EARLIEST USAGES OF PRETERIST / PRETERITE / PRAETERIST G.S. Faber (1843) "To consider certain vituperative prophecies...as already accomplished in the course of the first and second centuries; whence, to commentators of this School, we may fitly apply the name of Preterists."  (The Sacred Calendar of Prophecy) James Peabody (1847) "They who hold the Praeterist scheme, entertain the opinion, that all the leading  predictions of the book of Revelation, were fulfilled in the early periods.." The Churchman's Monthly Review (1847) "The Professor has found a key, whereby to disprove, as he thinks, the two rival forms of the Preterist expositions, and unlock the whole prophecy. This key is the numerosity, and above all, the trichotomy of the Apocalypse. This proves that there must be three catastrophes, the fall of Jerusalem, ch. xi., the death of Nero, ch. xvi., and the destruction of Gog and Magog, ch. xx. " The trichotomy of the Apocalypse," he says, " stands pre-eminent in important consequences as to the interpretation. It settles the question whether there is more than one catastrophe in the book. This is a great question. ... It is plain that the writer's main object has been completed antecedently to this last scene (xx. 7—10). Yet the trichotomy of the book, and the nature of the case, both demanded a rounding off of the whole in such a manner! " ' (Churchman's Monthly Review, January, p. 120) Edward Bishop Elliot  (1847) See my Examination of the German Praeterist Apocalyptic Scheme, in the Appendix  to my Vol. iv. (Horæ Apocalypticæ: Or, A Commentary on the Apocalypse) Alexander Beith (1849) "For example,— not to enumerate every thing of this kind, it is essential to the exposition that neither the Preterist nor Futurist theory be correct." Joseph Addison Alexander (1851) "The true force of the preterite and future forms, as here employed, is that according to God's purpose, it has come to pass and will come to pass hereafter." (Isaiah Translated and Explained Part Two - Page 148) Robert Bickersteth (1855) "It is not, perhaps, saying too much, to admit that after all the attempts of commentators, ancient and modern,— preterist and futurist, there are many symbols and visions of Revelation which, we must confess, we do not understand." (The Gifts of the Kingdom, p. 18) Quarterly Journal of Prophecy (1856) "The author maintains that the key to the Apocalypse is, that the destruction of Jerusalem was the second coming of Christ, and that there is no other advent of Christ to be expected (Lecture xvi.) He is an ultra-preterist. Those who believe in a literal coming of the Lord to judgment, yet to take place, he condemns in language sufficiently strong. Any system (millenarian or not) that takes for granted a future advent of Christ, is founded on " strained interpretations"— " patchings of the Word of God"—" positions plainly untenable." Whereas, his own doctrine (that there is no advent) is written as with a sunbeam, and the whole body of the Scriptures coincides with it (p. 431). " (vol. 22) James Austin Bastow (1868) "To the Preterist scheme of interpretation we incline, regarding the predictions of the book as having been fully accomplished before the close of AD 135." (A Biblical Dictionary, p. 627) George Hawkins Pember (1881) "The Praeterist view was first put forth as a complete scheme by the Jesuit Alcasar in his work entitled " Vestigatio Arcani Sensus in Apocalypsi," which was published in 1614. It was thus unknown in the early times of the Church, and has found but little favour save with Roman Catholics and with expositors of a rationalising tendency.6 It limits the scope of the Apocalypse to the events of the seer's life and some other things which he might well have guessed, and affirms that the whole prophecy was fulfilled in the destruction of Jerusalem by Titus and the subsequent fall of the persecuting Roman Empire, that is, in the successive overthrows of Judaism and Paganism." (The great prophecies concerning the Gentiles, the Jews, and the Church of God, pp. 5,6) EARLY DICTIONARY STYLE DEFINITIONS H.P. Smith (1883) "Preterist. [L. praeteritus, past] 1. One who lives in the past rather than in the present. 2. One who regards the Apocalypse as a series of predictions which have already been fulfilled." (Glossary of Terms and Phrases) Webster's Dictionary (1913) "2. (Theol.) One who believes the prophecies of the Apocalypse to have been already fulfilled. Farrar."  (http://www.dictionary.com/cgi-bin/dict.pl?term=preterist)

The criteria by which the identification of "scholar" and "scholarship" is made relates to peer review and acceptance more than to a particular level of scholastic achievement.

EXHAUSTIVE LIST OF PRETERISTIC "SCHOLARS"
(Collected from Scholarly Sources / Under Construction / Classified by "Grand Association")

Roman Catholics: Jesuit Luis Alcazar, J.B. Bossuet, Gonzalo Rojas Flores,  Charles Homer Giblin, Godet, Scott Hahn, Hardouin, Hug, Monsignor Francesco Spadafora.  (Lapide and Pascal have "preterist elements")

