Dispensationalism

{{Short description|Biblical interpretation}}
{{Redirect|Church Age|the Mr. Del album|Church Age (album){{!}}''Church Age'' (album)}}
{{Other uses|Dispensation (disambiguation)}}
{{Christian Eschatology}}
'''Dispensationalism''' is a [[Christian theology|theological]] framework of [[Biblical hermeneutics|interpreting]] the [[Bible]] which maintains that history is divided into multiple ages or "dispensations" in which [[God the Father|God]] acts with his [[chosen people]] in different ways.<ref name=":16" />{{Rp|page=19}} It is often distinguished from [[covenant theology]].<ref name="RTS-Waters-2021">{{cite web |last1=Waters |first1=Guy |title=What are the differences between covenant theology and dispensationalism? |url=https://rts.edu/resources/differences-between-covenant-theology-dispensationalism/ |website=Reformed Theological Seminary |access-date=9 December 2023 |date=2 November 2021}}</ref><ref name="Poythress-1986">{{cite book |last1=Poythress |first1=Vern Sheridan |title=Understanding Dispensationalists |date=1986 |publisher=Westminster Theological Seminary |location=Chestnut Hill, PA |url=https://frame-poythress.org/ebooks/understanding-dispensationalists/ |access-date=9 December 2023 |chapter=1 Getting Dispensationalists and Nondispensationalists to Listen to Each Other. The Term "Dispensationalist"}}</ref> The term "dispensationalism" is attributed to [[Philip Mauro]], a critic of the system's teachings in his 1928 book ''The Gospel of the Kingdom''.<ref name=":11">{{Cite book |last=Mauro |first=Philip |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QXjJzAEACAAJ |title=The Gospel of the Kingdom: With an Examination of Modern Dispensationalism |date=1928 |publisher=Hamilton brothers |pages=17 |language=en}}</ref><ref name=":20">{{Cite book |last=Hummel |first=Daniel G. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=F1l-EAAAQBAJ |title=The Rise and Fall of Dispensationalism: How the Evangelical Battle over the End Times Shaped a Nation |date=2023-05-04 |publisher=Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing |isbn=978-1-4674-6220-4 |language=en}}</ref>

Dispensationalists use a [[Biblical literalism|literal interpretation]] of the Bible and believe that [[divine revelation]] unfolds throughout the Bible. They believe that there is a distinction between [[Twelve Tribes of Israel|Israel]] and the [[Christian Church|Church]], and that Christians are not bound by [[Law of Moses|Mosaic law]]. They maintain beliefs in [[premillennialism]], [[Christian Zionism]], and a [[rapture]] of the Church that will happen before the [[Second Coming]] of Christ, generally seen as happening before a period of [[Great Tribulation|tribulation]].<ref name=":4">{{Cite book |last1=Blomberg |first1=Craig L. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=huMlsCYyI5YC&dq=Historic+premillennialism+pierre+poirret&pg=PT69 |title=A Case for Historic Premillennialism: An Alternative to "Left Behind" Eschatology |last2=Chung |first2=Sung Wook |date=2009-02-01 |publisher=Baker Academic |isbn=978-1-4412-1056-2 |language=en}}</ref>

Dispensationalism was systematized and promoted by [[John Nelson Darby]] and the [[Plymouth Brethren]] in the mid-19th century.<ref name=":7">{{Cite book |last=Ryrie |first=Charles C. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zafSmAEACAAJ |title=Dispensationalism |date=2007 |publisher=Moody Publishers |isbn=978-0-8024-2189-0 |language=en}}</ref>{{Rp|page=67}} It began its spread in the United States during the late 19th century through the efforts of evangelists such as [[James Inglis (evangelist)|James Inglis]], [[James Hall Brookes]], [[Dwight L. Moody]], the efforts of the Niagara Bible Conference, and the establishment of Bible Institutes. With the dawn of the 20th century, [[C. I. Scofield]] introduced the ''[[Scofield Reference Bible]]'', which solidified dispensationalism in the United States.

Dispensationalism has become popular within American evangelicalism. It is commonly found in [[Bible church|nondenominational Bible churches]], as well as [[Baptists|Baptist]], [[Pentecostalism|Pentecostal]], and [[Charismatic movement|Charismatic]] groups.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Dearing |first=Karen Lynn |date=2001 |title=A History of the Independent Bible Church |page=20 |work=Ouachita Baptist University |url=https://scholarlycommons.obu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1103&context=honors_theses |access-date=12 December 2019}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last1=Crenshaw |first1=Curtis I. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bnk9AAAACAAJ |title=Dispensationalism Today, Yesterday, and Tomorrow |last2=Gunn |first2=Grover |publisher=Footstool Publications |year=1985 |isbn=978-1-877818-01-1 |pages=117 |language=en}}</ref> Conversely, [[Protestantism|Protestant]] denominations that embrace covenant theology as a whole tend to reject dispensationalism.

== Overview ==
Dispensationalism is a theological framework that views history as divided into distinct periods in which God interacts with mankind in a specific way. Each of these periods is defined as a specific dispensation.<ref name=":11" /><ref name=":16">{{Cite book |last=Bass |first=Clarence B. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ck1LAwAAQBAJ |title=Backgrounds to Dispensationalism: Its Historical Genesis and Ecclesiastical Implications |date=2005-02-03 |publisher=Wipf and Stock Publishers |isbn=978-1-59752-081-2 |language=en}}</ref>{{Rp|page=19}} The defining characteristics of a dispensation are the distinct governing relationship in which God interacts with mankind in the specific period, and the resulting responsibility placed upon mankind in each of these periods.<ref name=":7" />{{Rp|page=33}}

Christians generally agree there are distinct periods in [[Will of God|God's plan]] for humanity.<ref name="POYTHRESS-understanding-2009">{{cite web |last1=POYTHRESS |first1=VERN |title=Understanding Dispensationalism |url=https://faculty.wts.edu/lectures/understanding-dispensationalism/ |website=Westminister Theological Seminary |access-date=9 December 2023 |date=13 March 2009 |quote=Now, the problem is that almost anyone who is an evangelical will recognize that there are distinct periods. For instance, there was a period before the fall of Adam when things were very different because there was no sin and there was no need for redemption, animal sacrifice or any of those things.}}</ref>  However, dispensationalist theologians tend to hold "a particular view of the parallel-but-separate roles and destinies of [[Israelites|Israel]] and the [Christian] [[Christian Church|church]]", with a "careful separation ... between what is addressed to Israel and what is addressed to the church. What is addressed to Israel is 'earthly' in character and is to be interpreted 'literally.'"<ref name="Poythress-1986" /><ref name="RTS-Waters-2021" />  

This view is distinct from [[covenant theology]] which holds that rather than having separate plans, "God has one people, one people of God throughout redemptive history, called 'Israel' under the Old Testament, and called 'the church' under the New."<ref name="RTS-Waters-2021" />

[[Philip Mauro]], a critic of the system's teachings in his 1928 book ''The Gospel of the Kingdom'', is considered to be the first to coin the term "dispensationalism" to describe the system that was making its way through fundamentalism as a whole, calling it "a subtle form of modernism".<ref name=":11" /><ref name=":20" />

