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Biblical interpretation

Dispensationalism is a theological framework of interpreting the Bible which maintains that history is divided into multiple ages or "dispensations" in which God acts with his chosen people in different ways. These are two competing frameworks of Biblical Theology that attempt to explain the continuity of the Bible as a whole. The term "dispensationalism" is attributed to Philip Mauro, a critic of the system's teachings in his 1928 book The Gospel of the Kingdom. Dispensationalists use a literal interpretation of the Bible and believe that divine revelation unfolds throughout the Bible. They believe that there is a distinction between Israel and the Church, and that Christians are not bound by Mosaic law. They maintain beliefs in premillennialism, Christian Zionism, and a rapture of the Church that will happen before the Second Coming of Christ, generally seen as happening before a period of tribulation. Dispensationalism was systematized and promoted by John Nelson Darby and the Plymouth Brethren in the mid 19th century. It began its spread in the United States during the late 19th century through the efforts of evangelists such as James Inglis, James Hall Brookes, Dwight L. Moody, the efforts of the Niagara Bible Conference, and the establishment of Bible Institutes. With the dawn of the 20th century, C. I. Scofield introduced the Scofield Reference Bible, which solidified dispensationalism in the United States. Dispensationalism has become popular within American evangelicalism. It is commonly found in nondenominational Bible churches, as well as Baptist, Pentecostal, and Charismatic groups. Conversely, Protestant denominations that embrace covenant theology as a whole tend to reject dispensationalism.

Dispensationalism is a theological framework that views history as divided into distinct periods in which God interacts with mankind in a specific way. Each of these periods is defined as a specific dispensation. The defining characteristics of a dispensation are the distinct governing relationship in which God interacts with mankind in the specific period, and the resulting responsibility placed upon mankind in each of these periods. However, dispensationalist theologians tend to hold "a particular view of the parallel but separate roles and destinies of Israel and the [Christian] church", with a "careful separation between what is addressed to Israel and what is addressed to the church. What is addressed to Israel is 'earthly' in character and is to be interpreted 'literally.'" Charles Ryrie writes that dispensational soteriology focuses on man's salvation as the means God uses to glorify himself. Scripture is to be interpreted according to the normal rules of human language in its entirety. Charles Ryrie wrote that the Bible is not viewed as a textbook on theology, but rather as a continually unfolding revelation of God through successive ages where there are distinguishable stages in which God introduces new things for which man becomes responsible. Each stands alone, rather than the Old Testament being reread through the lens of the New Testament. Classic dispensationalists refer to this period as a "parenthesis" or temporary interlude in the progress of Israel's prophesied history when God has paused his dealing with Israel and is dealing with his Church. There are differing views within dispensationalism as to when the church age began. Classic dispensationalism considers Pentecost in Acts 2 as the beginning of the Church as distinct from Israel. Charles Finney noted in 1839 that Pentecost was "the commencement of a new dispensation", emphasizing the role of the Holy Spirit as a distinction. E. W. Bullinger and the ultradispensationalists taught that the church began in Acts 28. The overlap includes Jewish Christians like James, brother of Jesus, who integrated Jesus's teachings into the Jewish faith, and Christians of Jewish ethnicity who held varying opinions on compliance with Mosaic law, like Saint Peter and Paul the Apostle. Progressive dispensationalism "softens" the Church/Israel distinction by seeing some Old Testament promises as expanded by the New Testament to include the Church. However, progressives never view this expansion as replacing promises to its original audience, Israel.

Dispensationalists believe that Christ abolished the Mosaic law, and thus it does not apply to the Christian. Instead, the Christian is under the Law of Christ, which embodies the moral principles of God which are in both codes. In this view, although many commandments of the Old Testament are re established in the New Testament, only the commandments that are explicitly affirmed are to be kept, which excludes the ceremonial and civil aspects of the Mosaic law. Pre tribulational rapture doctrine is what separates dispensationalism from other forms of premillennialism and other millennial views. The necessity of the rapture is that, with the Church and Israel being distinct, the Church must be removed before remnant Israel can be gathered. Joachim's theory of three stages of human history has been argued to have anticipated the later dispensationalist view of organizing history into different dispensations. However, this actually comes from an anonymous 1316 Latin text titled The History of Brother Dolcino and it is uncertain as to whether this came directly from Dolcino. Pierre Poiret has been said to have been the first theologian to develop a dispensationalist system, writing a book titledThe Divine Economy. Poiret taught that history should be organized into multiple dispensations in which God works with humans in different ways, including the millennium as a future dispensation. Poiret's eschatology includes a belief in two resurrections, the rise of the Antichrist and the nation of Israel being regathered, restored and converted. Charles Ryrie points out that Scofield's outline of dispensationalism, with the exception of the millennium, is exactly that of Watts, and not Darby.

