemplated by Bible Prophecy)


Samuel Lee - Regius Professor of Hebrew at Cambridge
Earliest Known Modern Preterist Author

"ALL PROPHECY IS FULFILLED"
The Events and Times of the Visions of Daniel and St. John
(1851)

Letters of Charles Darwin: "On Saturday evening dined at one of the Colleges, played at bowls on the College Green after dinner, and was deafened with nightingales singing. Sunday, dined in Trinity; capital dinner, and was very glad to sit by Professor Lee ; I find him a very pleasant chatting man, and in high spirits like a boy, at having lately returned from a living or a curacy, for seven years in Somersetshire, to civilised society and oriental manuscripts. He had exchanged his living to one within fourteen miles of Cambridge, and seemed perfectly happy." May 16, 1832


College Green, Bristol 1836

Scholar of a Past Generation
Memoir By His Daughter

John Lightfoot - Partially Responsible for Westminster Confession

William Mason

  • An Examination of the Prophecy Contained in the 24th Chapter of St. Matthew's Gospel (1811 PDF) The design in these sheets is to prove, that the Prophecy of our Saviour refers entirely and exclusively to the destruction of Jerusalem, and not to the end of the World : which, if proved, refutes the grand objection of Infidelity, founded on these words at the conclusion of this Prophecy, "Verily, verily, this generation shall not pass away before all these things be fulfilled."

Duncan McKenzie, Ph.D.

  • The Supernatural Rulers Portrayed in Daniel and Revelation "How could three physical empires who had been destroyed earlier than the fourth then survive past the destruction of the fourth? The answer is, we are not being shown physical empires; we are being shown confederations of spiritual rulers behind physical empires."

  • The Covenant Judgments of Revelation  "The new heaven and earth in Revelation (and Isaiah) is not heaven. Notice, it still has unrighteous people in it, those outside the New (covenant) Jerusalem (Rev. 22:14-15). The new heaven and new earth is a symbolic representation of the post AD 70 spiritual order of this planet. The old covenant order (the old heaven and earth) flees and the new covenant order (the new heaven and earth) is established (Rev. 20:11; 21:1-2). One has to constantly remember that the truths of Revelation are communicated by way of symbols (Rev. 1:1). In the new heaven and earth hose who are part of the New Jerusalem bride have access to the tree and water of life (Rev. 22:1-2); those outside of the new covenant city do not. "

  • The Antichrist Chronicles: vol. II

  • J.S. Russell's Position on the Millennium, the Neglected Third Way of Preterism "The position of James Stuart Russell offers a third option that is different from full preterism and traditional partial preterism. Russell’s position is essentially like the full preterist position (i.e. the one and only Second Coming, the judgment and the resurrection happened at AD 70, the resurrection having an ongoing fulfillment since AD 70. Russell’s position sees us as currently in the new heaven and earth, a symbol of the post AD 70 new covenant order). Where Russell position is different from full preterism is that it does not hold that all Bible prophecy was fulfilled by AD 70. "

  • The Serious Error of the Literal Hermeneutic in the Interpretation of the Book of Revelation - "The literalist hermeneutic essentially relies on the criterion of absurdity. If an image is absurd or fantastic it is taken as a symbol, if it is not absurd or fantastic it is taken as a literal physical depiction. This criterion of absurdity of the literalist is overly simplistic, inadequate and just plain wrong."

  • Babylon was not First-Century Jerusalem - "Seeing the harlot as the old covenant temple system helps to explain Revelation 18:21 (that says Babylon would not rise again).  The city of Jerusalem has risen again; the old covenant temple system has not risen again (and won’t).  By the way if you look at the merchandise of Babylon (Rev. 18:11-13) it is the items used in the building and offerings of the Temple.  The harlot city is dressed in clothes of the high priest.  Carrington said the following on the merchandise of Babylon “The long list of merchandise in [Rev.] 18:11-13 is surely a catalogue of materials for building the Temple, and stores for maintaining it.”