=== Typical divisions ===
Although the number of dispensations typically vary from three to eight, the typical seven-dispensation scheme is as follows:<ref name=":7" />{{Rp|page=|pages=51–57}}
* Innocence – [[Adam]] under probation prior to [[the Fall of Man]]. Ends with expulsion from the [[Garden of Eden]] in [[Book of Genesis|Genesis 3]]. Some refer to this period as the Adamic period or the dispensation of the Adamic covenant or Adamic law.
* Conscience – From the Fall to the [[Genesis flood narrative|Great Flood]]. Ends with the worldwide deluge.
* Human or Civil Government – After the Great Flood, humanity is responsible to enact the [[death penalty]], and as such, is the authority to govern. Ends with the dispersion at the [[Tower of Babel]]. Some use the term [[Noahide Law|Noahide law]] in reference to this period of dispensation.
* Promise or Patriarchal Rule – From [[Abraham]] to [[Moses]]. Ends with the refusal to enter Canaan and the 40 years of unbelief in the wilderness. Some use the terms Abrahamic law or [[Abrahamic covenant]] in reference to this period of dispensation.
* Law – From Moses to the [[crucifixion]] of [[Jesus Christ]]. Ends with the scattering of Israel in AD 70. Some use the term [[Mosaic law]] in reference to this period of dispensation.
* [[Grace in Christianity|Grace]] – From the cross to the [[Rapture|rapture of the church]] seen by some groups as being present in [[1 Thessalonians]] and the [[Apocalypse of John|Book of Revelation]]. The rapture is followed by wrath of God constituting the [[Great Tribulation]]. Some use the term ''Age of Grace'' or ''the Church Age'' for this dispensation.
* [[Millennial Kingdom]] – A literal 1000 year reign of Christ on earth ({{bibleverse|Revelation|20:1-6|KJV}}), centered in [[Jerusalem in Christianity|Jerusalem]], ending with God's judgment on the final rebellion.
{| class="wikitable"
|-
| style="width:8%" align="center" bgcolor="#ccffff" | '''Dispensational schemes'''
| colspan="8" rowspan="1" align="center" bgcolor="#ccffff" | '''Bible chapters'''
|-
| style="width:8%" align="center" bgcolor="#ccffff" |
| style="width:8%" align="center" bgcolor="#FFFFCC" | Genesis 1–3
| style="width:8%" align="center" bgcolor="#FFFFCC" | Genesis 3–8
| style="width:8%" align="center" bgcolor="#FFFFCC" | Genesis 9–11
| style="width:8%" align="center" bgcolor="#FFFFCC" | Genesis 12-Exodus 19
| style="width:8%" align="center" bgcolor="#FFFFCC" | Exodus 20-Birth of the Church
| style="width:8%" align="center" bgcolor="#FFFFCC" | Church Age-Rapture
| style="width:8%" align="center" bgcolor="#FFFFCC" | Revelation 20:4–6
| style="width:8%" align="center" bgcolor="#FFFFCC" | Revelation 20–22
|-
| align="center" bgcolor="#ccffff" | 7 or 8 step 
| align="center" bgcolor="#8cffc5" | Innocence <br /> or Edenic
| align="center" bgcolor="#8cffc5" | Conscience <br /> or Antediluvian
| align="center" bgcolor="#8cffc5" | Civil Government
| align="center" bgcolor="#e5e5b7" | Patriarchal <br /> or Promise
| align="center" bgcolor="#ffcc99" | Mosaic <br /> or Law
| align="center" bgcolor="#66e0ff" | Grace <br /> or Church
| align="center" bgcolor="#ccccff" | Millennial Kingdom
| align="center" bgcolor="#FFCCFF" | Eternal State <br /> or Final
|-
| align="center" bgcolor="#ccffff" | 4 step
| colspan="4" align="center" bgcolor="#e5e5b7" | Patriarchal
| align="center" bgcolor="#ffcc99" | Mosaic
| align="center" bgcolor="#66e0ff" | Ecclesial
| colspan="2" align="center" bgcolor="#ccccff" | Zionic
|-
| align="center" bgcolor="#ccffff" | 3 step (minimalist)
| colspan="5" align="center" bgcolor="#ffcc99" | Law
| align="center" bgcolor="#66e0ff" | Grace
| colspan="2" align="center" bgcolor="#ccccff" | Kingdom
|}

=== Variants ===

*Classic dispensationalism
*[[Ultradispensationalism]] (Bullingerism)
* [[Hyperdispensationalism]] (Mid-Acts dispensationalism)
* Revised dispensationalism
* [[Progressive dispensationalism]]

==Theology==

=== Purpose of God in the world ===
According to John Walvoord, God's purpose in the world is to manifest his glory.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Walvoord |first=John F. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2aTJCiHoxfsC |title=The Millennial Kingdom |date=1983 |publisher=Zondervan |isbn=978-0-310-34091-1 |language=en |author-link=John Walvoord}}</ref>{{Rp|page=92}} Charles Ryrie writes that dispensational [[soteriology]] focuses on man's salvation as the means God uses to glorify himself.<ref name=":7" />{{Rp|page=40}}

=== Biblical literalism ===
{{Main|Historical-grammatical method}}

A key element of dispensationalism is the use of the historical-grammatical hermeneutic to apply a consistent, literal interpretation of the text.<ref name=":19">{{Cite book |last=Buschart |first=W. David |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QzyMCsh4CaUC |title=Exploring Protestant Traditions: An Invitation to Theological Hospitality |date=2009-09-20 |publisher=InterVarsity Press |isbn=978-0-8308-7514-6 |pages=216, 218 |language=en}}</ref> Scripture is to be interpreted according to the normal rules of human language in its entirety.<ref name=":7" />{{Rp|page=80}} This leads dispensationalists to take eschatological passages of the bible literally. Charles Ryrie suggests that a non-literal hermeneutic is the reason that amillennialists apply the Old Testament promises to Israel "spiritually" to the church and covenant premillennialists see some prophecies as fulfilled and others are not.<ref name=":7" />{{Rp|page=90}}

===Progressive revelation===
{{main|Progressive revelation (Christianity)}}

Progressive revelation is the doctrine that each successive book of the [[Bible]] provides further [[revelation]] of God and his program. Theologian [[Charles Hodge]] wrote that the progressive character of divine revelation is gradually unfolded until the fullness of truth is revealed.<ref>{{Citation |last=Hodge |first=Charles |title=Systematic Theology |url=https://archive.org/details/systematicth200301hodg/page/446 |volume=1 |page=[https://archive.org/details/systematicth200301hodg/page/446 446] |year=2003 |place=Peabody |publisher=Hendrickson |isbn=1-56563-459-4}} (also available as {{Citation |last=Hodge |title=Systematic Theology |date=May 1997 |publisher=P & R |editor-last=Gross |editor-first=Edward N. |edition=abridged |isbn=0-87552-224-6}})</ref> Charles Ryrie wrote that the Bible is not viewed as a textbook on theology, but rather as a continually unfolding revelation of God through successive ages where there are distinguishable stages in which God introduces new things for which man becomes responsible.<ref name=":7" />{{Rp|page=33}}

Disagreement exists between [[covenant theology]] and dispensationalism regarding the meaning of revelation. Covenant theology views the [[New Testament]] as the key to interpreting the [[Old Testament]].<ref name=":7" />{{Rp|page=32}} For dispensationalists, the Old Testament is interpreted on its own and that the New Testament contains new information which can build on the Old Testament but cannot change its meaning.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Toussaint |first1=Stanley D. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ELPsd0kf6UkC |title=Three Central Issues in Contemporary Dispensationalism: A Comparison of Traditional and Progressive Views |last2=Burns |first2=J. Lanier |publisher=Kregel Academic |isbn=978-0-8254-9881-7 |pages=124 |language=en}}</ref> Each stands alone, rather than the Old Testament being reread through the lens of the New Testament.<ref name=":19" />

