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EARLY CHURCH
Ambrose
Ambrose, Pseudo
Andreas
Arethas
Aphrahat
Athanasius
Augustine
Barnabus
BarSerapion
Baruch, Pseudo
Bede
Chrysostom
Chrysostom, Pseudo
Clement, Alexandria
Clement, Rome
Clement, Pseudo
Cyprian
Ephraem
Epiphanes
Eusebius
Gregory
Hegesippus
Hippolytus
Ignatius
Irenaeus
Isidore
James
Jerome
King Jesus
Apostle John
Lactantius
Luke
Mark
Justin Martyr
Mathetes
Matthew
Melito
Oecumenius
Origen
Apostle Paul
Apostle Peter
Maurus Rabanus
Remigius
"Solomon"
Severus
St.
Symeon
Tertullian
Theophylact
Victorinus
HISTORICAL PRETERISM
(Minor Fulfillment of Matt. 24/25 or Revelation
in Past)
Joseph Addison
Oswald T. Allis Thomas Aquinas
Karl Auberlen
Augustine
Albert Barnes
Karl Barth
G.K. Beale Beasley-Murray
John Bengel
Wilhelm Bousset
John A. Broadus
David Brown
"Haddington Brown"
F.F. Bruce
Augustin Calmut
John Calvin
B.H. Carroll
Johannes Cocceius
Vern Crisler
Thomas Dekker
Wilhelm De Wette
Philip Doddridge
Isaak Dorner
Dutch Annotators
Alfred Edersheim
Jonathan Edwards
E.B.
Elliott
Heinrich Ewald Patrick Fairbairn
Js. Farquharson
A.R. Fausset
Robert Fleming
Hermann Gebhardt
Geneva Bible
Charles Homer Giblin
John Gill
William Gilpin
W.B. Godbey
Ezra Gould
Hank Hanegraaff
Hengstenberg Matthew Henry
G.A. Henty
George Holford
Johann von Hug
William Hurte
J, F, and Brown
B.W. Johnson
John Jortin
Benjamin Keach
K.F. Keil
Henry Kett
Richard Knatchbull Johann Lange
Cornelius Lapide
Nathaniel Lardner
Jean Le Clerc
Peter Leithart
Jack P. Lewis
Abiel Livermore
John Locke
Martin Luther
James MacDonald
James MacKnight
Dave MacPherson
Keith Mathison
Philip Mauro
Thomas Manton
Heinrich Meyer
J.D. Michaelis
Johann Neander
Sir Isaac Newton
Thomas Newton
Stafford North
Dr. John Owen
Blaise Pascal
William W. Patton
Arthur Pink
Thomas Pyle
Maurus Rabanus
St. Remigius
Anne Rice
Kim Riddlebarger
J.C. Robertson
Edward Robinson
Andrew Sandlin
Johann Schabalie
Philip Schaff
Thomas Scott
C.J. Seraiah
Daniel Smith
Dr. John
Smith
C.H. Spurgeon Rudolph E. Stier
A.H. Strong St. Symeon
Theophylact
Friedrich Tholuck
George Townsend
James Ussher
Wm. Warburton
Benjamin Warfield
Noah Webster
John Wesley
B.F. Westcott William Whiston
Herman Witsius
N.T. Wright
John Wycliffe
Richard Wynne
C.F.J. Zullig
MODERN PRETERISTS
(Major Fulfillment of Matt. 24/25 or Revelation
in Past)
Firmin Abauzit
Jay Adams
Luis Alcazar
Greg Bahnsen
Beausobre, L'Enfant
Jacques Bousset
John L. Bray
David Brewster
Dr. John Brown
Thomas Brown
Newcombe Cappe
David Chilton
Adam Clarke
Henry Cowles
Ephraim Currier
R.W. Dale
Gary DeMar
P.S. Desprez
Johann Eichhorn
Heneage Elsley
F.W. Farrar
Samuel Frost
Kenneth Gentry
Steve Gregg
Hugo Grotius
Francis X. Gumerlock
Henry Hammond
Hampden-Cook
Friedrich Hartwig
Adolph Hausrath
Thomas
Hayne
J.G. Herder
Timothy Kenrick
J. Marcellus Kik
Samuel Lee
Peter Leithart
John Lightfoot
Benjamin Marshall
F.D. Maurice
Marion Morris
Ovid Need, Jr
Wm. Newcombe
N.A. Nisbett
Gary North
Randall Otto
Zachary Pearce
Andrew Perriman
Beilby Porteus
Ernst Renan
Gregory Sharpe
Fr. Spadafora
R.C. Sproul
Moses Stuart
Milton S. Terry
Herbert
Thorndike
C. Vanderwaal
Foy Wallace
Israel P.