Protestants: Abauzit, Adams, Aube, Auberlen, J.V. Bartlet, Bause, Beck, Bleek, Bohmer, Bunsen, Buxtorf, Campbell, Chilton, Clarke, Cowles, Credner, Davidson, DeMar, De Pressence, Desprez, DeWette, Dusterdieck, Edmundson, Eichhorn, Erbes, Ersch and Gruber, Ewald, Feuillet, Gebhardt, Geiger, Gieseler, Goodwin, Gratz, Grotius, Harenberg, Hausrath, Hartwig, Hammond, Heinrichs, Henderson, Herder, Herzfeld, Herzog, Hilgenfeld, Hottinger, Immer, Jost, Keim, Kernkel, Kitto, Koppe, Kurtz, Clericus, Jn. Lightfoot, Lücke, Lundius, James MacDonald, Maurice, Meuschen, Michaelis, Mommsen, Neander, Niermeyer, Th. Newton, Otho, Friedrich Adolph Philippi, Plummer, Protestanten-Bibel authors, Relandus, Renan, Reuss, Reville, Russell, Sallschutz, Salmon, Scholten, Schottgen, C.A. Scott,  Selwyn, Simcox, Stier, Stuart, Swegler, Thiersch, Tholuck, Tilloch, Vanderwall, Volkmar, Wagenseil, B. Weiss, Wetstein, Wilkins, Winer, Züllig, Zunz.   (Beyschlag has preterist elements)

German: Die zeitgeschichtliche Auslegung (Präterismus)
Spanish: Preterismo, Aucto de la destruición de Jerusalén
Italian:  la fine di Gerusalemme

 

ADVOCATES FOR THE EARLY DATE OF REVELATION
(PRIOR TO THE 20TH CENTURY)

Greg Bahnsen (1984)
"A partial list of scholars who have supported the early date for Revelation, gleaned unsystematically from my reading, would include the following 18th and 19th writers not already mentioned just above: John Lightfoot, Harenbert, Hartwig, Michaelis, Tholuck, Clarke, Bishop Newton, James MacDonald, Gieseler, Tilloch, Bause, Zullig, Swegler, De Wette, Lucke, Bohmer, Hilgenfeld, Mommsen, Ewald, Neander, Volkmar, Renan, Credner, Kernkel, B. Weiss, Reuss, Thiersch, Bunsen, Stier, Auberlen, Maurice, Niermeyer, Desprez, Aube, Keim, De Pressence, Cowles, Scholten, Beck, Dusterdiek, Simcox, S. Davidson, Beyschlag, Salmon, Hausrath. Continuing on into the 20th century we could list Plummer, Selwyn, J.V. Bartlet, C.A. Scott, Erbes, Edmundson, Henderson, and others. If one's reading has been limited pretty much to the present and immediately preceding generations of writers on Revelation, then the foregoing names may be somewhat unfamiliar to him, but they were not unrecognized in previous eras. When we combine these names with the yet outstanding stature of Schaff, Terry, Lightfoot, Westcott, and Hort, we can feel the severity of Beckwith's understatement when in 1919 he described the Neronian dating for Revelation as "a view held by many down to recent times." (Historical Setting for the Dating of Revelation)
 