===Distinction between Israel and the Church===
Dispensationalists profess that there exists a historic and demographic distinction between Israel and the [[Christian Church]]. For them, Israel is an ethnic nation consisting of Hebrews ([[Israelites]]), beginning with [[Abraham]].<ref name=":7" />{{Rp|page=127}} The Church, on the other hand, consists of all [[salvation|saved]] individuals from the "birth of the Church" in Acts until the time of the [[rapture]].<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.gotothebible.com/HTML/notwrath.html | title = Not Wrath, but Rapture | first = Harry A | last = Ironside | author-link = Harry A. Ironside | quote = The prophetic clock stopped at Calvary; it will not start again until 'the fullness of the Gentiles be come in'. | url-status = dead | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160203075745/http://www.gotothebible.com/HTML/notwrath.html | archive-date = 2016-02-03 }}</ref> Classic dispensationalists refer to this period as a "parenthesis" or temporary interlude in the progress of Israel's prophesied history when God has paused his dealing with Israel and is dealing with his Church.<ref name="parenthesis">{{cite book
|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9yfBGAAACAAJ
|last=Ironside
|first=Harry A.
|author-link=Harry A. Ironside
|title=The Great Parenthesis
|publisher=[[Zondervan]]
|date=1943
|page=4
|quote=It is the author's fervent conviction that the failure to understand what is revealed in Scripture concerning the Great Parenthesis between Messiah's rejection, with the consequent setting aside of Israel nationally, and the regathering of God's earthly people and recognition by the Lord in the last days, is the fundamental cause for many conflicting and unscriptural prophetic teachings. Once this parenthetical period is understood and the present work of God during this age is apprehended, the whole prophetic program unfolds with amazing clearness.}}</ref><ref name=":7" />{{Rp|page=134,177}}<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last=DeMar |first=Gary |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Tii3ulwqzW0C |title=Last Days Madness: Obsession of the Modern Church |publisher=American Vision |year=1999 |isbn=978-0-915815-35-7 |language=en}}</ref>{{Rp|page=410}}

There are differing views within dispensationalism as to when the church age began. Classic dispensationalism considers [[Pentecost]] in [[Acts 2]] as the beginning of the Church as distinct from Israel.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Enns |first=Paul |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3hlIAgAAQBAJ&dq=%22dispensationalism%22%2B%22church+age%22%2B%22Acts+2%22&pg=PT745 |title=The Moody Handbook of Theology |date=2014-03-27 |publisher=Moody Publishers |isbn=978-0-8024-9115-2 |language=en}}</ref> Charles Finney noted in 1839 that Pentecost was "the commencement of a new dispensation", emphasizing the role of the Holy Spirit as a distinction.<ref name=":17" />{{Rp|page=87}} [[C. I. Scofield]] did not make Pentecost itself the turning point but did emphasize its role in dividing the dispensations of "Law" and "Grace".<ref name=":17" />{{Rp|page=88}} In contrast, [[Hyperdispensationalism|hyperdispensationalists]] suggest that the church started later in Acts ("Mid-Acts") with the ministry of Paul, identifying the start of the church as occurring between the salvation of Saul in [[Acts 9]] and the Holy Spirit's commissioning of Paul in [[Acts 13]].<ref>{{cite web |last=Brock |first=Robert C. |title=The Teachings of Christ |url=http://www.bereanbiblesociety.org/articles/1017958318.html |quote=The ministry of Christ did not stop with His ascension in the first chapter of the book of Acts. Christians have failed to realize that when Saul is saved in Acts 9, a NEW ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ is begun by God, and this NEW ministry ushers in this present age of grace. Saul's name is changed to Paul, and he is designated as the Apostle of the Gentiles (Romans 11:13). He is given revelations from the risen Christ, and these are the revelations embracing Christianity.}}</ref><ref name=":12">{{Cite book |last=Couch |first=Mal |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rPeo38M2d9UC |title=Dictionary of Premillennial Theology |publisher=Kregel Publications |isbn=978-0-8254-9464-2 |pages=98 |language=en}}</ref> [[E. W. Bullinger]] and the ultradispensationalists taught that the church began in [[Acts 28]].<ref name=":12" />  According to [[progressive dispensationalism]], the distinction between Israel and the Church is not mutually exclusive, as there is a recognized overlap between the two.<ref name="blaising">{{Cite book |last1=Blaising |first1=Craig A. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xsumJRsOWVMC |title=Progressive Dispensationalism |last2=Bock |first2=Darrell L. |publisher=BridgePoint |year=1993 |isbn=1-56476-138-X |location=Wheaton, Illinois |language=en-us}}</ref>{{rp|295}} The overlap includes [[Jewish Christian]]s like [[James, brother of Jesus]], who integrated Jesus's teachings into the Jewish faith, and Christians of Jewish ethnicity who held varying opinions on compliance with Mosaic law, like [[Saint Peter]] and [[Paul the Apostle]]. Progressive dispensationalism "softens" the Church/Israel distinction by seeing some Old Testament promises as expanded by the New Testament to include the Church. However, progressives never view this expansion as replacing promises to its original audience, Israel.<ref>{{cite web
 |title       = Progressive Dispensationalism
 |first       = Mike
 |last        = Stallard
 |url         = http://faculty.bbc.edu/mstallard/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/PDChallenge.pdf
 |quote       = some OT promises can be expanded by the NT. However, this expansion is never viewed as replacing or undoing the implications of that OT promise to its original audience, Israel. For example, the Church's participation in the New Covenant taught in the NT can add the Church to the list of recipients of the New Covenant promises made in the OT. However, such participation does not rule out the future fulfillment of the OT New Covenant promises to Israel at the beginning of the Millennium. Thus, the promise can have a coinciding or overlapping fulfillment through NT expansions of the promise.
 |url-status     = dead
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20110719142144/http://faculty.bbc.edu/mstallard/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/PDChallenge.pdf
 |archive-date = 2011-07-19
}}</ref>

=== The Law ===
Dispensationalists believe that Christ abolished the Mosaic law, and thus it does not apply to the Christian. Instead, the Christian is under the [[Law of Christ]], which embodies the moral principles of God which are in both codes.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Blaising |first1=Craig A. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AfjEVa9ChmoC |title=Dispensationalism, Israel and the Church: The Search for Definition |last2=Bock |first2=Darrell L. |date=2010-08-10 |publisher=Zondervan Academic |isbn=978-0-310-87740-0 |pages=116 |language=en}}</ref><ref name=":22">{{Cite book |last1=Johnson |first1=S. Lewis |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oDcs7yoX8EkC |title=Continuity and Discontinuity: Perspectives on the Relationship Between the Old and New Testaments : Essays in Honor of S. Lewis Johnson, Jr |last2=Feinberg |first2=John S. |date=1988 |publisher=Crossway |isbn=978-0-89107-468-7 |pages= |language=en}}</ref>{{Rp|page=71}} In this view, although many commandments of the Old Testament are re-established in the New Testament, only the commandments that are explicitly affirmed are to be kept, which excludes the ceremonial and civil aspects of the Mosaic law.<ref name=":22" />{{Rp|page=71}}

