Summary: A history of the origins, rise, and eventual decline of dispensationalism within American evangelicalism, and its impact on the wider American culture.

When all of us were talking about The Late, Great Planet Earth and prophecies of the end times during my Jesus movement days, I had no idea how this connected with a movement that began in the early 1800’s in England, spread to the United States and became the dominant way of thinking about the end times among much of Protestant fundamentalism and evangelicalism. In this work, Daniel G. Hummel sets this moment in time within the much longer history of this theological movement. What is more, he examines the influence this movement had not only on the church but our wider society.

His account begins with the premillenialism of J. N. Darby among the Exclusive Brethren of England (I wish the author had distinguished this group from Brethren churches in the U.S. that arose out of the German pietist and Anabaptist tradition who were not associated with Darby’s movement). He traces Darby’s work in the region spanning New England and the Great Lakes Basin of the country. He chronicles Darby’s influential successors, James H. Brooks and Joseph A. Seiss, and the emergence of new premillenialism out of old, with its focus on the church-Israel distinction, the idea of dispensational time, and the imminent rapture. Particularly, he elucidates the interpretive structures for studying scripture that these men developed and their appeal to those who wanted to understand the Bible.

He also explains the expansion of this movement through Moody’s revivalism, and the interlaced structures of Bible conferences, Bible institutes, mission agencies (to hasten the imminent coming of Jesus), and publications like Blackstone’s Jesus is Coming. As the movement entered the twentieth century, it expanded both its geographic boundaries to the South and to the West Coast, and also embraced pentecostalism. A key to this was the embrace of sectional reconciliation, downplaying the persistence of racism. Hummel considers the important role of the Scofield Bible in nurturing the new premillenialist movement in this period.

With World War 1, Hummel sees various factions developing between denominational fundamentalists, nationalist fundamentalists, and Philip Mauro’s dispensationalism (a term he coined). One of the most fascinating developments out of what had been a more populist movement is the rise of Lewis Sperry Chafer, scholastic dispensationalism, and Dallas Theological Seminary. In succeeding years, as fundamentalism morphs into neo-evangelicalism, the divisions multiply and harden between the Covenantalists, the Dispensationalists, and those like Harold J, Ockenga, Carl Henry, and George Eldon Ladd.

This is also the era where dispensationalism begins to forge political alliances around concerns for the nation of Israel, opposition to godless, perhaps “Beastly” atheism. Much of this reflected literalist interpretation, that in matters of science advanced young earth creationism, flood geology, and skepticism toward science. By and large, this movement left the Black church and its concerns about persisting racism behind. In light of an imminent rapture, social justice concerns could be seen as “rearranging desk chairs on the Titanic.”

Hal Lindsey and The Late, Great Planet Earth, in Hummel’s analysis represents both media success and broad influence combined with the beginnings of the decline of scholastic dispensationalism, and indeed the whole movement, even while dispensationalist and apocalyptic ideas entered the American cultural and political consciousness showing up in everything from Christian nationalism and the writings of QAnon to apocalyptic films and literature.

Hummel’s work makes the point that American religious history is simply American history. It cannot be kept in a silo to itself–the wider cultural influences are too great. He not only traces a theological genealogy of dispensationalism, he helps us understand the interlacing dynamics that explain the growth, spread, and influences of this movement. Along the way he includes figures that reproduce examples of key documents, including interpretive schemes and timelines and charts. Rather than offering us one more screed against dispensationalism, he offers an even-handed account of this theological movement and the factors that contributed to its decline. Much of American religious history has considered the early Puritan influences, the rise of frontier religion, the period of revivalism, or even the growth of pentecostalism. This work offers a similar account of dispensationalism that perhaps has received less attention. Hummel makes the case that dispensationalism deserves greater attention for both its influence upon American Christianity, and the American culture with which the church has always been entwined.

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary review copy of this book from the publisher. ( )