• Firmin Abauzit, Essai sur l’Apocalypse (Geneva: 1730) ; Discours Historique sur l'Apocalipse; trans. into English by Hardwood in Miscellanies (London: 1774).
• Luis de Alcasar, Vestigatio arcani sensus in Apocalypsi (Antwerp: 1614).
• Karl August Auberlen. Prophecies of Daniel and the Revelation of St. John in Their Mutual Relation (1856 PDF)  
• B. Aubé
• James Vernon Bartlet, The Apostolic Age: Its Life, Doctrine, Worship, and Polity (Edinburgh: 1899), pp. 388ff. (AD75)
• Ferdinand Christian Baur, Church History of the First Three Centuries (Tubingen: 1863).
• Leonhard Bertholdt, Htitorisch-kritische Einleitung in die sammtlichen kanonishen u. apocryphischen Schriften des A. und N. Testaments, vol. 4 (1812 -1819).
• Willibald Beyschlag, New Testament Theology, trans. Neil Buchanan (Edinburgh: 1895).
• Friedrich Bleek, Vorlesungen und die Apocalypse (Berlin: 1859); and An Introduction to th New Testament, 2nd cd., trans. William Urwick (Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1870); and Lectures on the Apocalypse, ed. Hossbach (1862).
• Alexander Brown (1878)
• Heinrich Bohmer, Die Offenbarung Johannis (Breslau: 1866).
• Wilhelm Bousset, Revelation of John (Gottingen: Vandenhoeck, 1896).
• Brown, Ordo Saeclorum, p. 679. 50
• Christian Karl Josias Bunsen.
• Cambridge Concise Bible Dictionay, editor, The Holy Bible (Cambridge), p. 127.
• Camp, Franklin.
• Newcombe Cappe
• W. Boyd Carpenter, The Revelation of St. John, in vol. 8 of Charles Ellicott, cd., Ellicott's Commentary on the Whole Bible (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, rep. n.d.).
• S. Cheetham, A History of the Christian Church (London: 1894) , pp. 24ff.
• Adam Clarke, Clarke’s Commentay on the Whole Bible.
• Henry Cowles, The Revelation of St. John (New York: 1871).
• Karl August Credner, Einleitung in da Neuen Testaments (1836).
• Alpheus Crosby
• R.W. Dale (1878)
• Samuel Davidson, The Doctrine af the Last Things (1882); "The Book of Revelation" in John Kitto, Cyclopedia of Biblical Literature (New York: 1855); An Introduction to th Study of the New Testament ( 1851 ); Sacred Hermeneutics (Edinburgh: 1843).
• Gary DeMar, "Last Days Madness"
• Edmund De Pressense, The Early Years of Christianity, trans. Annie Harwood (New York: 1879), p. 441.
• P. S. Desprez, The Apocalypse Fulfilled, 2nd ed. (London: 1855).
• W. M. L. De Wette
• Johann Gottfried Eichhorn, Kure Erklamng hr Offmbarung (Leipzig: 1848).
• Dollinger, Dr.
• Friedrich Dusterdieck, Critical and Exegetical Handbook to the Revelation of John, 3rd ed., trans. Henry E. Jacobs (New York: 1886)
• K. A. Eckhardt, Der Id da Johannes (Berlin: 1961 ).
• Alfred Edersheim, The Temple: Its Ministry and Services, pp. 141ff.
• Johann Gottfried Eichhorn, Commentaries in Apocalypse (Gottingen: 1791).
• Erbes, Die Oflenbawzg 0s Johannis (1891).
• G. H. A. Ewald, Commentaries in Apocalypse (Gottingen: 1828).
• Frederic W. Farrar, The Early Days of Christianity (New York: 1884).
• Grenville O. Field, Opened Seals – Open Gates (1895).
• Hermann Gebhardt, The Doctrine of the Apocalypse, trans. John Jefferson (Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1878).
• Gentry, Kenneth L., Jr.
• J.C.L. Giesler (1820)
• James Glasgow, The Apocalypse Translated and Expounded (Edinburgh: 1872).
• James Comper Gray, in Gray and Adams’ Bible Commentary, vol. V
• Hugo Grotius, Annotations in Apocalypse (Paris: 1644).
• Heinrich Ernst Ferdinand Guenke, Introduction to the New Testament (1843); and Manual of Church History, trans. W. G. T. Shedd (Boston: 1874), p. 68.
• Henry Melville Gwatkin, Early Church History to A.D. 313, vol. 1, p. 81.
• Hamilton, James.
• Henry Hammond, Paraphrase and Annotation upon the N. T (London: 1653).
• Hampden-Cook, Ernest
• Harbuig (1780).
• Hardouin (1741)
• Harenberg, Erkiarung ( 1759).
• Friedrich Gotthold Hartwig, Apologie Der Apocalypse Wider Falschen Tadel Und Falscha (Frieberg: 1783).
• Karl August von Hase, A History of the Christian Church, 7th cd., trans. Charles E. Blumenthal and Conway P. Wing (New York: 1878), p. 33. 54
• Adolph Hausrath.
• Hawk, Ray.
• B. W. Henderson, Life and Principate of Nero, 439 f.
• Hentenius. [secondary source]
• Johann Gottfrieded von Herder, Das Buch von der Zukunft des Herrn, des Neuen Testaments Siegal (Rigs: 1779).
• J. S. Herrenschneider, Tentamen Apocalypseos illustrandae (Strassburg: 1786).
• Adolf Hilgenfeld, Einleitung in das Neun Testaments ( 1875).
• Hitzig.
• Heinrich Julius Holtzmann, Die Offenbarrung des Johannis, in Bunsen’s Bibekoerk (Freiburg: 1891).
• F. J. A. Hort, The Apocalypse of St. John: 1-111, (London: Macmillan, 1908); and Judaistic Christianity (London: Macmillan, 1894).

• John Leonhard Hug, Introduction to the New Testament, trans. David Fosdick, Jr. (Andover: Gould and Newman, 1836).