=== Eschatology ===
{{Further|Premillennialism|Rapture}}
Dispensationalism teaches an [[eschatology]] that is specifically [[Premillennialism|premillennial]] in that it affirms the [[return of Christ]] prior to a literal 1,000-year reign of Jesus Christ on earth as the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecies.<ref name=":7" />{{Rp|pages=147–148}} This [[Millennial Kingdom|millennial kingdom]] will be [[theocratic]] in nature and not mainly soteriological, as it is considered by [[George Eldon Ladd]] and others with a non-dispensational form of premillennialism.<ref name=":4" /> It will be distinctly Jewish, with the throne of David restored.<ref name=":16" />{{Rp|page=31}}

The majority of dispensationalists profess a [[Rapture#Pre-tribulational premillennialism|pretribulation rapture]], while [[Rapture#Mid-tribulational premillennialism|mid-tribulation]], or [[post-tribulation rapture]] are minority views.<ref>{{Cite book |last= Hoekema |first= Anthony A. |author-link= Anthony A. Hoekema |title= The Bible and the Future |year=1994 |edition= revised |orig-year= 1979 |publisher= [[William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company|Eerdmans]] |location= Grand Rapids, Michigan |url= https://archive.org/details/biblefuture0000hoek/page/164 |isbn= 0-85364-624-4 |page= [https://archive.org/details/biblefuture0000hoek/page/164 164] }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Walvoord |first=John F. |title=Blessed hope and the tribulation |publisher=Contemporary Evangelical |year=1990 |isbn=978-0-310-34041-6 |pages=13}}</ref> Pre-tribulational rapture doctrine is what separates dispensationalism from other forms of premillennialism and other millennial views.<ref name=":1" />{{Rp|page=409}}

Dispensational eschatology was popularized in [[Hal Lindsey|Hal Lindsey's]] book, ''[[The Late Great Planet Earth]]''. In Lindsey's version, the unfolding of events includes the establishment of Israel in 1948, Jews regaining control of Jerusalem's sacred sites in the 1967 Arab-Israeli War, the rebuilding of the Temple which has yet to occur, an Antichrist will come to power, Christians will be removed from the earth in a rapture of the Church, and there will be seven years of tribulation (Daniel's seventieth week) culminating in a great battle of Armageddon in which Christ will triumph over evil and establish a literal 1,000 year reign of his kingdom on earth.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Smith |first=Erin A. |date=Winter 2017 |title=The Late Great Planet Earth Made the Apocalypse a Popular Concern |url=https://www.neh.gov/humanities/2017/winter/feature/the-late-great-planet-earth-made-the-apocalypse-popular-concern |access-date=2023-06-25 |website=The National Endowment for the Humanities |language=en}}</ref> The necessity of the rapture is that, with the Church and Israel being distinct, the Church must be removed before remnant Israel can be gathered.<ref name=":16" />{{Rp|page=42}}

==History==
[[File:History of dispensationalism (updated2).png|thumb|upright=2.4|Timeline of the history of dispensationalism, showing the development of various streams of thought.]]

=== Proto-Dispensationalism ===
Advocates of dispensationalism have sought to find similar views of dispensations in [[Church history]], referencing theologians or groups such as [[Francisco Ribera]], the [[Taborites]], [[Joachim of Fiore]], [[Denis the Carthusian]] and others.<ref name=":2" /><ref>{{Cite book |last=Pietsch |first=B. M. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0ANPCQAAQBAJ&dq=Francisco+Ribera+dispensationalism&pg=PT229 |title=Dispensational Modernism |date=2015-07-06 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-027307-1 |language=en |quote=}}</ref> Joachim's theory of three stages of human history has been argued to have anticipated the later dispensationalist view of organizing history into different dispensations.<ref name=":7" />{{Rp|page=65}} Joachim's stages were divided into the "Age of the Father" which was under the Law, the "Age of the Son" which was a period of tribulation, and the "Age of the Spirit" which was a period of bliss on earth.<ref name=":0" />{{Rp|page=155}} [[Fra Dolcino]] taught Fiore's theory of the stages of history, and dispensationalists Mark Hitchcock and Thomas Ice have suggested that Dolcino's teaching was of a pretribulational rapture.<ref name=":0" />{{Rp|page=157}} The relevant teaching was that when Antichrist appears, Dolcino and his followers would be taken away and preserved from Antichrist, and that following the death of Antichrist, Dolcino and his followers would return to Earth to convert those then living to the true faith.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last=Bennett |first=David Malcolm |date=2008-04-30 |title=Raptured or not raptured? That is the question. |url=https://dx.doi.org/10.1163/27725472-08002004 |journal=Evangelical Quarterly: An International Review of Bible and Theology |volume=80 |issue=2 |pages=143–161 |doi=10.1163/27725472-08002004 |issn=0014-3367 |url-access=subscription}}</ref>  However, this actually comes from an anonymous 1316 Latin text titled ''The History of Brother Dolcino'' and it is uncertain as to whether this came directly from Dolcino.<ref name=":0" />{{Rp|page=158-159}}

William C. Watson argued that multiple 17th century theologians anticipated dispensational views, he argued that Ephraim Huit and John Birchensa in his ''The History of Scripture'' published in 1660 taught that God has differing plans for Jews and Gentiles. He also argued that [[Nathaniel Holmes (theologian)|Nathaniel Holmes]] taught a pretribulational rapture.<ref name=":2">{{Cite book |last=Watson |first=William C. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1mryrQEACAAJ |title=Dispensationalism Before Darby: Seventeenth-century and Eighteenth-century English Apocalypticism |date=2015 |publisher=Lampion Press, LLC |isbn=978-1-942614-03-6 |language=en}}</ref>[[File:Portret van Pierre Poiret, RP-P-BI-4877.jpg|thumb|Pierre Poiret is seen as a forerunner of Dispensationalism.]][[Pierre Poiret]] has been said to have been the first theologian to develop a dispensationalist system, writing a book titled''The Divine Economy.'' Poiret taught that history should be organized into multiple dispensations in which God works with humans in different ways, including the millennium as a future dispensation.<ref name=":3">{{Cite web |title=Pierre Poiret's Sober Mysticism |url=https://www.christianity.com/church/church-history/timeline/1701-1800/pierre-poirets-sober-mysticism-11630201.html |access-date=2022-09-05 |website=Christianity.com |language=en}}</ref> Poiret's eschatology includes a belief in two resurrections, the rise of the Antichrist and the nation of Israel being regathered, restored and converted.<ref name=":4" /><ref name=":2" /> Poiret divided history into seven dispensations, early childhood (ended in the Flood), childhood (ended in Moses's ministry), boyhood (ended in Malachi), youth (ended in Christ), manhood (most of the Church), old age ("human decay", meaning the last hour of the Church), and the restoration of all things (the Millennium, includes literal earthly reign of Christ with Israel restored).<ref name=":7" />{{Rp|page=65}}

[[Isaac Watts]] presented a dispensational view in a forty-page essay titled ''The Harmony of All the Religions Which God Ever Prescribed to Men and All His Dispensations Towards Them.''<ref>{{cite book |last=Watts |first=Isaac |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xsUOAAAAIAAJ&q=pentecost&pg=PA327 |title=The Harmony of all the Religions which God ever Prescribed to Men and all his Dispensations towards them |year=1812 |quote=The kingdom of Christ, therefore, or the christian dispensation was not properly set up in all its forms, doctrines and duties, till the following ''day of [[Pentecost]]'', and the pouring down of the Spirit upon the Apostles}}</ref> Charles Ryrie points out that Scofield's outline of dispensationalism, with the exception of the millennium, is exactly that of Watts, and not Darby.<ref name=":7" />{{Rp|page=67}}

