3.08. Footnotes

1 Thomas, S. Kuhn, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, 2d enlarged ed. (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1970).

2 Quoted in Michael Walsh, The Triumph of the Meek: Why Early Christianity Succeeded (San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1986), 248.

3 Historians dispute whether Constantine’s conversion to Christianity was genuine E.g., Henry Chadwick, The Early Church (Pelican Books, 1967, reprinted Penguin Books, 1990), 125-127; Edward Gibbon, The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Great Books of the Western World ed. (Chicago: Encyclopedia Britannica, Inc.1952), 290. Although Eusebius recounts that in AD 312, Constantine saw a "vision" in which the sign of the cross was emblazoned across the sky surrounded by the words "In this, conquer," this "vision" was almost certainly apocryphal. See Ramsay MacMullen, Constantine (New York: Dial Press, 1969), 73.

4 I recognize that the use of paradigm theory in theology is fraught with risk. Theology is concerned with ultimate truth, both in God and as revealed by God. By contrast, paradigm theory, at least at its scientific core, is pessimistic about truth-seeking. See Grant Osborne, The Hermeneutical Circle (Downer’s Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1991), 403-404. Nevertheless, it seems to me that one can still view paradigm theory as a useful way of looking at how man conceives of ultimate truth at a specific point in time in the history of dogma without compromising the fact that ultimate truth (a) exists and (b) is found in Christ Jesus and in his written Word.

5 Charles Hodge, Systematic Theology vol. 1 (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, reprinted 1995), 17.

6 Charles Ryrie, Dispensationalism (Chicago: Moody Press, 1995), 15-16.

7 Baptist Confession of 1689, art. I.

8 Historical theology is the "unfolding of Christian theology throughout the centuries." Paul Enns, The Moody Handbook of Theology (Chicago, Moody Press, 1989), 403.

9 Millard J. Erickson, Christian Theology (Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 1983-1985), 26.

10 Ibid.

11 Ibid, 26-27.

12 Enns, Moody Handbook, 403.

13 Church history is commonly divided into four major periods: (1) the ancient church (through AD 590), (2) the medieval church (AD 590 to 1517), (3) the reformation era (1517-1750), and (4) the modern era (1750-present). Ibid, 403-406.

14 Ibid, 404.

15 For example, Dale Moody has written, "Dispensationalism with the modern form of seven dispensations, eight covenants, and a Pretribulation Rapture is a deviation that has not been traced beyond 1830." Dale Moody, The Word of Truth (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1981), 555, quoted in Charles C. Ryrie, Dispensationalism (Chicago: Moody Press, 1995), 14-15. Daniel Fuller has similarly written: "Ignorance is bliss, and it may well be that this popularity [of dispensationalism] would not be so great if the adherents of this system knew the historical background of what they teach. Few indeed realize that the teaching of Chafer came from Scofield, who in turn got it through the writings of Darby and the Plymouth Brethren." Daniel P. Fuller, "The Hermeneutics of Dispensationalism" (TH.D. dis., Northern Baptist Theological Seminary, Chicago, 1975), 136, quoted in Ryrie, Dispensationalism, 61. To these critics, never mind that there is ample evidence of dispensational-type thinking in the writings of the early fathers. See generally Larry V. Crutchfield, "Ages and Dispensations in the Ante-Nicene Fathers" Bibliotheca Sacra (October-December 1987).

16 Ryrie, Dispensationalism, 14.

17 E.g., Charles Ryrie, Basic Theology (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1986), 451; Ryrie, Dispensationalism, 39-40. Progressive dispensationalists, rightly, in my view, consider both Israel and the church as ultimately belonging to one people of God and serving one historical purpose, but within that broad framework, they retain the traditional dispensational distinction between Israel and the church. See Robert L. Saucy, The Case for Progressive Dispensationalism (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1993), 187-218.

18 The only arguable passage is Galatians 6:16. Even there, however, the evidence does not support the conclusion that the phrase Israel of God refers to the church. First, the repetition of the preposition (“upon” or “to” ) indicates that two groups are in view. Second, all the sixty five other occurrences of the term Israel in the New Testament refer to Jews. It would thus be strange for Paul to use Israel here to mean Gentile Christians. Third, Paul elsewhere distinguishes between two kinds of Israelites--believing Jews and unbelieving Jews (cf. Romans 9:6). He does the same here, referring to true Israel, that is, Jews who come to Christ. See Donald K. Campbell, "Galatians" in The Bible Knowledge Commentary [CD-ROM] (Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, 1997). See also Saucy, Progressive Dispensationalism, 198-202; Enns, Moody Handbook, 526 n.12.

19 Clement, "Epistle to the Corinthians" in A. Roberts and J. Donaldson, eds., The Ante-Nicene Fathers [CD-ROM] (Albany, OR: Sage Software, 1996), 34.