• William Hurte, A Catechetical Commentay on the New Testament (St. Louis: John Burns, 1889), pp. 502ff.55
• A. Immer, Hermeneutics of the New Testament, trans. A. H. Newman (Andover: Draper, 1890).
• Theodor Keim, Rom und das Christenthum.
• Theodor Koppe, History of Jesus of Nazareth, 2nd cd., trans. Arthur Ransom (London: William and Norgate, 1883).
• Max Krenkel, Der Apostel Johannes (Leipzig: 1871).
• Johann Heinrich Kurtz, Church History, 9th cd., trans. John McPherson (3 vols. in 1) (New York: Funk and Wagnalls, 1888), pp. 41ff.
• Victor Lechler, The Apostolic and Post-Apostolic Times: Their Diversity and Union Life and Doctrine, 3rd cd., vol. 2, trans. A. J. K. Davidson, (Edinburgh: 1886), pp. 166ff.
• John Lightfoot (1658)
• Joseph B. Lightfoot, Biblical Essays (London: 1893).
• Gottfried Christian Friedrich Lücke, Versuch einer vollstandigen Einleitung in die Offenbarung Johannis, (Bonn: 1852).
• Christoph Ernst Luthardt, Die Offenbarung Johannis (Leipzig: 1861).
• James M. Macdonald, The Life and Writings of St. John (London: 1877).
• Frederick Denisen Maurice, Lectures on the Apocalypse, 2nd ed. (London: 1885).
• John David Michaelis, Introduction to the New Testament, vol. 4; and Sacred Books the New Testament.
• Charles Pettit M’Ilvaine, The Evidences of Christianity (Philadelphia: 1861).
• Theodor Mommsen, Roman History, vol. 5.
• John Augustus Wilhelm Neander, The History of the Planting and Training of the Christian Church by the Apostles, trans. J. E. Ryland (Philadelphia: James M. Campbell, 1844), pp. 223ff.
• Sir Isaac Newton, Observation Upon the Prophecies of Daniel, and the Apocalypse of St. John (London: 1732).
• Bishop Thomas Newton, Dissertation on the Prophecies (London: 1832).
• A. Niermeyer, Over de echteid der Johanneisch Schriften (Haag: 1852).
• Professor Nehemiah A. Nisbett
• Alfred Plummer (1891).
• Dean Plumptere (1877)
• Edward Hayes Plumtree, A Popular Exposition of the Epistles to the Seven Churches of Asia, 2nd ed. (London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1879).
• Ernest Renan, L’Antechrist (Paris: 1871).
• Eduard Wilhelm Eugen Reuss, History of the Sacred Scriptures of the New Testament (Edinburgh: T. &T. Clark, 1884).
• Jean Reville, Reu. d. d. Mondes (Oct., 1863 and Dec., 1873).
• Edward Robinson, Bibliotheca Sacra, vol. 3 (1843), pp. 532ff.
• J. Stuart Russell, The Parousia (1878).
• Salmon, G. Introduction to the New Testament.
• Philip Schaff, History of the Christian Church, 3rd cd., vol. 1: Apostolic Christianity (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, [1910] 1950), p. 834.
• Johann Friedrich Schleusner.
• J. H. Scholten, de Apostel Johannis in Klein Azie (Leiden: 1871).
• Albert Schwegler, Da Nachapostol Zeitalter (1846).
• Henry C. Sheldon, The Early Church, vol. 1 of History of the Christian Church (New York: Thomas Y. Crowell, 1894), pp. 112ff.
• William Henry Simcox, The Revelation of St. John Divine. The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge: Cambridge University, 1893).
• Arthur Penrhyn Stanley, Sermons and Essays on the Apostolic Age (3rd ed: Oxford and London: 1874), pp. 234ff.
• J.A. Stephenson (1838)
• Rudolf Ewald Stier (1869).
• Augustus H. Strong, Systematic Theology (Old Tappan: 1907, p. 1010).
• Moses Stuart, Commentary on the Apocalypse, 2 vols. (Andover: 1845).
• Swegler.
• Milton S. Terry, Biblical Hermeneutics, p. 467.
• Thiersch, Die Kirche im apostolischm Zeitalter.
• Friedrich August Gottreu Tholuck, Commentary on the Gospel of John (1827).
• Tillich, Introduction to the New Testament.
• Gustav Volkmar, Conmentur zur 0fienbarung (Zurich: 1862).
• Foy E. Wallace, Jr., The Book of Revelation (Nashville: by the author, 1966) .
• Israel P Warren (1878)
• Bernhard Weiss, Die Johannes-Apokalypse. Textkritische Untersuchungen und Textherstellung (Leipsig, 1891).
• Brooke Foss Westcott, The Gospel According to St. John (Grand Rapids: 1882).
• J. J. Wetstein, New Testament Graecum, vol. 2 (Amsterdam: 1752).
• Karl Wieseler, Zur Auslegung und Kritik der Apok. Literatur (Gottingen: 1839).
• Charles Wordsworth, The New Testament, vol. 2 (London: 1864).
• Robert Young, Commentary on the Book of Revelation (1885)
• C. F. J. Zullig, Die Ofienbamng Johannis erklarten (Stuttgart: 1852).

 

ADVOCATES FOR THE TEACHING THAT AD70 WAS "A" RETURN OF CHRIST

• BROWN, ALEXANDER, of Aberdeen. " The Great Day of the Lord." E. Stock.

• BROWN, DAVID "Christ's Second Coming"

• COWLES, Professor HENRY, of Oberlin, U.S.A. " The Revelation of John."Published by Appleton, New York.

• CROSBY, ALPHEUS, of Boston, U.S.A.

• DALE, R. W., D.D. "The Coming of Christ" ; a Sermon (1878) now out of print.

• DEPSREZ, PHILLIP, S. " The Apocalypse Fulfilled." Longmans, 1861.

• EDWARDS, JONATHAN "Miscellany 1199"

• FARRAR, FREDERIC, W., D.D. " The Early Days of Christianity." 1882

• GOODHART, C. A., M.A. "The Christian's Inheritance." Nisbet, 1891.

• GROTIUS. " Annotations."1644.

• HAMMOND. "Annotations." 1653.

• HAMPDEN-COOK, E., M.A. "The Christ Has Come." 1894.

• HARRIS, J. TINDALL. "The Writings of the Apostle John." Hodder. HINDS,

• HOOPER, JOSEPH, of Bridgwater.