[[Edward Irving]] in some ways anticipated dispensationalism. He used a literal approach to prophetic interpretation, he believed in a restoration of national Israel, he believed there would be a great apostasy and that Christ would return to establish a literal earthly kingdom.<ref name=":4" /> However, he also preached that Christ had a fallen nature, which led to him being [[Defrocking|defrocked]] by the Scots Presbyterians.<ref name=":4" /><ref>{{Cite book |last=Bennett |first=David Malcolm |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CRBNBQAAQBAJ&dq=dispensationalism+forerunners&pg=PA176 |title=Edward Irving Reconsidered: The Man, His Controversies, and the Pentecostal Movement |date=2014-11-04 |publisher=Wipf and Stock Publishers |isbn=978-1-62564-865-5 |pages=176 |language=en}}</ref>

=== Formalization by Darby ===
[[File:JohnNelsonDarby.jpg|thumb|[[John Nelson Darby]] systematized and promoted dispensationalism.]]
Dispensationalism developed as a system from the teachings of John Nelson Darby, considered by some to be the father of dispensationalism (1800–1882),<ref name="blaising" />{{rp|10, 293}} who strongly influenced the [[Plymouth Brethren]] of the 1830s in Ireland and England. The original concept came when Darby considered the implications of [[Isaiah 32]] for Israel. He saw that prophecy required a future fulfillment and realization of Israel's kingdom. The New Testament church was seen as a separate program not related to that kingdom. Thus arose a prophetic earthly kingdom program for Israel and a separate "mystery" heavenly program for the church. In order to not conflate the two programs, the prophetic program had to be put on hold to allow for the church to come into existence. Then it is necessary for the church to be raptured away before prophecy can resume its earthly program for Israel.<ref>Ryrie, Charles C., Update On Dispensationalism in Issues In Dispensationalism, Wesley R. Willis and John R. Master (eds.), p. 17</ref>

In Darby's conception of dispensations, they relate exclusively to the divine government of the earth. The Mosaic dispensation continues as a divine administration over earth up until the return of Christ, and the church, being a heavenly designated assembly, is not associated with any dispensations.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Huebner |first1=Roy A. |url=http://www.presenttruthpublishers.com/pdf/Darby_Teachings_Dispensations_Ages.pdf |title=J. N. Darby's Teaching Regarding Dispensations, Ages, Administrations, and The Two Parenthesis |date=1993 |publisher=Present Truth Publishers |publication-place=Jackson, New Jersey |pages=iii-iv}}</ref>

While his Brethren ecclesiology failed to catch on in America, his [[eschatology|eschatological]] doctrine became widely popular in the United States, especially among [[Baptists in the United States|Baptists]] and [[Old School–New School Controversy|Old School Presbyterians]].<ref name=":10">{{Cite book |last=Elwell |first=Walter A. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yu846j61u0wC |title=Evangelical Dictionary of Theology |date=2001 |publisher=[[Baker Academic]] |isbn=978-0-8010-2075-9 |language=en}}</ref>{{Rp|page=317}}

===Expansion and growth===
Dispensationalism was introduced to North America by [[James Inglis (evangelist)|James Inglis]] (1813–1872) through the monthly magazine ''Waymarks in the Wilderness'', published intermittently between 1854 and 1872.<ref name=":6">{{Cite book |last=Sandeen |first=Ernest Robert |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TZAlAQAAIAAJ |title=The Roots of Fundamentalism: British and American Millenarianism, 1800–1930 |date=2008 |publisher=[[University of Chicago Press]] |isbn=978-0-226-73468-2 |language=en-us}}</ref>{{Rp|pages=100–102}} During 1866, Inglis organized the Believers' Meeting for Bible Study, which introduced dispensationalist ideas to a small but influential circle of American [[Evangelicalism|evangelicals]].<ref name=":6" />{{Rp|pages=132–133}} They were disturbed by the inroads of [[religious liberalism]] and saw premillennialism as an answer. Dispensationalism was introduced as a premillennial position, and it largely took over the fundamentalist movement over a period of several decades. The American church denominations rejected Darby's [[ecclesiology]] but accepted his eschatology.<ref name=":6" />{{Rp|page=101}} Many of these churches were Baptists and Old School Presbyterians, and they retained Darby's Calvinistic [[soteriology]].<ref name=":10" />{{Rp|page=317}}

After Inglis's death, [[James H. Brookes]] (1830–1898), the pastor of Walnut Street Presbyterian Church in St.&nbsp;Louis, Missouri, organized the [[Niagara Bible Conference]] (1876–1897) to continue the dissemination of dispensationalist ideas. Brookes was well known within millenarian circles as a prominent speaker for the Believers' Meeting for Bible Study conferences and having written for Inglis's ''Waymarks in the Wilderness''.<ref name=":6" />{{Rp|page=134}}
[[File:Dwight Lyman Moody 1900 (Hold the Fort!, Scheips).jpg|thumb|D. L. Moody]]
Brethren theologian [[Charles Henry Mackintosh|C. H. Mackintosh]] had a profound influence on [[Dwight L. Moody]] (1837–1899).<ref>{{Cite book |last=Moody |first=Paul Dwight |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jMJFAAAAIAAJ |title=My Father: An Intimate Portrait of Dwight Moody |date=1938 |publisher=Little, Brown |pages=188–189 |language=en}}</ref><ref name=":5">{{Cite book |last=Kraus |first=Clyde Norman |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jJhOAQAAMAAJ |title=Dispensationalism in America: Its Rise and Development |date=1985 |publisher=John Knox Press |pages= |language=en}}</ref>{{Rp|page=49}} Moody worked with Brookes and other dispensationalists and encouraged the spread of dispensationalism.<ref name=":5" />{{Rp|pages=46–47}} It was during this time that dispensational doctrine became widely accepted by American evangelicals.<ref name=":13">{{Cite book |last=Georgianna |first=Sharon Linzey |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uP4QAQAAIAAJ |title=The Moral Majority and Fundamentalism: Plausibility and Dissonance |date=1989 |publisher=E. Mellen Press |isbn=978-0-88946-851-1 |language=en}}</ref>{{Rp|page=vi}} It also marked a shift in dispensational theology from Darby's Calvinist and doctrinal rigor to a non-Calvinist view of human freedom in personal salvation under evangelists like Moody.<ref name=":17">{{Cite book |last=Marsden |first=George M. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9swPktfLJigC |title=Fundamentalism and American Culture: The Shaping of Twentieth Century Evangelicalism, 1870-1925 |date=1982 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-503083-9 |language=en}}</ref>{{Rp|page=46}}

Other prominent dispensationalists in this period include [[Reuben Archer Torrey]] (1856–1928), [[James M. Gray]] (1851–1925), [[William J. Erdman]] (1833–1923), [[A. C. Dixon]] (1854–1925), [[A. J. Gordon]] (1836–1895), and [[William Eugene Blackstone]] (1841–1935). These men were active evangelists who promoted a host of Bible conferences and other missionary and evangelistic efforts. They also gave the dispensationalist philosophy institutional permanence by assuming leadership of new independent Bible institutes, such as the [[Moody Bible Institute]] during 1886, the Bible Institute of Los Angeles (now [[Biola University]]) during 1908, and Philadelphia College of Bible (now [[Cairn University]], formerly [[Philadelphia Biblical University]]) during 1913. The network of related institutes that soon developed became the nucleus for the spread of American dispensationalism. Torrey served as first superintendent of the Bible Institute of the Chicago Evangelization Society (now Moody Bible Institute) when it formally opened in 1889.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Moody |first=William Revell |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WSRNAAAAMAAJ |title=The Life of Dwight L. Moody |date=1900 |publisher=Fleming H. Revell Company |pages=340 |language=en}}</ref>

