by Michael Loomis
Preterism...A strange and almost scary sounding word for someone that has never heard it before. What is preterism? "Preterism is a variant of Christian eschatology which holds that some or all of the biblical prophecies concerning the Last Days or End Times as referring to events which already happened in the first century after Christ's birth...The term preterism comes from the Latin praeter, meaning "past". Adherents of Preterism are known as Preterists." Source: "Preterism" at www.en.wikipedia.com
Example...A preterist would understand the events described in the book of Revelation to be an oracle against Jerusalem that was delivered to the apostle John through an apocalyptic vision while he was in exile on the island of Patmos during the reign of Caeser Nero, shortly before the fall of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. For a detailed and historical account of this event consider reading Flavius Josephus' "Wars of the Jews." Similar oracles can also be found throughout the Hebrew Bibles prophets relating to judgments of God where He uses one nations armies as His divine instrument of wrath upon another nation.
Preterism in the form in which it has grown today is relatively new on the scene when one considers nearly 2000 years of Church history. As we examine writings dating as far back as the Epistle of Barnabas in the 1st century to the early Church fathers from about 100-500 A.D. and modern day commentators up to about the middle of the 20th century, we can see that every detail and aspect of preterism has been understood at least in part. Did any one individual put all the pieces together as a whole? Not that I am aware of. However if one were to look at the writings of commentators like Matthew Henry with his partial preterist understanding of Matthew 24, to people like C.H. Spurgeon that understood that we are now in the New Heavens and the New Earth, to people like J.S. Russell that are what is called a 7th Seal Preterist. Clearly an upward growth in understanding a fulfilled view of eschatology has been taking place over the last 500 years.
But what was it that caused this progression and growth in an understanding of preterism? Well...I would like to suggest that it was a result of Gutenberg's printing press in the 1400's and the Christian Bible being made available to a much broader audience than had happened in the first 1400 years of Christiandom. No longer would the Bible only be found chained to a pulpit written in a language that only a limited few could understand. It's no wonder we see in the centuries that followed commentary by the likes of John Gill, Matthew Henry, Jonathan Edwards and Adam Clarke that have presented a more organized, systematic and growing preteristic understanding of Christian eschatology. Were they preterist? No...Partial preterist maybe...But fully preteristic? No. However, a clear progression in understanding of fulfilled prophecy was beginning to foment over the centuries following the advent of the printing press. Source: "2000 Years of Preterism" at www.preteristchurch.com
So even though there was an increase in printed materials being made available to the common people in their local vernacular, there was still a lack of literacy that had a limiting affect. That is until the 19th century.
"The rate of literacy increased astoundingly during the 19th century. In America, millions of children learned with the McGuffey Reader, classic textbooks published throughout the 1800s. In other countries, public schools increased literacy. And innovations in printing technology meant that newspapers, magazines, and books were widely available for the first time in history." Source: "Spread of Literacy" at www.about.com
Further research also indicates that world wide illiteracy has halved between the years 1970 and 2005. Source: "Literacy" at www.en.wikipedia.org
And so I ask the question...Should we be surprised that over the last two centuries, and even more so over the last 40 years that we have seen a steady growth in understanding of a fulfilled view of Bible prophecy?
Let us now consider another invention that over the last 40 years has also had an impact on the growth of knowledge and understanding.
In 1969 ARPA (Advanced Research Projects Agency) goes online in December, connecting four major U.S. universities. Designed for research, education, and government organizations, it provides a communications network linking the country in the event that a military attack destroys conventional communications systems.
As well, in 1989 the World (world.std.com) debuts as the first provider of dial-up Internet access for consumers. Tim Berners-Lee of CERN (European Laboratory for Particle Physics) develops a new technique for distributing information on the Internet. He calls it the World Wide Web. The Web is based on hypertext, which permits the user to connect from one document to another at different sites on the Internet via hyperlinks (specially programmed words, phrases, buttons, or graphics). Unlike other Internet protocols, such as FTP and email, the Web is accessible through a graphical user interface.