  • Premillennial Preterism - "A Premillennial futurist like Lindsey believes Jesus will return in the future to begin the millennium.A Premillennial preterist like Russell believes that Jesus returned in past (AD 70) and started the millennium at that time."

  • REVELATION: Fulfillment of the Covenant Curses of Leviticus and Deuteronomy

  • A New Preterist Perspective - Revelation 12 - "This coming of the one who was to pour out judgment on the desolate was accomplished by the general Titus and the Romans in AD 70. According to this interpretation the last half of Daniel’s 70th week (3½) was symbolic of the time between the cross, (around AD 30 when sacrifices were no longer valid) and the end of the Jewish age in AD 70, when the consummation was poured out on the desolate, (i.e. Jerusalem and the Temple were destroyed by the Romans)."

  • Was All Bible Prophecy Fulfilled in A.D.70? - "My short answer to the question of what Luke 21:22 means is that it is saying all things written about the days of vengeance that would come upon the Jews when they violated the covenant would be fulfilled by AD 70. It is not saying that all prophecy in the Bible would be fulfilled by AD 70."

  • A New Preterist Perspective - "Like full Preterist I see the Second Coming of Jesus as happening in AD 70. Unlike full Preterist I see us as currently being in the millennium (the millennial reign of Jesus beginning at His Second Coming in AD 70, Revelation chapters 19 and 20)"

  • A Preterist Book on the Antichrist

Ovid Need, Jr. - Unregistered, Independent Baptist

  • A Review of "The Parousia" and "Beast of Revelation" - "It appears to me that most prophetic teachers fail to realize that prophecy is from the time the passages are written, not from the time they are read."

  • The Dead Bones - The promise given to David of place of their own, and move no more, is Christ, the Son of David.

  • Israel Restored - The covenant-promise was that Abraham's seed should be the heir of the world. The promise was not made to Abraham's physical seed, but to his spiritual seed. Through faith in Christ, the Gospel Church is joint-heir with Christ. (Rom. 4:13, 14, 8:17.)

  • Tongues: A Biblical View - "Tongues (the supernatural ability to speak in a foreign language), as mentioned in Acts and Corinthians, are no longer needed. Their need was fulfilled in 70 A.D. when the judgment which they spoke of came upon Israel; therefore, this supernatural gift is gone. Prophecies and knowledge in the sense which Philip's daughter spoke are gone also, gradually replaced with the more sure word of prophecy and knowledge, the word of God (Acts 21:9). The Apostle John finished the word of God."  (1994)

  • Matthew 24 - Ovid Need, Jr. - "When I realized that an honest examination of Matthew 24 did not confirm Scofield's vision, I had to face facts and change some beliefs. The context of Matthew 24 clearly tells us that Matthew 24 was basically fulfilled in 70 AD. The problem I then had to confront was that if Matthew 24 is basically fulfilled, then many of the theories built on Matthew 24 being future had to be wrong."

  • A Review of "The Rapture Plot" | A Postscript to "The Death of Victory" | A Lawless Religion: CI Scofield

Bishop Thomas Newton

John Noē, Ph.D. - Prophecyrefi.org (MP vs FP View: Many comings of Christ, and no singular "Second Coming in AD70")

Arthur M. Ogden

  • Dating the Book of Revelation - "The final destruction of Jerusalem came in 70 A.D. God's purposes and plans were all in place by this time. Nothing remained to be done."

Dr. John Owen - Puritan

  • On 'the Heavens and the Earth' - 2 Pet. iii. 7 (1721) - "The heavens and earth that God Himself planted, -the sun, moon, and stars of the Judaical polity and church, -the whole old world of worship and worshippers, that stand out in their obstinacy against the Lord Christ, shall be sensibly dissolved and destroyed."