• KING, ALEXANDER. " The Cry of Christendom for a Divine Eirenikon."

• LEE, SAMUEL, D.D., of Cambridge, Translator of Eusebius's " Theophania."

• LEE,  F.N., Dr.

• MAURICE, F. D., M.A. "The Apocalypse." 1861.

• MAURO, PHILIP.

• MURRAY, JAMES, of Torquay.

• MURRAY, J. O. F., M.A., in the Cambridge " Companion to the Bible." 1893.

• NEWTON,THOMAS, D.D. " Dissertations on the Prophecies." 1754.

• NISBETT, N., of Kent. "The Triumphs of Christianity over Infidelity displayed", 1802.

• NOYES, JOHN, H. Author of "The Berean"

• PECKINS, W. N., of Torquay,

• RATTRAY, THOMAS, of Toronto. The Regal Advent." 1878.

• RUSSELL, JAMES STUART, D.D. The Parousia." 1878.

• SAMUEL, M.A. "The Catechist's Manual." 1829.

• STARK, ROBERT, of Torquay.

• STEPHENSON, J. A., " Christology of the Old and New Testaments," 1838.

• TERRY, MILTON S., D.D. " Biblical Hermencutics." Hunt & Eaton, New York. 1883.

• THOM, Dr., of Liverpool.

• TOWNLEY, ROBERT, Of Liverpool.

• WARREN, ISRAEL P., D.D., of Maine, U.S.A. " The Parousia." 1878.

• WILKINSON, W. J. P., of Exeter.

Louis Berkhof (1915)
"3.  Present day critical scholars are generally inclined to adopt the Praeterist (zeitgeschichtliche) interpretation, which holds that the view of the Seer was limited to matters within his own historical horizon, and that the book refers principally to the triumph of Christianity over Judaeism and Paganism, signalized in the downfall of Jerusalem and Rome.  On this view all or almost all the prophecies contained in the book have already been fulfilled (Bleek, Duisterdieck, Davidson, F. C. Porter e. a.)." (New Testament Introduction)

E.B. Elliott
"It may probably at once strike the reflective reader that if the chronology of Bossuet's scheme, extending as it does from Domitian's time to fall of the Roman empire in the 5th century, do in regard of the supposed Roman catastrophe abundantly better suit with historic fact than the German Neronic or Galbaic Præterist Scheme, it is on the other hand quite as much at disadvantage in respect of the other, or Jewish catastrophe. For surely that catastrophe was effected in the destruction of Jerusalem by Titus, above 20 years before Bossuet's Domitianic date of the Apocalypse: and all that past afterwards under Hadrian was a mere rider to the great catastrophe." (Bousset's Roman Praeterist Scheme)

G.S. Hitchcock (1911)
“The Praeterist School, founded by the Jesuit Alcasar in 1614, explains the Revelation by the Fall of Jerusalem, or by the fall of Pagan Rome in 410 A.D.” (The Beasts and the Little Horn, p. 7.)

Tim LaHaye
"The great merit of the preterist approach is that it understands and interprets the plight of the first-century church in terms of the crisis that had developed at that particular time. By not relegating the book to some future period the encouragements to the church as well as the warnings to "those who dwell upon the earth" are taken with immediate seriousness"  (The Book of Revelation, 1977, 27).

"..most preterists are Bible-believing Christians who love the Lord and are striving to serve Him." (ETC, p.7)

NIV Study Bible
"Preterists understand the book [Revelation] exclusively in terms of its first century setting, claiming that most of its events have already taken place."  (Robert Mounce and David O'Brown for Zondervan)

New King James Study Bible
"preterists view the book [Revelation] as referring almost exclusively to first century events." (Nelson's Publishers, page 2195)

George Hawkins Pember (1881)
"The Praeterist view was first put forth as a complete scheme by the Jesuit Alcasar in his work entitled " Vestigatio Arcani Sensus in Apocalypsi," which was published in 1614. It was thus unknown in the early times of the Church, and has found but little favour save with Roman Catholics and with expositors of a rationalising tendency.6 It limits the scope of the Apocalypse to the events of the seer's life and some other things which he might well have guessed, and affirms that the whole prophecy was fulfilled in the destruction of Jerusalem by Titus and the subsequent fall of the persecuting Roman Empire, that is, in the successive overthrows of Judaism and Paganism." (The great prophecies concerning the Gentiles, the Jews, and the Church of God, pp. 5,6)

Benjamin Warfield
(1) The Preterist, which holds that all, or nearly all, the prophecies of the book were fulfilled in the early Christian ages, either in the history of  the Jewish race up to A.D. 70, or in that of Pagan Rome up to the fourth or fifth century.  With  Hentensius and Salmeron as forerunners, the Jesuit Alcasar (1614) was the father of this school.  To it belong Grotius, Bossuet, Hammond, LeClerc, Wetstein, Eichhorn, Herder, Hartwig,  Koppe, Hug, Heinrichs, Ewald, De Wette, Bleek,  Reuss, Reville, Renan, Desprez, S. Davidson, Stuart, Lucke, Dusterdieck, Maurice, Farrar, etc. " (Revelation)