Move forward to 1996. Approximately 45 million people are using the Internet, with roughly 30 million of those in North America (United States and Canada), 9 million in Europe, and 6 million in Asia/Pacific (Australia, Japan, etc.). 43.2 million (44%) U.S. households own a personal computer, and 14 million of them are online. Source: Internet Timeline" at www.factmonster.com
And as of January 2009, using various statistics, Advanced Micro Devices estimated the population of internet users to be 1.5 billion. Source: "Internet" at www.en.wikipedia.org
Something else very significant happened in October of 1996. The Preterist Archive was born. Solely owned and operated by Todd Dennis. Originally the site was limited to a meager 2 Megabytes of storage space. Today it has grown well beyond it's initial offerings to be a vast repository of writings, claiming to be, "The only balanced look at preterist eschatology" on the internet. And as of it's 10th anniversary in 2006, the site was receiving upwards of 1.5 million hits per month.
On a side note, I've been fortunate enough to get to know Todd on a personal level over the last few years and have seen first hand his desire to make information on preterist eschatology available to the whole wide world, no matter what the cost. Back in late 2006, Todd and I had arranged to go to a book store located in Pasadena California called, "The Archive." No connection to The Preterist Archive. Just a strange coincidence I guess you could say. After spending a couple of hours browsing through the incredible and seemingly unending selection of Christian works both new and used we took our selections to the clerk to make our purchases. As my transaction was being finalized, Todd's face lit up like a kid in a candy store when he saw the collection of antique leather bound books located on the wall behind the counter. The clerk asked him if he wanted to take a look. Without hesitation Todd swiftly made his way behind the counter and started browsing through the books one after the other. And then he stopped. His eyes focused in on a relatively small and rather plain looking book. A first edition of "The Truth of the Christian Religion" by Hugo Grotius, translated from the Latin by Jean LeClerc from 1709. Measuring at best 5 x 7 x 1.5 inches thick. Todd carefully removed this relatively tiny treasure from the shelf and as he began to open it, you could hear the age of this book as its spine made noises like an old man with a sore back in the morning after a rough nights sleep.
Todd's face lit up like a child on Christmas morning. He knew exactly what this book was. The author, Hugo Grotius had long been credited as being the first author to openly adopt the preterist view. This title was among many of the long forgotten books that Todd had spent many years looking for. A book that he thought would only ever be confined to the dusty corners of attics and quiet university libraries where most would likely never have access to it much less desire to. As he was carefully turning the pages he asked the clerk how much it would cost to take this book home today. 120 dollars he said. And without even a second thought Todd secured this small, almost forgotten, pocket sized book from 1709 that clearly demonstrated an early growth in understanding of preterist eschatology and was willing to if necessary break the binding on it so that it could be scanned and posted on the Preterist Archive. Made available for the whole wide world to see for many generations to come at the click of a mouse. A relatively small price to pay considering some of the other titles he's secured from half way around the world with sellers asking upwards of 2500 dollars. To read more about and see pictures of this book go to: http://www.preteristarchive.com
As of today, Todd no longer considers himself a preterist. This is not to say that he has regressed to a formerly held view of futurism as has recently gained some momentum and popularity as a fringe movement but rather that preterism was just a stepping stone along the way to a fuller understanding found in a view known as Idealism in which physical/temporal fulfillments were simply signs pointing to a greater heavenly, spiritual and eternal reality. For more information on Todd's research and his understanding of Christian Idealism go to: http://www.idealistarchive.com
And so preterism as we know and understand it today is something that is relatively new on the scene in relation to nearly 2000 years of what Church history has proclaimed regarding Biblical eschatology. Should this be of any surprise to any diligent student of the Bible? Not if you consider how relatively unavailable access to information has been over the last 2000 years coupled with a relatively recent explosion in literacy and access to information world wide over the last 200 years. Is preterism as we understand it today the final word in what has taken us almost 2000 years to achieve in understanding? Probably not and I caution anyone that thinks that it is to be very careful with such an inflexible point of view. Is it a step in the right direction? This author would like to think that it is. And it is my hope that the same spirit that has caused us to dig deeper and look further would continue to work in the hearts and minds of future generations as they continue to explore the depth and breadth of what a fulfilled view of eschatology also known as preterism might do to better help people understand what lies within the pages of the Bible.
Originally posted at www.michaeljloomis.com on 07/07/2009
