Book Review: Rapture Fiction and the Evangelical Crisis
Crawford Gribben | 2006 | $10.00 (Amazon.com)
Introduction
Recently I stumbled across an intriguing book entitled Rapture Fiction: And The Evangelical Crisis. Admittedly, I have a high interest in eschatology and the title grabbed my attention. That along with limited exposure to the author’s other publications, of which I have greatly enjoyed and benefited from, piqued my curiosity. Crawford Gribben is an accomplished and trustworthy historian who has written much on issues related to church history, especially in the Reformed and Calvinistic tradition. Particularly valuable are his published works on Puritan millennialism and historical-biographical work on the preemminent John Owen. But when I saw this particular title, I knew I had to get it. Yes, and I am not ashamed to say it: Rapture Fiction was an impulsive purchase, but not one that I regret!
This review is aimed at offering a brief sketch of Rapture Fiction and then providing a few concluding comments and observations. To begin, Rapture Fiction is relatively short—only 118 pages in length (and I managed to read it within just two days time). The material is organized into 7 managable chapters, a bonus for those with limited reading time. The back cover of the book provides a brief helpful synopsis of what the reader can expect:
This book describes and assesses the best-selling novels in early twenty-first century America - a series of evangelical apocalyptic novels that has sold over 60 million copies since 1995. No-one can doubt the series’ success, but many are challenging their representation of the gospel … This book is written with the concern that rapture novels might be a much less reliable guide to the Christian gospel than their many millions of readers (from the back cover).
Before moving into the summary, as a reviewer I should say a brief word about myself and my perspective on the issues discussed below. I was a raised in a Christian home in the 1990s and early 2000s, and I remember very well a fascination with “the rapture” which came baked into standard evangelical, American Christianity. As a boy, I remember the Y2K craze at the turn of the century which incited all sorts of speculative rumors about the end of the world, technology, and the future. Interstingly enough, though, I never actually read any of the Left Behind novels by Tim LaHaye or Hal Lindsey’s blockbuster best seller The Late Great Planet Earth.
To be sure, I was taught to believe in the rapture of the church and the future earthly millennial reign of Christ following the Great Tribulation, but thankfully it never took the driver’s seat in our home (at least so far as I can remember). Mostly, those things were just presented as basic Christian doctrines (I do not ever remember being directly taught the terminology ‘dispensational premillennialism’ or ‘dispensationalism’). And, for quite some time, I received and believed these doctrines as such. But though I do not now personally confess these doctrines (I instead affirm a Reformed amillennialism1), I am nonetheless sympathetic to those who do. But despite my sympathies with dispensational brothers and sisters in Christ, I agree with Gribben and his critiques of the errant rapture and end-times theology commonly propounded in the modern ‘rapture fiction’ novels and movies.
Book Summary
Right away, Gribben eases the mind of the reader in the Preface by saying he has not written the book in order to refute or attack dispensational premillennialism in general—the theological system most commonly identified with ‘rapture theology’ in modern times (12-13). This is certainly commendable as the title Rapture Fiction might be off-putting to those already sympathetic to rapture theology (and, depending on your own background, you yourself may have had a visceral, defensive reaction when you read the title of this very review). Though Gribben does speak negatively about dispensationalism at times in the book, his chief concern is the intersection of this new genre of pop-level fiction and its presentation of the biblical gospel of salvation in Jesus Christ (12).
Chapter 1 briefly traces the modern history of the doctrine of the rapture, and Gribben rightly connects its popularity to the writings of nineteenth and twentieth-century dispensational theologians. In modern times, this doctrine was codifed and assimilated into American evangelicalism with the arrival of C. I. Scofield’s wildly popular study bible in the early 20th century. And Gribben argues that this doctrine became accepted in American evangelical theology by the mid-twentieth century (24). The impact of Scofield’s system and study notes was almost immediately nation-wide.