Warren Chas Wellbeloved
J.J. Wetstein
Richard Weymouth
Daniel Whitby
George Wilkins
E.P. Woodward
FUTURISTS
(Virtually No Fulfillment of Matt. 24/25 & Revelation in 1st
C. - Types Only ; Also Included are "Higher Critics" Not Associated With Any
Particular Eschatology)
Henry Alford
G.C. Berkower
Alan Patrick Boyd
John Bradford
Wm.
Burkitt
George Caird
Conybeare/ Howson
John Crossan
John N. Darby
C.H. Dodd E.B. Elliott
G.S.
Faber
Jerry Falwell
Charles G. Finney
J.P. Green Sr.
Murray Harris
Thomas Ice
Benjamin Jowett John N.D. Kelly
Hal Lindsey
John MacArthur
William Miller
Robert Mounce Eduard Reuss
J.A.T. Robinson
George Rosenmuller
D.S. Russell
George Sandison
C.I. Scofield
Dr. John Smith
Norman Snaith
"Televangelists" Thomas Torrance
Jack/Rex VanImpe
John Walvoord
Quakers :
George Fox |
Margaret Fell (Fox) |
Isaac Penington
PRETERIST UNIVERSALISM |
MODERN PRETERISM |
PRETERIST IDEALISM
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(The Antichrist Legend, pp. 20-25)
This character of the tradition is most pronounced in
chap. xi. of the Revelation of S. John. Specially puzzling is here the
sudden appearance of the beast that comes up out of the pit and kills the
two witnesses (ver. 7). If we suppose that in the expression " the beast
that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit " the hand of the " editor " of
Revelation has been at work, still there is the reference in ver. 7 to a
demoniacal power by which the two witnesses are slain. As this can by no
means be separated, as Spitta would have it, from the general context, the
fragment remains all the more puzzling.
In any case the sudden cessation of the testimony of the witnesses after
three years and a half must still have been brought about by some hostile
power.
But where are we elsewhere to look for the appearance of the witnesses and
of the beast ? According to ver. 8, in Jerusalem. Even apart from the words
" where also our [their] Lord was crucified," Jerusalem is unmistakably
indicated both by the connection with vers. 1 and 2, and by the circumstance
that in the earthquake in which the tenth part of the city fell seven
thousand men were slain (ver. 13). For the assumption that the scene takes
place in Rome there is not a particle of evidence. The assertion that
Jerusalem could not be called " the great city " can be shown to be
groundless, while the fact that Rome is elsewhere in Revelation also called
" the great city " proves nothing for the explanation of this quite
exceptional chapter.
But if everything thus points to Jerusalem as the theatre of these events,
then comes the question, How are we to explain the appearance in Jerusalem
of the beast which is elsewhere in Revelation associated with the Roman
empire, with Rome itself, or with Nero returning from the Euphrates ? Here a
too hasty exposition of a single chapter of Revelation would avail nothing.
For after all it is quite possible, nay, even tolerably certain, that we
have in this book diverse cycles of thought lying close together.
Moreover, who are the two witnesses ? Why are they here introduced at all ?
Why, and against whom, do they forebode the plagues ? In what relation do
they stand to the beast ? Why does the beast of all others slay the
witnesses ? Who are the dwellers upon the earth who rejoice and make merry
and send gifts one to another during the three days and a half that the
witnesses lie dead ? If we are to suppose that they gathered about
Jerusalem, how did they get thither ? Is it the Roman legions that are to
tread Jerusalem underfoot ? But if so, how can these be spoken of as " they
that dwell upon the earth " ? All these are moot points which will never be
solved by discriminating the sources within chap. xi.
