Three Views of the Rapture

The format of the book is one in which each of the three professors presents his viewpoint on the Rapture, and then is responded to by the other two. These papers were actually given originally to a meeting of the Ministerial Association of the Evangelical Free Church of America in 1981. There is also an introductory essay by Richard R. Reiter (ABD, NYU), who was apparently a graduate student of one or more of these professors when he received his M.Div. from Trinity. His essay traces the history of the development of the Rapture positions. This paper will, however, deal with only two of the papers: that by Professor Feinberg, setting forth the pretribulational position, and that by Professor Moo, setting forth the posttribulational position, along with the responses to them.

Perhaps the most interesting aspect of this book is its demonstration that three professors of theology at the same seminary, of a church which takes its theology extremely seriously (and there are churches, such as the Unitarian-Universalist, in which the members are really free to believe almost anything they want), can take three different stances on a concept which

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ems risky to diverge that far from Christian tradition. Even if the tradition is wrong because it has not been subjected to ôquality controlö in light of the scriptures, still, much or even most of what we have that constitutes Christian faith has come down to via the medium of such community traditions. It would seem imprudent to diverge radically from them without having urgent and virtually inarguable reasons for proposing an alternative theology. Turning back again to the phenomenon of the three different theological stances taken by the three professors: one may opine that it evidences a degree of maturity and openness to growth and innovation that presents Dispensationalism in a very positive light, one that should enhance its public image, which has often come under heavy attack. The same is true for Clouse: here again four closely related viewpoints on the Millennium are debated by four theologians. Although not all the viewpoints are Dispensational, the collegiality of the debate presents Dispensationalism in a positive light. Consider what is needed for a faith community to grow and evolve in order to meet new needs among its members in a constantly changing world. Someone, perhaps a seminary professor, will need at
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Approximate Word count = 2799
Approximate Pages = 11 (250 words per page)

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