20 Justin Martyr, "Dialogue with Trypho" in The Ante-Nicene Fathers, 406.

21 Ibid, 527.

22 Ibid, 532-33.

23 Saucy, Progressive Dispensationalism, 212.

24 Ibid.

25 Saucy, Progressive Dispensationalism, 213.

26 Ibid.

27 Ibid, 215.

28 Ibid, 215.

29 Ibid, 216.

30 Ibid, 217.

31 Ibid.

32 Larry V. Crutchfield, "Israel and the Church in the Ante-Nicene Fathers" Bibliotheca Sacra (July-September 1987), 256.

33 Saucy, Progressive Dispensationalism, 216.

34 David S. Dockery, Christian Scripture (Nashville: Broadman & Holman, 1995), 101.

35 Ibid, 102.

36 Ibid.

37 Ibid, 103.

38 Ibid, 103-104.

39 Robert D. Preus, "The View of the Bible Held By the Church: The Early Church Fathers Through Luther," Inerrancy, Norman L. Geisler, ed. (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1980), 359.

40 Dockery, Christian Scripture, 108.

41 Ibid.

42 Frederick W. Norris, "Universal Salvation in Origen and Maximus" in Nigel M. de S. Cameron, ed., Universalism and the Doctrine of Hell (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1992), 35.

43 Philip Schaff, History of the Christian Church, vol. II (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1910, reprinted 1995), 790.

44 Ibid, 788. Origen’s zeal for piety went to an unfortunate extreme. As a youth, he emasculated himself to guard against sexual temptation. Ibid.

45 Ibid, 790.

46 Ibid, 792.

47 Dockery, Christian Scripture, 110.

48 F.F. Bruce, "Interpretation of the Bible" Evangelical Dictionary of Theology Walter Elwell, ed. (Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 1984), 566.

49 Ibid.

50 F.W. Farrar, History of Interpretation, 238 (cited in J. Dwight Pentecost, Things to Come (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1958), 23.

51 See C.C. Kroeger, "Origen" in Evangelical Dictionary of Theology, 803; Millard Erickson, Christian Theology, 1015.

52 Dockery, Christian Scripture, 122.

53 Ibid.

54 Gerald Stanton, Kept From the Hour (Miami Springs, FL: Schoettle Publishing, 4th ed. 1991), 148. Certainly, this was the view of the Reformers.

55 Dockery, Christian Scripture, 112-114.

56 Ibid, 115.

57 Ibid.

58 Schaff, History of the Christian Church, 614.

59 Ibid, 615.

60 Clement, "Epistle to the Corinthians" in The Ante-Nicene Fathers, 31.

61 Barnabas, "Epistle of Barnabas" in A. Roberts and J. Donaldson, eds., The Ante-Nicene Fathers [CD-ROM] (Albany, OR: Sage Software, 1996), 279.

62 Irenaeus, "Against Heresies" in The Ante-Nicene Fathers, 1165.

63 Polycarp, "Epistle to the Philippians" in The Ante-Nicene Fathers, 1996), 79.

64 Justin Martyr, "Dialogue with Trypho" in The Ante-Nicene Fathers, 479-480.

65 Schaff, 618.

66 Ibid.

67 Ibid, 618-19.

68 Ibid, 619.

69 Paul Johnson, A History of Christianity (New York: Athenium, 1976), 67.

70 Ibid, 76.

71 Ibid.

72 Quoted Ibid, 78.

73 Quoted Ibid, 79.

74 Ibid, 99.

75 Ibid, 80.

76 Ibid.

77 The City of God was written as a result of a state crisis -- the ransacking of Rome by Alaric in AD 410. John J. O’Meara, "Introduction" in An Augustinian Reader (New York: Image Books, 1973), 18.

78 F.W. Strothmann, "Introduction" to Augustine, On the Two Cities: Selections from The City of God (New York, Frederick Ungar Publishing, 1957), vi-vii.

79 Augustine, City of God, Great Books of the Western World ed. (Chicago: Encyclopedia Britannica, 1952), 535-543.

80 Augustine, City of God, 535.

81 At the council of Ephesus in 431, belief in the millennium was condemned as superstitious. See Robert G. Clouse, "Introduction" in The Meaning of the Millennium: Four Views, Robert Clouse, ed. (Downer’s Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1977), 9.

82 The Forty-First of the Anglical Articles drawn up by Cramner described the millennium in this fashion. See Schaff, 619, n.4. Similarly, the Augsburg Confession, Art. XVII., condemned those "who now scatter Jewish opinions that, before the resurrection of the dead, the godly shall occupy the kingdom of the world, the wicked being everywhere suppressed." See Philip Schaff, The Creeds of Christendom (Harper and Row, 1931, reprinted, Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 1996), III: 18.

83 See especially, Hal Lindsey, The 1980s: Countdown to Armageddon (New York: Bantam, 1980).

84 Roland H. Bainton, Here I Stand (Nashville: Abington Press, 1950), 144.