Now let us take it as unquestioned that in this chapter the figure of the
Antichrist appears in Jerusalem, that he here stands in no relation to Rome
and the Roman empire, or to. the Gentiles, who, as would seem, tread
Jerusalem underfoot. Then a parallel passage will at once be found in the
eschatological section of the Second Epistle to the Thessalonians, whose
authenticity I accept without however in my researches laying too much
weight on this assumption.
Here the very mysterious fragmentary manner of the exposition is obviously
intentional. The author will not say more than he has said, but refers to
his previous oral communications, giving the impression of an allusion to
some esoteric teaching. In fact Paul speaks of a mystery in the words — "
Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things ?
And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time. For
the mystery of iniquity doth already work : only he who now letteth will
let, until he be taken out of the way " (chap, ii., vers. 5-7). We read of "
the man of sin," a " son of perdition," who is yet to come. This figure also
of the Antichrist appears in Jerusalem ; he sitteth in the Temple of God,
and proclaims himself God. His advent will be " after the working of Satan "
; he will work " signs and lying wonders," and will beguile them that perish
" with all deceivableness of unrighteousness."
Here therefore we have also an Antichrist who has nothing whatever to do
with the Roman empire. For the passage is not applicable even to Caligula
and his whim to have his statue set up in the Temple of Jerusalem. By such
an interpretation we should miss the most essential point — that is to say,
the threatened profanation of the Temple by foreign armies. Here we have
nothing but signs and wonders and deceits, and it is characteristic of the
passage that it contains an altogether unpolitical eschatology— an
Antichrist who appears as a false Messiah in Jerusalem and works signs and
wonders. And when Paul says that this man of sin will lead astray those
destined to perish because "they received not the love of the truth, that
they might be saved" (ver. 10), it is quite evident that he is thinking of
the Jews, to whom a false Messiah will be sent because they have rejected
the true Messiah. But whence does Paul know all this, and who is the one
that " letteth," who has to be " taken out of the way " before the coming of
the Antichrist ?
I turn to a third allied passage, the section of the Lord's discourse in
Matthew xxiv. and Mark xiii. on the Second Coming, and I assume, with many
recent expositors, that the distinctly apocalyptic part is a fragment of
foreign origin introduced amid genuine utterances of the Lord. It is also
evident that compared with that of Mark the text of Matthew is the original.
Here we have again the same phenomenon of short mysterious forebodings. The
writer speaks of the " abomination of desolation " in the holy place,
followed by the flight of the faithful (one scarcely knows from what) ; of a
shortening of the days (we know not what days, or whether any definite
period of time is meant) ; of the " sign of the Son of man," which still
remains a puzzle, although treated lightly by most expositors. In any case
the view is steadily gaining ground that the allusion to the siege of
Jerusalem and the flight of the Christians to Pella is an explanation
introduced as an after-thought into Revelation.
Yet one is reluctant to understand the passage except in association with
the time of the emperor Caligula.
How then is to be explained the flight after the pollution of the Temple ?
Was the writer one of the advocates of peace, who wished to dissuade his
fellow-countrymen from taking to arms ? But if so, he might have spoken in
plainer language. A life-and-death struggle would after all seem probably to
have taken place before the setting up of the emperor's statue.
The simplest way out of the difficulty will be to apply 2 Thessalonians to
the explanation of Matthew xxiv. Then the profanation will be the Antichrist
who takes his seat in the Temple of Jerusalem, and the flight will be that
of the faithful from Antichrist and his persecution.
But then the question will again arise, Whence this whole cycle of thought ?
What was the source of this conception of the Antichrist in the Temple of
Jerusalem ?
Do the last verses of Revelation ii., 2 Thessalonians ii., and Matthew xxiv.
all belong to the same legendary matter, and will it be possible again to
bring the scattered fragments together ? Apart from the New Testament, are
there any sources still at all available calculated to afford fresh
information on this common tradition ? We can now say that there is, in
fact, still extant a superabundance of such material.
