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Prisoners of hope?Aspects of Evangelical Millennialism in Britain and Ireland, 1800-1880Signs of the timesPRISONERS OF HOPE? This is not a popular book. Written by scholars for scholars, the eight essays trace the development of evangelical thinking on the subject of the millennium between 1800-80. Little attempt is made to define or explain the theological terms used, and there is virtually no reference to Scripture. No justification is given for the concept of a millennium for which the biblical evidence is somewhat obscure. The reader is expected to know all this, and much else besides. But for the initiated there is much of interest and profit in this historical and theological survey. The prevailing 18th century view that the spread of the gospel would lead to a ‘millennial’ period of unparalleled blessing before Christ came again was gradually undermined by the growth of premillennialism. Irving and DarbyThe mercurial genius of Edward Irving emerges as pivotal in this development; more so than J.N. Darby, usually regarded as the originator of the theological system known as ‘dispensationalism’. But Darby was the consolidator, whereas Irving was the mesmeric shooting star of the period. Two essays (by Timothy Stunt and Gary Nebeker) are devoted to Darby — his background and influence. But Irving was a strong influence upon Darby, as he was also upon Andrew Bonar. Bonar’s eschatalogical deviation from the Westminster Confession with his premillennial views is traced in Crawford Gribben’s essay. A learned paper on recent historical scholarship on millennialism is provided by Douglas Shantz. Another essay on the interpretation of prophecy in Ulster Presbyterian-ism by Andrew Holmes explains why premillennial ideas made little progress among Presbyterians. Cautionary taleThere is a cautionary tale in this book. Political and social events, such as the French Revolution and its consequences, and power-grabbing dictators such as Napoleon, appear to have had more influence upon evangelical thinking regarding unfulfilled prophecy than the Bible. This should be a warning to us against reading the newspaper with a view to identifying and understanding ‘signs of the times’. Time usually proves apocalyptic ‘experts’ as wrong as it does the political and economic gurus. For the reviewer, by far the most profitable essay is by Kenneth J. Stewart on the sad history of the Continental Society. This admirable project, launched in 1818, was an exercise in evangelical unity designed to further the spread of the gospel in Europe. But evangelical co-operation foundered on the rocks of controversy over matters of secondary importance, such as millennial differences. In consequence, by the early 1830s, the Society had become something of a wreck. The merit of this essay is the unobtrusive nature of the writer’s scholarship. So much evangelical scholarship these days is self-feeding; and writers seem to be looking over their shoulders fearful of being regarded as unscholarly. We do wish that some of these scholars did not feel the need of quoting other authorities for almost every statement they make. After all, we do not require the news reader to say: ‘Mr. Blair stated (Hansard, Wednesday February 4 2006) that the government has made provision for this.’ We are happy to accept many statements on the authority of the writer himself! Paul E.G. Cook© Evangelicals Now - April 2006 |