Craig L. Blomberg

Twentieth- and twenty-first-century American evangelicalism, particularly at the popular level, has been virtually saturated with the eschatology of dispensational premillennialism. The distinctive teachings of that system, in particular its affirmation of the pretribulation rapture of the church, have become so pervasive that many evangelicals would be hard pressed to identify an alternative approach. The contributors to this volume provide a thoughtful alternative. They present compelling arguments for historic or classic premillennialism--a position widely held throughout church history (and popularly advanced in the writings of George Eldon Ladd). An introductory chapter examines the differences within premillennial eschatology and considers reasons for the widespread popularity of dispensationalism in the twentieth century. This is followed by biblical, theological, historical, and missiological studies that reexamine classic premillennialism, particularly with regard to its understanding of the return of Christ -- Publisher description.

The search for the historical Jesus has had a long and complicated history. Nineteenth-century scholars, employing the tools of the historical-critical method, supplied a host of novel and contradictory interpretations of the Gospel materials. With the publication of Albert Schweitzer's The Quest of the Historical Jesus nearly all hopes of producing a "scientific" life of Jesus vanished. Twentieth-century researchers, while gaining a new appreciation of the Gospel writers as theologians, have largely remained skeptical of them as historians. Applying stringent "criteria of authenticity" to the sayings of Jesus, they have often left us with a Jesus who was merely human. Is such skepticism justified? Or can we trust the New Testament to give us accurate information about the nature and character of Jesus? What is the current state of Gospels research? Craig Blomberg summarizes the work of contemporary evangelical scholars sponsored by the Gospels Research Project of Tyndale House, Cambridge, and published in the six-volume Gospel Perspectives series. - Back cover.

Offers an introduction to biblical interpretation defining hermeneutics, and explains how to understand the meaning of any biblical text. Also provides a survey of literary, cultural, social, and historical issues, and how to apply biblical principles in a modern world.