When we pass on to the eschatological commentaries of the Fathers on Daniel,
Revelation, 2 Thessalonians ii., Matthew xxiv., etc., we everywhere observe
the same phenomenon, a multiplicity of details, causing us to ask in
amazement, How does it happen that these expositors of the Old and New
Testament writings are all alike so full of those wonderful and fantastic
representations which occur precisely in this particular domain ? Even
beneath the most arbitrary exegetic fancies and allegorical explanations we
may still perceive how this came about. But in this field of research there
is opened up a world of fresh eschatological imagery, for which scarcely any
support is sought in the Bible, at least beyond mere suggestions.
Yet these very suggestions or assertions everywhere crop out with surprising
persistence, so that when the matter is more closely examined we begin to
detect order, consistency, and system in what we had regarded as a mere
congeries of marvellous fancies.
WHAT OTHERS HAVE SAID
Greg Alles
"Otto converted him to neo-Friesianism around 1908. Very active
in left-liberal politics, he was probably closer to Nelson politically than
Otto (who was a little further to the right). For example, in the 1910
volume, Was ist Liberal?, Nelson wrote the opening essay from the
perspective of philosophy; Bousset wrote the next essay (if my memory is
good) from the perspective of theology. In 1910, Bousset presided over the
merger of all left-liberal political parties. Also in 1910: Bousset, Otto,
and, I believe, Nelson were involved in a fiasco of a public meeting of the
Akademischer Freibund, Goettingen. The question for discussion: is it
possible to revive the old spirit of liberalism among German students today?
The meeting fell apart. Actually, it caused a riot.
Bousset and Otto both had difficulties getting
professoriates. They were popularizers, and they were too liberal (by the
standards of the day). Both finally succeeded in 1915: Bousset went to
Giessen, Otto to Breslau. "
Britannica
New Testament scholar and theologian, professor successively at the
universities of Göttingen and Giessen, and co-founder of the so-called
Religionsgeschichtliche Schule (history of religions school) of biblical
study. His many publications include works on New Testament textual
criticism, Gnosticism, and the early church. His principal works were Die
Religion des Judentums im neutestamentlichen (späthellenistischen) Zeitalter
(1903; “The Religion of the Jews in the New Testament [late Hellenistic]
Era”) and Kyrios Christos (1913; “Lord Christ”).
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)
Larry Hurtado
"The approach and views that have been dominant were developed largely in
the closing years of the nineteenth century and early years of the twentieth
century in a period of German scholarship dominated by the so-called “religionsgeschichtliche
Schule” (“history of religions school”). The key scholar on early
Christian belief in Jesus was Wilhelm Bousset, and in a monumental study
first published in 1913, Kyrios Christos (English translation 1970), he laid
out what became a widely echoed historical understanding of matters.
Essentially, Bousset portrayed a divinization of Jesus that took place as
the result of influences from the wider Roman religious environment with its
many gods and divine heroes. In his view, Jesus’ earliest followers, “the
Palestinian Primitive Community,” revered him as Messiah and “the Son of
Man” whom they expected to come soon to bring eschatological salvation.
Bousset sharply distinguished their beliefs about Jesus from what came
later.
|equent stages, especially in “the Gentile
Christian Primitive Community,” that Jesus was regarded as divine and
invoked as “Kyrios” (“Lord”) in worship settings. Basically, these circles
of Christians brought their pagan concepts (such as apotheosis of heroic
figures) and religious schemes with them, treating Jesus as a “cult deity”
like the many divinities and heroes of their background. As traced by
Bousset, these subsequent developments, from the apostle Paul on through to
Irenaeus (late second century) essentially comprised a story of a
progressive (and in Bousset’s view, regrettable) paganization of an
originally simple piety with which Bousset more readily identified himself
in its putative emphasis on ethics and a “purer” monotheism unencumbered by
dogmas about the divinity of Jesus.
In
short, Bousset portrayed devotion to Jesus as divine as an evolutionary
process that was largely explained by “syncretistic” influences from the
wider pagan world mediated through the influx of Gentile (non-Jewish)
converts to the early Christian churches, especially in diaspora locations
such as Syrian Antioch. Although Bousset certainly had his critics and major
scholars (such as Oscar Cullmann) offered cogent alternative views of some
relevant matters, the “story” set forth in Kyrios Christos has
enjoyed remarkably wide acceptance in scholarly circles, and the gist of it
has also been echoed in many popular accounts as well." (Devotion
to Jesus in Earliest Christianity)
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