Scan barcode
A review by jaybatson
A Case for Amillennialism: Understanding the End Times by Kim Riddlebarger
hopeful
informative
inspiring
slow-paced
4.5
A fire hose of compelling theology
I give this simultaneously a 4 and 5 star rating. What, you say? Let me explain.
My Christian faith was forged from childhood, being raised in an evangelical home by God-loving parents. Mine was a home & church grounded in premillenarianism - that Jesus would rapture Christian believers before a great and terrible thousand years.
But I had nagging questions that I just couldn’t reconcile; similar questions to those stated by Riddlebarger in the last 2-3 pages of this book. Others around me were studying end-times eschatology and excitedly finding answers to those questions … but those answers seemed to reinforce my confusion. This especially showed up as I explored the non-eschatological teachings of theologians who had overall views I found compelling - and who did not adopt the premillennial position.
So on a whim I read this book, to see if it would help me at least see a different reading of this important biblical topic. Well, mission accomplished - this book is as thorough a treatment as you can imagine.
In fact, it did more than explain amillennialism. Riddlebarger methodically and accurately lays out each interpretive approach to eschatology, then contrasts each with the amillennial view. In detail, element by element.
This is both the strength of this work, and the reason I have my 4-star hedge. It is a fire hose of information. It completely answers every thing imaginable. It is a total - and successful - 5-star presentation of the amillennial (and other!) view(s). Enough so that I could be convinced to adopt an amillenialist view (though I may need some time, and another read-thru to truly get there (or not)).
However, this is not a book that is easily consumed - especially if I wanted to share it with one of those enthusiastic premillennialist friends I refer to above. It’s almost too-big to consume. And for that average Christian premillennialist, it doesn’t have a workbook alongside (the way so many premillennial teaching books do) that makes it a good study book for a church home group / Bible study.
This book is (rightly) aimed at being an authoritative, complete statement of its position, containing an assertion or defense about nearly anything and everything that one with a different view would need to know, or refute a criticism levied. It gets 5-stars for this.
It is not a gentle, first step in helping the average premillennial dispensationalist believer see the difficulties in their position, and presenting enough - but not yet encyclopedic - of a case for amillennialism to get that person to this more comprehensive treatment. So, for that audience, I take away one star for this inapproachability.
If Riddlebarger wants to trigger change among the average Christian believer in premillennialism, I hope he will write the “home group Bible study version” of this compelling work.
I give this simultaneously a 4 and 5 star rating. What, you say? Let me explain.
My Christian faith was forged from childhood, being raised in an evangelical home by God-loving parents. Mine was a home & church grounded in premillenarianism - that Jesus would rapture Christian believers before a great and terrible thousand years.
But I had nagging questions that I just couldn’t reconcile; similar questions to those stated by Riddlebarger in the last 2-3 pages of this book. Others around me were studying end-times eschatology and excitedly finding answers to those questions … but those answers seemed to reinforce my confusion. This especially showed up as I explored the non-eschatological teachings of theologians who had overall views I found compelling - and who did not adopt the premillennial position.
So on a whim I read this book, to see if it would help me at least see a different reading of this important biblical topic. Well, mission accomplished - this book is as thorough a treatment as you can imagine.
In fact, it did more than explain amillennialism. Riddlebarger methodically and accurately lays out each interpretive approach to eschatology, then contrasts each with the amillennial view. In detail, element by element.
This is both the strength of this work, and the reason I have my 4-star hedge. It is a fire hose of information. It completely answers every thing imaginable. It is a total - and successful - 5-star presentation of the amillennial (and other!) view(s). Enough so that I could be convinced to adopt an amillenialist view (though I may need some time, and another read-thru to truly get there (or not)).
However, this is not a book that is easily consumed - especially if I wanted to share it with one of those enthusiastic premillennialist friends I refer to above. It’s almost too-big to consume. And for that average Christian premillennialist, it doesn’t have a workbook alongside (the way so many premillennial teaching books do) that makes it a good study book for a church home group / Bible study.
This book is (rightly) aimed at being an authoritative, complete statement of its position, containing an assertion or defense about nearly anything and everything that one with a different view would need to know, or refute a criticism levied. It gets 5-stars for this.
It is not a gentle, first step in helping the average premillennial dispensationalist believer see the difficulties in their position, and presenting enough - but not yet encyclopedic - of a case for amillennialism to get that person to this more comprehensive treatment. So, for that audience, I take away one star for this inapproachability.
If Riddlebarger wants to trigger change among the average Christian believer in premillennialism, I hope he will write the “home group Bible study version” of this compelling work.