Although the revivalist evangelicals such as Moody and Torrey did not believe the [[Speaking in tongues|gift of tongues]] continued past the [[Apostolic age]], their emphasis on the baptism of the Holy Spirit merged well with holiness ideas. This encouraged the spread of dispensationalism within the Pentecostal movement.<ref name=":17" />{{Rp|page=94}}

During this time, [[E. W. Bullinger]] began teaching what became known as "ultradispensationalism" or "Bullingerism", Bullinger taught that the Church did not begin until Acts 28, that the Lord's Supper and water baptism were for Jewish believers, and that Paul's epistles were written to the Jews.<ref name=":12" />

=== Scofield and his influence ===
[[File:ScofieldCI.jpg|thumb|Cyrus Scofield]]
A disciple of James Brookes, Cyrus Scofield, began attending the Niagara conferences and became an advocate of premillennialism, specifically pre-tribulationism.<ref name=":6" />{{Rp|page=223}} After several years of work, in 1909, Scofield introduced dispensationalism to a wider audience in America by his ''[[Scofield Reference Bible]]''. The publication of the ''Scofield Reference Bible'' during 1909 by the [[Oxford University Press]] for the first time displayed overtly dispensationalist notes on the pages of the biblical text. The Scofield Bible became a popular Bible used by independent Evangelicals in the United States.<ref name=":6" />{{Rp|pages=222–224}} The premillennialism of the ''Scofield Reference Bible'' led to a pessimistic social view within evangelicalism, to "not polish the brass rails on the sinking social ship", focusing the evangelism of saving the lost rather than expanding Christendom.<ref name=":13" />{{Rp|page=5}}

The ''Scofield Reference Bible'' came out at the apex of Bullinger's influence. Scofield's Bible confronted some of the ultradispensationalists' (Bullingerites) positions, specifically, the divisions of dispensational time, and as the Scofield Bible became popular among dispensationalists, it marginalized the hyperdispensationalist position in the United States.<ref name=":20" />

Having been influenced by Scofield, evangelist and Bible teacher [[Lewis Sperry Chafer]] (1871–1952) along with his brother, Rollin Chafer, founded Evangelical Theological College in 1924. The school would eventually become the [[Dallas Theological Seminary]], which has become the main institution of dispensationalism in America.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Reisinger |first=Ernest |author-link=Ernest Reisinger |title=A History of Dispensationalism in America |url=http://www.founders.org/FJ09/article1.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080517112638/http://www.founders.org/FJ09/article1.html |archive-date=2008-05-17 |access-date=2023-07-05 |website=[[Founders Ministries]] |quote="Bible-believing people turned to Dallas Seminary, the mecca of Dispensationalism, for teaching on God's Word."}}</ref> The Baptist Bible Seminary in Clarks Summit, Pennsylvania became another dispensational school.

=== ''The Fundamentals'' ===
In the 1910s, another publication took hold within American evangelicalism. A twelve-volume publication known as ''[[The Fundamentals]]'' was published between 1910 and 1915 by the Testimony Publishing Company. Managed by an executive committee of dispensationalists including Clarence Dixon and Rueben Torrey, ''The Fundamentals'' helped solidify dispensationalism within American Christian fundamentalism and the evangelical movement.<ref name=":20" />

The [[Scopes trial]] in 1925 served to unify the fundamentalists, and with them, dispensationalism. However, very shortly after, fundamentalism as a movement began to decline. Scopes trial prosecutor and public face of the fundamentalist movement [[William Jennings Bryan]] died a week after the verdict, and [[H. L. Mencken]] portrayed supporters of the verdict as largely uneducated. In Bryan's absence, a decentralizing of the movement began. The fate of dispensationalism was tied to the breakdown in fundamentalism.<ref name=":20" />

In 1928, [[Philip Mauro]], seeking to re-invigorate the fundamentalist movement, pointed the finger at dispensationalism, and in the process coined the term. He alleged the view was more recent than Darwinism and that it eroded the fundamental truths of scripture, singling it out as the source of division within the larger fundamentalist movement.<ref name=":20" />

Evangelical Theological College acquired the historical theological journal ''[[Bibliotheca Sacra]]'' in 1934. In its pages, Lewis Chafer first publicly declared that he was a dispensationalist. In 1936, Chafer published a 60-page response to the criticisms of Mauro and other fundamentalists entitled ''Dispensationalism''. That same year, Chafer renamed his school Dallas Theological Seminary.<ref name=":20" />

Through the 1930s and 1940s, the conflict within fundamentalism continued between dispensationalists and covenantalists, leading to permanent divisions within fundamentalism, ultimately giving shape to the entire fundamentalist movement.<ref name=":20" />

=== Influence of Dallas Theological Seminary ===
By the mid 20th century, dispensationalism was being promoted by evangelical stalwarts such as [[Charles L. Feinberg|Charles Feinberg]], [[J. Dwight Pentecost]], [[Herman A. Hoyt|Herman Hoyt]], [[Charles Caldwell Ryrie|Charles Ryrie]], and [[John Walvoord]].<ref name=":20" /><ref name=":14">{{Cite book |last=Clouse |first=Robert G. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=voEVDAAAQBAJ |title=The Oxford Handbook of Eschatology |date=2010-04-16 |publisher=Oxford University Press, USA |isbn=978-0-19-973588-4 |editor-last=Walls |editor-first=Jerry |language=en |chapter=Fundamentalist Theology}}</ref>{{Rp|page=269}} All of them either studied or taught at Dallas Theological Seminary.<ref name=":20" /> Pentecost taught at DTS for more than 60 years, and published one of the primary works on dispensational eschatology, ''Things to Come'' (1956). During this time period, Ryrie published what has become the primary introduction to dispensational theology, ''Dispensationalism Today'' (1965).<ref name=":20" />

Furthering the rift between covenantalism and dispensationalism, Ryrie wrote in ''Bibliotheca Sacra'' in 1957 that dispensationalism is "the only valid system of Biblical interpretation". In 1959, Walvoord stated that all non-dispensationalists, including Catholics and mainline Protestants, offered no defense against modernism and that they were under the influence of hermeneutical and theological errors.<ref name=":20" />

Throughout this period, the influence of DTS was growing as other schools and seminaries hired DTS graduates as faculty. In 1970, DTS graduate [[Hal Lindsey]] published ''[[The Late Great Planet Earth]]'' that would launch dispensational eschatology beyond anything previous. His book sold 10 million copies and made "[[rapture]]" and the "[[Great Tribulation|tribulation]]" household terms.<ref name=":20" />