Dispensationalism was introduced to North America by James Inglis (1813–1872) through the monthly magazine Waymarks in the Wilderness, published intermittently between 1854 and 1872. During 1866, Inglis organized the Believers' Meeting for Bible Study, which introduced dispensationalist ideas to a small but influential circle of American evangelicals. Moody worked with Brookes and other dispensationalists and encouraged the spread of dispensationalism. It also marked a shift in dispensational theology from Darby's Calvinist and doctrinal rigor to a non Calvinist view of human freedom in personal salvation under evangelists like Moody. Other prominent dispensationalists in this period include Reuben Archer Torrey (1856–1928), James M. Gray (1851–1925), William J. Erdman (1833–1923), A. C. Dixon (1854–1925), A. J. Gordon (1836–1895), and William Eugene Blackstone (1841–1935). These men were active evangelists who promoted a host of Bible conferences and other missionary and evangelistic efforts. They also gave the dispensationalist philosophy institutional permanence by assuming leadership of new independent Bible institutes, such as the Moody Bible Institute during 1886, the Bible Institute of Los Angeles (now Biola University) during 1908, and Philadelphia College of Bible (now Cairn University, formerly Philadelphia Biblical University) during 1913. The network of related institutes that soon developed became the nucleus for the spread of American dispensationalism. Torrey served as first superintendent of the Bible Institute of the Chicago Evangelization Society (now Moody Bible Institute) when it formally opened in 1889. Although the revivalist evangelicals such as Moody and Torrey did not believe the gift of tongues continued past the Apostolic age, their emphasis on the baptism of the Holy Spirit merged well with holiness ideas. This encouraged the spread of dispensationalism within the Pentecostal movement. The Baptist Bible Seminary in Clarks Summit, Pennsylvania became another dispensational school.

In the 1910s, another publication took hold within American evangelicalism. A twelve volume publication known as The Fundamentals was published between 1910 and 1915 by the Testimony Publishing Company. Managed by an executive committee of dispensationalists including Clarence Dixon and Rueben Torrey, The Fundamentals helped solidify dispensationalism within American Christian fundamentalism and the evangelical movement. All of them either studied or taught at Dallas Theological Seminary. Televangelist Jack van Impe covered current events in light of Bible prophecy with a dispensational premillennialist spin.

The late 20th century marked a change from the separatism of earlier in the century to one of more political engagement through the emergence of the Christian Right, rooted in the dispensational theology that Israel is at the center of God's purpose in the world. Falwell listed Feinberg, Pentecost, Hoyt, and Walvoord as his primary influences. The Moral Majority also provided a platform of political activism. Due in large part to the influence of dispensational premillennialism, the Moral Majority advocated for pro Israel U. S. foreign policy positions, including protection of the Jewish people in Israel and continued aid for the state of Israel. Opposed to Jimmy Carter's affirmation of a Palestinian homeland, the Moral Majority endorsed Ronald Reagan for President in 1980. In Reagan, they found a candidate that shared their apocalypticism. Reagan had read Hal Lindsey's The Late Great Planet Earth and it is suggested that his Middle East policies were driven by this eschatological view. In an interview with televangelist Jim Bakker, Reagan stated that "[w]e may be the generation that sees Armageddon". Dispensational theology affected more than just Middle East foreign policy in the Reagan administration. James G. Watt, a member of the Assemblies of God and Reagan's first Secretary of the Interior, stated to Congress that preservation of the environment was made irrelevant due to the imminent return of Christ. In 1980, Hal Lindsey wrote a follow up to his Late Great Planet Earth titled The 1980s: Countdown to Armageddon. Previously, Lindsey had not drawn a connection from a Christian's personal obligations to their responsibility for social change. But this changed with The 1980s. He began encouraging his readers to elect moral leaders who would reflect that morality within government, an agenda closely aligned with the administration of Ronald Reagan.

By the 1990s, a younger generation of academics emerged as "progressive dispensationalists", presenting a rift in the united front that Ryrie had advocated for in Dispensationalism Today (1965). This school of thought was led by Craig A. Blaising, Darrell Bock, Kenneth Barker, and Robert L. Saucy. As with Reagan in the 1980s, the New Christian Right helped elect another 'born again' president, George W. Bush, who, like Reagan, spoke in terms of prophecies being fulfilled in a way that had meaning to dispensationalists. Dispensational ideas were experiencing commercial success, but the primary standard bearers of dispensationalism had become Hal Lindsey and Tim LaHaye who were different from their academic predecessors John Walvoord, Dwight Pentecost, and Charles Ryrie. While dispensationalism collapsed in academic areas, its cultural influence remained. Dispensational ideas continue within the culture. A 2004 Newsweek poll indicated that 55 percent of Americans believe that Christians will be taken up in the Rapture. By the turn of the 21st century, the term "dispensationalism" had become synonymous with "sectarian fundamentalism" and came to be more of a political perspective than a set of theological doctrines. The Churches of Christ underwent division during the 1930s as Robert Henry Boll (who taught a variant of the dispensational philosophy) and Foy E. Wallace (representing the amillennial stance) disputed severely over eschatology. The presupposition of the difference between law and grace carries to the conclusion that there are multiple forms of salvation. Political commentator Kevin Phillips claimed in American Theocracy (2006) that dispensationalist and other fundamentalist Christians, together with the oil lobby, provided political assistance for the invasion of Iraq during 2003. He further points out that most theologians acknowledge there is no specific sequence of end times events in the Bible, and that such a belief is the result of a century of "amplified Darbyism", further quoting theologian Barbara Rossing that such hyper literalism is a "dangerous and false view".