Three Views on the Millennium and Beyond Paperback – March 1, 1999

I am a big fan of the Counterpoints: Bible and Theology series. The series is fairly consistent in quality and the format of presentations followed by rebuttals gives the reader an excellent opportunity to contrast and compare the different viewpoints. This is one of the better volumes in the series that I have come across.The Millennium is a fascinating topic and has broken outside of the boundary of academic theology, most commonly in our day and time through the "Left Behind" series, although "The Late, Great Planet Earth" by Hal Lindsay was quite popular in its day as well. This book attempts to get past all of the clutter and let proponents of the three major millennial schools, pre-millennialism, post-millennialism, and Amillinealism, each make their case.I live in the Southern part of the United States, and the pre-millennial view seems to be the predominant viewpoint of most of the Christians I know. I was interested to see how each side would present their case and find the scriptural basis for their beliefs. In addition, the responses to each author open up several doors of debate and help to sharpen the differences between the different viewpoints. If I was judging this as a three-way prizefight, I would say that Robert Strimple (amillennial) won by a knockout over Craig Blaising (pre-millennial) and that Strimple won by points over Kenneth Gentry (post-millennial). The crux of this debate is greatly influenced by the interpretation of Revelation 20: 1-6. It seems to be that the pre-millennial viewpoint takes Revelation 20:1-6 and tries to make the rest of scripture fit with the passage. On the other hand, the ammillennial viewpoint takes the whole of scripture and tries to make sense of Revelation 20:1-6 that way. As far as I could tell the post-millenial viewpoint was not based on any specific passage but on a general sense of how things ought to be.All in all a very interesting and well-done book that will be of great help to anyone wishing to understand the different viewpoints about the millennium.

I enjoyed reading this book. Eschatology is the area of theology that I am probably weakest in. While I had a basic knowledge related to the three main positions in relation the the Millenium, I can now better understand the differing views. This book is also helpful, even if you've already made your choice on where you stand on this point, to better grasp why others believe what they believe. For those seeking to get a better handle on eschatology and the millennium I definitely recommend this read. It was a bit technical in some parts and I found myself getting a bit bogged down in places, which is why I gave it 4 stars, but in a book of this nature that could be unavoidable.

Ken Gentry did a nice job trying to scripturally present the post-millennial position. He expressed confidence in the presence and sovereignty of God with the church as they share the gospel throughout the world.Robert Strimple try defending the amillennial position, but since the word "amillennial" means "no millennium", he didn't really have anything to defend, he spent most of his time picking apart the pre-millennial position.Craig Blaising got off to a less than blazing start, choosing to focus on the history of millennial interpretation for the first part of his essay. Then he comes back strong scripturally. I was disappointed he did not try to show how a literal millennium fulfills God's promises to Israel.Each presenter had an opportunity to rebuff the other presenter, and they all made good points.I thought it was a little facetious that they criticize the premillennialist for only having Revelation 20, but in reality, if it wasn't for Revelation 20, there would be no need for this book at all. Everyone would be out of a job :-)I came away from the book with a renewed appreciation for the post-millennial position, but came away more convinced than ever that the pre-millennial interpretation is probably the right one.

The many questions I had concerning biblical prophesies and the ultimate outcomes of all things considered, one by one have been answered. Excellent book. Excellent read.