Rand Winburn
"In 1688, Jesuit-educated and Preterist, Bishop Bossuet dropped a bombshell on Protestants by publishing his scathing indictment of Protestantism, The History of the Variations of the Protestant Churches.  Bossuet's purpose is so doing was to show the lack of unity and succession of Protestant doctrines through the ages (which the Calvinists claimed), unlike the unity and apostolic doctrines of the Catholic Church, thus fulfilling the promise of Jesus in Matt. 16:18. Using the Protestant belief (that there have always been believers who have held to their anti-Catholic doctrines) against them, he proposes arguments proving the unorthodox Christianity of all the groups Protestants claimed as forefathers." (Paulicans)

 

David S. Clark (1921)
"Interpreters have been usually classified as 1. praeterist, regarding the prophecies as already fulfilled; 2. futurist, placing the whole book in the times of the millennium and the second advent; 3. hhistorical, the fulfillment issuing int he continuous progress of the church and kingdom on to the end. This classification is not exact as no one can be altogether a praeterist or a futurist." (The Message from Patmos, page 8)

Steve Gregg
"Those who hold to the classical preterism of centuries past take a high view of the inspiration of the Scripture and date the Book of Revelation prior to A.D.70."  (Revelation, p.30)

"The preterist approach sees the fulfillment of Revelation's prophecies as already having occurred in what is now the ancient past, not long after the author's own time.  Thus the fulfillment was in the future from the point of view of the inspired author, but it is in the past from our vantage point in history.  Some preterists believe that the final chapters of Revelation look forward to the second coming of Christ.  Others think that everything in the book reached its culmination in the past.

In contrast, those who hold to the classical preterism of centuries past take a high view of the inspection of Scripture and date the Book of Revelation just prior to 70AD. They are capable of pointing out may details in Revelation that they believe were fulfilled in the fall of Jerusalem and some see in the later chapters the prediction of the fall of Rome and beyond to the Second Coming of Christ. What I am representing as preterism in this volume is this theological conservative early-date preterism that has had worthy advocates for several centuries."

Mark Horne
"While there are many people who argue for the preterist position, including Jay Adams, David Chilton, Gary DeMar, Ken Gentry, and James B. Jordan, it is especially notable that N. T. Wright also argues for preterism. Wright is notable because he is not primarily a theologian but is an apologist defending the historicity of Jesus in secular academic circles. In doing so, he does much to vindicate the historical Jesus not only from liberals, but from orthodox conservatives as well. He must show how it is credible to believe that a first-century Palestinian Jew did and said what the gospels assert that He did and said." (Why Side with the Sadducees)

R.C. Sproul Jr.
"Thankfully, God in his mercy has done a great work in waking up many people to their condition. The rapid spread of the doctrine of preterism has been a welcome tonic. No more visits to the chiropractor after making "some of you will not sleep" and "this generation shall not pass" stretch out into two millennia." (Foreword to The End of All Things, p.9)

This position, known as preterism, takes seriously the time frame references of Jesus and the apostles regarding Christ’s return. While all others, especially the most hard-core dispensationalists, are practicing exegetical yoga with Jesus’ promises that "some of you will not sleep" and "this generation will not pass," preterists read and understand without contortion or embarrassment." (Foreword to The End of All Things, p.9)

 

Greg Bahnsen
"A partial list of scholars who have supported the early date for Revelation, gleaned unsystematically from my reading, would include the following 18th and 19th writers not already mentioned just above: John Lightfoot, Harenbert, Hartwig, Michaelis, Tholuck, Clarke, Bishop Newton, James MacDonald, Gieseler, Tilloch, Bause, Zullig, Swegler, De Wett, Lucke, Bohmer, Hilgenfeld, Mommsen, Ewald, Neander, Volkmar, Renan, Credner, Kernkel, B. Weiss, Reuss, Thiersch, Bunsen, Stier, Auberlen, Maurice, Niermeyer, Desprez, Aube, Keim, De Pressence, Cowles, Scholten, Beck, Dusterdiek, Simcox, S. Davidson, Beyschlag, Salmon, Hausrath. Continuing on into the 20th century we could list Plummer, Selwyn, J.V. Bartlet, C.A. Scott, Erbes, Edmundson, Henderson, and others. If one's reading has been limited pretty much to the present and immediately preceding generations of writers on Revelation, then the foregoing names may be somewhat unfamiliar to him, but they were not unrecognized in previous eras. When we combine these names with the yet outstanding stature of Schaff, Terry, Lightfoot, Westcott, and Hort, we can feel the severity of Beckwith's understatement when in 1919 he described the Neronian dating for Revelation as "a view held by many down to recent times."  By many indeed! It has been described, as we saw above, as "the ruling view" of critics," by "the majority of modern critics," by "most modern scholars," and by "the whole force of modern criticism." The weight of scholarship placed behind the Neronian option for the dating of Revelation has been staggering. In our own day it has gained the support of such worthies as C.C. Torrey, J.A.T. Robinson, and F.F. Bruce and has been popularized by Jay Adams.  In 1956 Torrey could write about the number 666, "It is now the accepted conclusion that the beast is the emperor Nero."" (Historical Setting for the Dating of Revelation)