=== Pop prophecy ===
With the success of ''Late Great Planet Earth'', the rapture theology of dispensationalism triggered a flood of books. Lindsey released ''Satan is Alive and Well on Planet Earth'' (1972), ''There's a New World Coming'' (1973), and ''The Liberation of Planet Earth'' (1974)''.'' Other books included ''The Beginning of the End'' (1972) by Tim LaHaye, and DTS graduate Thomas McCall's ''Satan in the Sanctuary'' (1973) and ''Raptured'' (1975).<ref name=":20" /> In 1972, Iowa filmmakers [[Russell Doughten]] and [[Donald W. Thompson]] released ''[[A Thief in the Night (film)|A Thief in the Night]],'' a fictional film about the aftermath of the rapture that has been seen by an estimated 300 million people.<ref name="CT12">{{cite web
 |url=https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/movies/commentaries/2012/originalleftbehind.html
 |title=The original "Left Behind"
 |last=Anderson
 |first=Dean A.
 |date=March 7, 2012
 |website=christianitytoday.com
 |publisher=[[Christianity Today]]
 |access-date=February 8, 2021
 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120416053106/http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/movies/commentaries/2012/originalleftbehind.html
 |archive-date=April 16, 2012
 |url-status=live
}}</ref> Televangelist [[Jack Van Impe|Jack van Impe]] covered current events in light of Bible prophecy with a dispensational premillennialist spin.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Dias |first=Elizabeth |date=2020-01-22 |title=Jack Van Impe, End Times Preacher on TV, Is Dead at 88 |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/22/us/jack-van-impe-dead.html |access-date=2023-07-18 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref>

=== Emergence of the Christian Right ===
The late 20th century marked a change from the separatism of earlier in the century to one of more political engagement through the emergence of the [[Christian right|Christian Right]], rooted in the dispensational theology that Israel is at the center of God's purpose in the world.<ref name=":14" />{{Rp|page=270}}

In 1978, dispensationalist television evangelist [[Jerry Falwell]] began making trips to Israel that were sponsored by the Israeli government. He became the first major American political figure to insist that the U.S. must support Israel for the fate of the nation.<ref name=":9">{{Cite book |last=Halsell |first=Grace |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4_nYAAAAMAAJ |title=Prophecy and Politics: Militant Evangelists on the Road to Nuclear War |date=1986 |publisher=Lawrence Hill & Company |isbn=978-0-88208-210-3 |pages=74–75 |language=en |author-link=Grace Halsell}}</ref> Falwell listed Feinberg, Pentecost, Hoyt, and Walvoord as his primary influences.<ref name=":14" />{{Rp|page=269}} In 1979, Falwell, along with [[Tim LaHaye]], founded the Moral Majority with the objective to get people saved, baptized, and registered to vote.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Sutton |first=Matthew Avery |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ri1gDwAAQBAJ |title=American Apocalypse: A History of Modern Evangelicalism |date=2014-12-15 |publisher=Harvard University Press |isbn=978-0-674-74479-0 |language=en}}</ref>{{Rp|page=354}} The Moral Majority also provided a platform of political activism.

Due in large part to the influence of dispensational premillennialism, the Moral Majority advocated for pro-Israel [[foreign policy of the United States|U.S. foreign policy]] positions, including protection of the Jewish people in Israel and continued [[Israel–United States relations|aid for the state of Israel]].<ref>{{cite news |last=Greene |first=Richard Allen |date=2006-07-19 |title=Evangelical Christians plead for Israel |work=BBC News |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/5193092.stm |access-date=2007-03-20}}</ref><ref name=":8">{{cite news |last=Kirkpatrick |first=David |date=2006-11-14 |title=For Evangelicals, Supporting Israel Is 'God's Foreign Policy' |work=[[The New York Times]] |location=New York, New York |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/14/washington/14israel.html |access-date=2018-05-06}}</ref> Opposed to Jimmy Carter's affirmation of a Palestinian homeland, the Moral Majority endorsed Ronald Reagan for President in 1980.<ref name=":15">{{Cite book |last= |first= |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XO9nBwAAQBAJ |title=Culture Wars: An Encyclopedia of Issues, Viewpoints and Voices |date=2015-03-17 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-317-47351-0 |editor-last=Chapman |editor-first=Robert |pages=433 |language=en}}</ref> In Reagan, they found a candidate that shared their apocalypticism. Reagan had read Hal Lindsey's ''The Late Great Planet Earth'' and it is suggested that his Middle East policies were driven by this eschatological view.<ref name=":9" />{{Rp|page=43}}<ref>{{Cite book |last=McAlister |first=Melani |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=R0PqObUNlIEC |title=Epic Encounters: Culture, Media, and U.S. Interests in the Middle East Since 1945 |date=2005-07-05 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=978-0-520-24499-3 |language=en-us}}</ref>{{Rp|page=177}} In an interview with televangelist Jim Bakker, Reagan stated that "[w]e may be the generation that sees Armageddon".<ref>{{Cite book |last=Sutton |first=Matthew Avery |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ri1gDwAAQBAJ |title=American Apocalypse: A History of Modern Evangelicalism |publisher=Harvard University Press |year=2017 |isbn=978-0-674-74479-0 |language=en}}</ref>{{Rp|page=355}} Dispensational theology affected more than just Middle East foreign policy in the Reagan administration. James G. Watt, a member of the Assemblies of God and Reagan's first Secretary of the Interior, stated to Congress that preservation of the environment was made irrelevant due to the imminent return of Christ.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Balmer |first=Randall Herbert |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LSO5YDifWz8C |title=Thy Kingdom Come: How the Religious Right Distorts the Faith and Threatens America, an Evangelical's Lament |date=2006-07-03 |publisher=Basic Books |isbn=978-0-465-00519-2 |language=en}}</ref>{{Rp|page=148}}

In 1980, Hal Lindsey wrote a follow-up to his ''Late Great Planet Earth'' titled ''The 1980s: Countdown to Armageddon.'' Previously, Lindsey had not drawn a connection from a Christian's personal obligations to their responsibility for social change. But this changed with ''The 1980s.'' He began encouraging his readers to elect moral leaders who would reflect that morality within government, an agenda closely aligned with the administration of Ronald Reagan.<ref name=":20" />

Tim LaHaye, who was a lifelong fundamentalist and dispensationalist, became a primary figure in the Christian Right.<ref name=":20" /> He served as head of the Moral Majority for a time and in the mid-eighties created the [[American Coalition for Traditional Values]]. In 1987, he served as co-chairman of Republican Jack Kemp's presidential campaign, until it was reported that he had called Catholicism "a false religion".<ref>{{Cite book |last=Gorenberg |first=Gershom |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LCZDYk0W_VcC |title=The End of Days: Fundamentalism and the Struggle for the Temple Mount |date=2002 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-515205-0 |pages=31 |language=en}}</ref>

=== Peak and decline ===
By the 1990s, a younger generation of academics emerged as "progressive dispensationalists", presenting a rift in the united front that Ryrie had advocated for in ''Dispensationalism Today'' (1965). This school of thought was led by [[Craig A. Blaising]], [[Darrell L. Bock|Darrell Bock]], Kenneth Barker, and [[Robert L. Saucy]].<ref name=":20" />

After the influence of dispensationalism within the New Christian Right grew into the 1990s and building on the success of Hal Lindsey's ''The Late Great Planet Earth,'' the 1995 novel ''[[Left Behind (novel)|Left Behind]]'' pushed pop prophecy to further commercial success.<ref name=":20" /><ref name=":21" />{{Rp|pages=3}} Conceived by [[Tim LaHaye]] and written by [[Jerry B. Jenkins]], the book spawned a [[Left Behind|multimedia franchise]] of 16 books as well as multiple movies, video games, and other spinoff works. The series brought dispensational premillennialism into the mainstream.<ref name=":21">{{Cite book |last=Frykholm |first=Amy Johnson |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pizKsnFzLqQC |title=Rapture Culture: Left Behind in Evangelical America |date=2004-03-04 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-803622-7 |language=en}}</ref>{{Rp|pages=3}}