Dr. Randall E. Otto

  • Dealing with (Parousia) Delay: A critique of Christian coping - "The Roman destruction of the Jewish temple in the Jewish war of 66-70 CE alone satisfies the temporal requirements for the imminency of the parousia and the historical requirements for the transformation of relations wrought by God ushering in a new reality of the church as the kingdom of God. "

  • The Meeting in the Air (I Thess 4:17) -  "The “meeting in the air” is not a literal rapture of believers, but a symbolic depiction of the final battle of Christ and the powers of darkness which oppose him and his people.  Paul responds by declaring that Christ will come with those departed believers, demonstrating that they have been and will remain his; they and the angelic hosts come to behold the final battle which Christ wages with the powers of darkness inhabiting the air."

  • Jesus the Preterist: A Review of Sproul's Last Days "Material continuity with the person prior to death has certainly been the predominant view of the resurrection body throughout Christian history. Both the body and the soul of the one who rises are therein viewed as necessary to insure that the risen one is numerically the same individual. Personal identity is thus secured when God recollects the scattered matter, miraculously reconstitutes it in a human body, and reunites it with the soul. The problems attending the view of personal identity as a recollection of scattered matter are, of course, significant. The most obvious is the perennial concern raised as to how human material which has long since biodegraded into the dust and become part of the grass which is eaten by the cows which has been consumed by subsequent generations of human beings can be recollected."

  • Preterism and the Question of Heresy - "Orthodox faith and orthodox doctrines are those that honor God rightly," whereas "heresy" refers to the false doctrine of those who "have abandoned the faith" and move others to do the same. [82] If heresy has to do with a denial of the principle that God has provided redemption in Christ, as McGrath says, it is hard to understand how preterism can be viewed as a heresy, for it affirms "the orthodox faith and orthodox doctrines" in all points as expressed in the great creeds and confessions while endeavoring to "honor God rightly" by insisting that the consummation of God's redemptive purpose in Christ's parousia has not been frustrated or postponed, but rather accomplished according to the clear chronology set forth in the NT. Preterists believe this evidence is so compelling that they are willing to suffer the accusations and condemnations of others in their effort to affirm the words of the apostle Paul: "let God be true, and every man a liar. As it is written: 'So that you may be proved right when you speak and prevail when you judge'" (Rom 3:4).

Bishop Bielby Porteus - Dividing Line Between Destruction of Jerusalem and General Judgment: Matthew 25:31

Ernest Renan - French Freethinker | "Six Seal Preterist"

Milton S. Terry

  • Apocalypse of the Gospels - Making the connection between the Olivet Discourse and the Book of Revelation (1898) - . (PreteristArchive Addition to Web!)

  • BIBLICAL APOCALYPTICS | Preface | Introduction  - Focuses on the Prophetic portions of Scripture (1898)

  • BIBLICAL HERMENEUTICS - Textbook in many colleges - Almost fully Pret | "A treatise on the Interpretation of the Old and New Testament" (1890)

  • BIBLICAL DOGMATICS - The Doctrine of the Resurrection (Pages 212 – 251) Adam Clarke thus comments: "I do not think that he refers to the resurrection of the body, but to the resurrection of the soul in this life; to the regaining of the image which Adam lost." (1907)

  • Continuous Development of the Kingdom of Christ "It is not said that we must all appear at one and the same moment before the judgment seat of Christ.  This second appearing of Christ, apart from sin, to them that wait for him unto salvation, as well as the judgment here spoken of, is something to come to each man after death.  Thus in a very true and holy sense were they caught away to a meeting of the Lord in the air. Such a departing to be with Christ is not to be deemed incompatible with the Lord's coming to receive them unto himself. And this glorious process is continually going on, and has been since the time when Stephen saw the heavens opened, and beheld the glory of God,   That day is the day or time of his departure (ver. 6). For why should we commit this scripture to the notion that even now, after nearly two thousand years, Paul is still waiting and longing for the crown of righteousness!"

Ralph Woodrow

  • 70 Weeks - Future or Fulfilled? - "With Adam Clarke we say: "The whole of this prophecy from the times and corresponding events has been fulfilled to the very letter." (Clarke's Commentary, note on Daniel 9)."

  • Matthew 24 - Future or Fulfilled? - "By 70 A. D., the gospel had gone forth to the world for a witness. No longer was God's message to man be confined to one nation or race!"

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