Gary DeMar
"Much of the debate over preterism comes down to when the (Revelation of John) was written.  This is especially true for the book of Revelation.  If a document was written prior to the destruction of Jerusalem which occurred in A.D. 70, then any statement about future prophetic events could be a reference to that event." ("Shreds of Preterism" Among First Century Writers)

"A Preterist  believes that certain prophetic passages have already been fulfilled.  The key interpretive factor for the preterist is the use of time words like "shortly" (Rev. 1:1), "near" (1:3; 22:10), and "quickly" (22:7, 12 20) and time indicators like "this generation" (Matt. 24:34), "at hand" (1 Peter 4:7), and "right at the door" (James 5:9).  The terms "preterism" and "preterist" are based on the Latin word preter, which mans "past." (The Early Church and the End of the World, p. 2)

F.W. Farrar
"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 Early Days of Christianity - PRÆTERIST INTERPRETATION | FALL OF JERUSALEM | APOCALYPSE)

Kenneth Gentry
"Many mistakenly assume that evangelical preterism burst upon the eschatological scene through Reconstructionist publications, such as Chilton's The Great Tribulation (1987), my The Beast of Revelation (1989), and DeMar's Last Days Madness (1991) (all were former students of Bahnsen at Reformed Theological Seminary in the 1970s). Actually amillennialist Jay Adams' The Time is at Hand (1966) was an (early) important seminal text that helped spark the (later) preterist revolution. It was even used by Bahnsen at RTS in his "History and Eschatology" course. Other pre-resurgence books include Campbell's Israel and the New Covenant (1954), Kik's The Eschatology of Victory (1975), and Cornelis Vanderwaal's Search the Scriptures (1978)." (Recent Developments)

"The term ‘preterism’ is based on the Latin preter, which means ‘past.’ Preterism refers to that understanding of certain eschatological passages which holds that they have already come to fulfillment. Actually, all Christians--even dispensationalists--are preteristic to some extent. This is necessarily so because Christianity holds that a great many of the Messianic passages have already been fulfilled in Christ's first coming." (Kenneth L. Gentry, Jr., He Shall Have Dominion [Tyler, TX: Institute for Christian Economics, 1997], 162–163).

Henry Hammond
"And it has been matter of much satisfaction to me, that what hath upon sincere desire of finding out the truth, and making my addresses to God for his particular directions in this work of difficulty.. appeared to me to be the meaning of this prophecie, hath, for this main of it, in the same manner represented it self to several persons of great piety and learning (as since I have discerned) none taking it from the other, but all from the same light shining in the Prophecie it self.  Among which number I now also find the most learned Hugo Grotius, in those posthumous notes of his on the Apocalypse, lately publish'd." (Paraphrase and Annotations, introduction to the Apocalypse) -- Response by John Owen "that there are many complaine of your secret vain-glory, in seeking to disclaime the direction from H. Grotius in reference to your comment on the Revelation." (Packer, The Transformation of Anglicanism, 96)

 

Kurt Simmons (2003)
" The term “preterism” is derived from the Latin praeteritus, meaning that which has past. (Praeteritus is the past participle of praeterire, to go before: prae (comparative of before) ire, to go.)  The term is derived from Matt. 24:34 where it occurs in the Latin to describe the time of Christ's Second Coming:  "Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass ("non praeteribit haec generatio"), till all these things be fulfilled."  (What is Preterism?)

 

Tim LaHaye and Tommy Ice in End Times Controversy

• Preterism greatly distorts the culmination of God's plan for history. (LaHaye and Ice, p. 420)

• The logic of the preterist position leads one to delusional views of present reality. (LaHaye and Ice, p. 420)

• Many bizarre possibilities become viable when people begin to believe and think through the implications of preterism. (LaHaye and Ice, p. 420)

• ...this would logically mean, for the preterist, that most of the New Testament does not refer directly to the church today. (LaHaye and Ice, p. 421)

• If preterism is true, then the New Testament was written primarily to believers who lived during the 40-year period between the death of Christ and the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70. Therefore, virtually no part of the New Testament applies to believers today, according to preterist logic. There is no canon that applies directly to believers today, during the current church age. (LaHaye and Ice, p. 421)

• If Revelation 21-22 is a description of the state in which we are now living, then it also renders most of the New Testament obsolete and impractical because it relates to believers and how they should live between Christ's two comings. The logic of the preterist position leads to this conclusion, even though many preterists do not think this way in practice. They don't, but according to their theology, they should! They must separate preterist theory from practice, since they cannot implement in practice preterist theory. (LaHaye and Ice, p. 422)

• If Titus 2:13 was fulfilled in A.D. 70 with Christ's return, then the "present age" in verse 12 would have ended when verse 13 was fulfilled. Therefore, the entire admonition in verse 12 was applicable only to Christians up until A.D. 70. This means the instruction "to deny ungodliness and worldy desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age" does not apply to our current age, but to the past age that ended in A.D. 70 when "the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus" was manifested in the destruction of Jerusalem. This (sadly) is one of the practical implications of the preterist view, as applied to this passage and to most of the imperatives relating to the Christian life as found in the New Testament. (LaHaye and Ice, p. 422)