As with Reagan in the 1980s, the New Christian Right helped elect another '[[born again]]' president, George W. Bush, who, like Reagan, spoke in terms of prophecies being fulfilled in a way that had meaning to dispensationalists.<ref name=":20" /> Bush referenced [[Gog and Magog]] in the [[War on terror|War on Terror]] and stated that the confrontation was "willed by God, who wants to use this conflict to erase His people's enemies".<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Spector |first=Stephen |date=September 2014 |title=Gog and Magog in the White House: Did Biblical Prophecy Inspire the Invasion of Iraq? |journal=Journal of Church and State |volume=56 |issue=3 |pages=545|doi=10.1093/jcs/cst003 }}</ref>

Dispensational ideas were experiencing commercial success, but the primary standard-bearers of dispensationalism had become Hal Lindsey and Tim LaHaye who were different from their academic predecessors John Walvoord, Dwight Pentecost, and Charles Ryrie.<ref name=":20" /> By the 2010s, the movement had peaked and was largely in decline within academic settings.<ref name=":20" /> A 2009 survey of Southern Baptist seminaries showed that the majority view was covenantal, and that flagship Southern Baptist Theological Seminary had no dispensationalists within its faculty.<ref name=":20" /><ref>{{Cite web |last=David |first=Roach |date=2012-01-05 |title=Baptist Press – End Times: Scholars differ on what Bible says about subject – News with a Christian Perspective |url=http://www.bpnews.net:80/BPnews.asp?ID=31963 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120105064313/http://www.bpnews.net:80/BPnews.asp?ID=31963 |archive-date=2012-01-05 |access-date=2023-07-30}}</ref>

While dispensationalism collapsed in academic areas, its cultural influence remained.  Dispensational ideas continue within the culture.  A 2004 Newsweek poll indicated that 55 percent of Americans believe that Christians will be taken up in the Rapture.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Gates |first=David |date=2004-05-23 |title=Religion: The Pop Prophets |url=https://www.newsweek.com/religion-pop-prophets-127971 |access-date=2024-01-06 |website=Newsweek |language=en}}</ref> By the turn of the 21st century, the term "dispensationalism" had become synonymous with "sectarian fundamentalism" and came to be more of a political perspective than a set of theological doctrines.<ref name=":20" />

== Criticism ==
The term "dispensationalism" is believed to have originated with Philip Mauro. His critique of the system is found in Mauro's 1928 book ''The Gospel of the Kingdom'', in which he stated that "evangelical Christianity must purge itself of this leaven of dispensationalism", using the term to group the new premillennialism, the idea of dispensational time, and the Israel-Church distinction into a singular bundled idea.<ref name=":20" />

Protestant denominations that embrace [[covenant theology]] as a whole tend to reject dispensationalism. For example, Presbyterian minister John Wick Bowman called the Scofield Bible "the most dangerous heresy current to be found within Christian circles".<ref name=":7" />{{Rp|page=13}} Dispensational theology ultimately led the Presbyterian Church of America (later the [[Orthodox Presbyterian Church]]) to split from Bible Presbyterian Synod, which taught dispensationalism.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Gerstner |first=John Henry |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=C-oEAAAACAAJ |title=Wrongly Dividing the Word of Truth: A Critique of Dispensationalism |date=2000 |publisher=Soli Deo Gloria Publications |isbn=978-1-57358-068-7 |pages=61 |language=en}}</ref> The [[Churches of Christ]] underwent division during the 1930s as [[Robert Henry Boll]] (who taught a variant of the dispensational philosophy) and [[Foy E. Wallace]] (representing the [[Amillennialism|amillennial]] stance) disputed severely over eschatology.

The presupposition of the difference between law and grace carries to the conclusion that there are multiple forms of salvation.<ref name=":16" />{{Rp|page=34}}

The pessimism of premillennial eschatology caused dispensationalists to consider social reform as wasted effort, focusing only on conversion of the lost without effort toward the kingdom building social reform of postmillennialism.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Balmer |first=Randall |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SiUXtAEACAAJ |title=The Making of Evangelicalism: From Revivalism to Politics and Beyond |date=2017 |publisher=Baylor University Press |isbn=978-1-4813-0488-7 |language=en}}</ref>{{Rp|page=35–36}}

Political commentator [[Kevin Phillips (political commentator)|Kevin Phillips]] claimed in ''American Theocracy'' (2006) that dispensationalist and other fundamentalist Christians, together with the [[oil lobby]], provided political assistance for the invasion of Iraq during 2003.<ref name=":18">{{cite book |last=Phillips |first=Kevin |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0pU9z669ZwEC |title=American Theocracy: The Peril and Politics of Radical Religion, Oil, and Borrowed Money in the 21st Century |date=2006-03-21 |publisher=Penguin |isbn=9781101218846 |page=}}</ref>{{Rp|page=87}} He further points out that most theologians acknowledge there is no specific sequence of end-times events in the Bible, and that such a belief is the result of a century of "amplified Darbyism", further quoting theologian Barbara Rossing that such hyper-literalism is a "dangerous and false view".<ref name=":18" />{{Rp|page=253–254}}<ref>{{Cite book |last=Rossing |first=Barbara R. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mK2fcw-GkMIC |title=The Rapture Exposed: The Message of Hope in the Book of Revelation |date=2007-03-30 |publisher=Basic Books |isbn=978-0-465-00496-6 |pages=173–174 |language=en}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[Christian eschatology]]
* [[Millennial Day Theory]]
* [[Progressive revelation (Baháʼí)]]
* [[Supersessionism]]
* [[New Covenant theology]] (a synthesis of Covenant theology and Dispensationalism)
* [[Free grace theology|Free Grace theology]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
* Berubee, Carol. ''A Case for Pauline Dispensationalism: Defining Paul's Gospel and Mission'' (Blue Dromos Books, 2017) {{ISBN|978-1-48359-109-4}}
* Mangum, R. Todd, ''The Dispensational–Covenantal Rift'' (Wipf & Stock, 2007) {{ISBN|1-55635-482-7}}
*Mangum, R. Todd and Mark Sweetnam, "The Scofield Bible: Its History and Impact on the Evangelical Church" (Colorado Springs: Paternoster Publishing, 2009) {{ISBN|9780830857517}}
* [[Vern Poythress|Poythress, Vern]]. [https://web.archive.org/web/20120207223246/http://www.frame-poythress.org/Poythress_books/bdisp/bd0.html ''Understanding Dispensationalists''] (P&R Publishing 2nd ed., 1993) {{ISBN|978-0-87552-374-3}}
* Showers, Renald (1990). "There Really Is a Difference: A Comparison of Covenant and Dispensational Theology." Friends of Israel Gospel Ministry. {{ISBN|0-915540-50-9}}
* Sweetnam, Mark ''The Dispensations: God's Plan for the Ages'' (Scripture Teaching Library, 2013) {{ISBN|978-1-909789-00-5}}
* Walvoord, John F. ''Prophecy In The New Millennium'' (Kregel Publications, 2001) {{ISBN|0-8254-3967-1}}

==External links==
* O'Hair, J. C. [https://www.bereanbiblesociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/UNSEARCHABLE-RICHES-OF-CHRIST-THE.pdf ''The Unsearchable Riches of Christ'']
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[[Category:Christian eschatology]]
[[Category:Christian theological movements]]
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[[Category:Premillennialism]]
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