• The clear implication of preterist thinking is that the teachings in Titus no longer relate to the age in which we live. (LaHaye and Ice, p. 422)

• If preterism is true, then it should alter much of what we understand the Bible to be saying about the Christian life. (LaHaye and Ice, p. 424)

• Therefore, if "the last days" have already come and gone, we should expect that the persecution of the godly should be absent and "evil men and imposters" should not "proceed from bad to worse." According to preterism, that may have happened in the days leading up to A.D. 70, but not after that time. (LaHaye and Ice, p. 425)

• No, the Tribulation and much of Bible prophecy is not past; rather it is future. If it was fulfilled in the past, then we have no future. (LaHaye and Ice, p. 429)

Ron Cooke
"The praeterist view found no favour and was hardly so much as thought of in the time of primitive Christianity. Those who lived near the date of the book of Revelation itself had no idea that its groups of imagery were intended merely to describe things then passing, and to be in a few years completed. This view is said to have been first promulgated in anything like completeness by the Jesuit Alcasar, in his "Vestigatio Arcani Sensus in Apocalypsi" (1604). Very nearly, the same plan was adopted by Grotius. The next great name among this school of interpreters is that of Bossuet the great antagonist of Protestantism." (Unmitigated Twaddle)

Tommy Ice
"You might be interested to know that in 1843, when the journal Bibliotheca Sacra was first started, it taught Preterism. You can go back and look at the early articles – Scholars such as Moses Stewart (sic) and James Robinson wrote for the journal in those early years. It was not until 1934, when Dallas Seminary took control of Bib Sac, that it became a futurist organ." (The Destructive View of Preterism)

"My preterist friends have not been able to find any early preterists in the early church. I would never say that there is no one in the early church who taught preterism. . . . Don't be foolish enough to say that nothing is out there in church history, because you never know. . . . There is early preterism in people like Eusebius. In fact, his work The Proof of the Gospel is full of preterism in relationship to the Olivet Discourse." ("Update on Pre-Darby Rapture Statements and Other Issues": audio tape December 1995)

"What’s happening is that Preterism is challenging futurism. Idealism is not a factor out there and Historicism is not a factor. Preterists are rising up, coming mainly out of the Reconstructionist Movement, to do this. What is their theme verse? Does anybody know? Let’s all say it together, “Truly I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things be fulfilled.” So, when you talk to a Preterist, get ready to hear the words, “this generation” at least eight dozen times if you have an extended conversation.

We’ll have to have some Christian sociologists do an analysis of how frequently Preterists in an average hour discussion of Preterism say “this generation” and report back. That would be a good thing for the Christian Ed department to do. That way we could have some probability rates on these kinds of things." (The Conservative Theological Journal, 48, Volume 3, in an article entitled "The Destructive View of Preterism," pg 393)

"It is strange that there is not one shred of evidence that anyone in the first century understood these prophecies [in the Olivet Discourse and the book of Revelation] to have been fulfilled when preterists say they were. You would think that if a large body of Bible prophecy were meant to relate to a specific generation, as preterists contend, then the Holy Spirit would have moved in such a way so that first-century believers would have reached such an understanding. However, there has not yet been found any evidence that indicates that the first-century church viewed Bible prophecy this way. This fact provides a major problem for preterism, which thus far has proved insurmountable."

"There is zero indication, from known, extant writings, that anyone understood the New Testament prophecies from a preterist perspective. No early church writings teach that Jesus returned in the first century.¹⁷ If we as God's people are to understand the prophecies of New Testament in this way, you would think that the Holy Spirit would have left at least one written record of this." ("The History of Preterism," The End Times Controversy: The Second Coming Under Attack, eds. Tim LaHaye and Thomas Ice (Eugene, OR: Harvest House, 2003), 37, 39.)

Tim LaHaye
"Many Bible-believing Christians find it astounding that anyone would teach that our Lord Jesus Christ has already returned to earth and that we are now living in the kingdom age predicted throughout the Bible.  Yet that is what preterists believe and teach.  And surprisingly, their numbers are growing -- not because their arguments for what they are trying to believe are so convincing, but because many of their new followers have only heard one side of the argument." (p.7)

"In his book The Last Days According to Jesus, Dr. Sproul narrows down preterists to two main divisions: "Full Preterism and Partial Preterism."  Reduced to the most significant distinction between them, a full preterist is one who believes all prophecy was fulfilled at the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D.70, including the second coming of Jesus.  Partial preterists such as Sproul and Gentry believe that even though Matthew 24 and the book of Revelation have largely been fulfilled, they still understand some Bible passages to teach a future second coming (Acts 1:9-11; 1 Corinthians 15:51-52; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18).  They see the second coming of Jesus, the resurrection of the dead, the Judgment Seat of Christ, and heaven as yet future." (pp. 7-8)

 

ON HYPER PRETERISM