Gribben goes back even further in chapter 2, all the way back to the eighteenth century with Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland and a man named John Nelson Darby. Societal and political turmoil sent Irish Christians of this day back to the Bible to see what the future had in store. Gribben notes that Trinity College was at this point steeped in a form of “post-millennialism” (Christ would return after or at the end of the milllenium).2 But the uncertainty of the day gave way to a renewed interest in “pre-millennialism” (32). In modern times, the two-stage return of Christ and rapture of the church is often attributed solely to the theological innovations of J. N. Darby, but Gribben shows that Darby was himself influenced by others before him who were promoting these doctrines, one of whom was a Jesuit theologian named Manuel Lacunza whose writings later influenced the famous Edward Irving (38). But Gribben notes that the dispensationalism which began with Darby and his ‘Brethren’ movement in the 1830s began to change as it grew and developed into the twentieth century and beyond.3
In chapter 3, Gribben provides a history of the genre of ‘rapture fiction’ most commonly associated with best-selling authors like Hal Lindsey, Tim LaHaye, and Jerry Jenkins. But Gribben shows that dispensational ‘rapture fiction’ novels can be traced at least as far back as 1905 to a man named Sydney Watson (46). Watson published several books between 1910 and 1920 which lamented the moral degradation of society. This “social pessimism” is characteristic of the genre itself (48). Gribben notes that one of Watson’s novels was dedicated to the late Rev. G. Campbell Morgan (who, I might add, was later succeeded by the Rev. D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones).4 The rest of the chapter traces a lengthy connection between Watson’s novels and the late 20th century novels which are so well-known today. But Gribben concludes rather keenly that,
Disaster fictions always sell, and the reason they sell … is that evangelicals have lost the capacity to judge whether the novels’ theological presuppositions are actually true. … The history of rapture fiction demonstrates that it’s not easy to say something new about the end of the world—and proves that evangelicals will buy almost anything (63).
In chapters 4 and 5, Gribben offers an insightful critique of the modern-day Left Behind novels. After giving a few positive comments (and there are certainly some good things to say), he identifies several important theological missteps which lead ultimately to getting the gospel wrong. Among other things, he claims that the novels do not acurately portray the absolute sovereignty of God in salvation; they portray a misguided understanding of conversion by emphasizing the popular evangelistic methodology known as the ‘sinner’s prayer;’ they promote an alleged ‘second chance’ for salvation after the so-called ‘Rapture of the church;’ and they even seem to imply a vague form of baptismal regeneration at times. Gribben addresses other important weaknesses like an inadequate understanding of the church and its worship, the relationship of the church to the world, and the Christian life in general. Gribben notes the chief failure of the novels is finding adequate biblical basis for much of what they assume as theologically true. He argues “that the Left Behind novels are seriously deficient in their views of the church and the Christian life, and that they exemplify the common evangelical failing of substituting an alternative human authority for the authority of God’s law” (97).
Chapter 6 contrasts the weaknesses of Left Behind and ‘rapture eschatology’ with an appeal to a better and more biblical eschatology. But Gribben goes on to assert that even though the novels’ eschtology is lack-luster, the more pressing issue is the way they get the gospel wrong. Getting the gospel right is certainly far more important than disagreement over details surrounding the end-times, though, of course, we should never devalue or minimize the importance of a sound eschtology. But Gribben says that the success of ‘rapture fiction’ novels has demostrated the ultimate failure of evangelicalism at large in that they accurately describe what is widely accepted as good and true about the gospel and the end-times, which itself is concerning to say the least (109-110). Gribben concludes that the novels, and the broader evangelical world who consumed them by the millions, need theological reformation that will return to what the Bible truly teaches about the return of Christ.
Gribben’s final chapter, chapter 7, summarizes a more biblical approach to both the gospel itself and eschatology. He presents a proper understanding of justification by faith alone in Christ alone which leads to a proper and biblical understanding of our future ‘blessed hope’ in public vindication of our justification on the Last Day (114); a proper understanding of present kingdom citizienship for all who are saved in union with Christ (115); a proper understanding of the church and an emphasis on its new covenant ordinances of baptism and the Lord’s Supper as the ordinary means of grace for all Christians (115-116); and a proper understanding of the Christian life, along with the biblical call to good works in the power of gospel grace. Gribben ultimately says that Bible calls us to await the ‘blessed hope’ of the return of Christ while giving ourselves completely to the constant reformation and renewal of his bride, the church, while living as beacons of hope and light within the world (117-118).
Gribben closes his book with a apt words:
Evangelicalism is in crisis; but the doctrine of the Second Coming, better understood, is not a cause of the current malaise. Jesus Christ is returning, and he will not be disappointed. In the midst of the darkness of ecclesiastical decay, the returning merchant discovers a ‘pearl of great price’, which he sells everything to possess (Matt. 13:45-46). The pearl is the church; the merchant the Savior; and the call for reformation is clear… (118).
Conclusion
Before we go, this review would not be complete without a few comments and observations. First, I mentioned at beginning, appreciated Gribben’s restraint in speaking unecessarily harsh ways against dispensationalism as a whole. To be sure, I personally do not affirm dispensationalism, and this book caught my eye in part for that very reason. But Gribben is warm and easy to read, and he is careful to avoid an uncessarily serated edge in his critiques. Second, I am thankful that Gribben is also forthright and candid when he needs to be while identifying real and consequetial issues within the ‘rapture fiction’ world. The reader is sure to come away with much to consider, and maybe even things to reconsider after being confronted with Gribben’s analysis. Third, I would recommand this book to all those interested in end-times theology because Gribben puts his finger on a critical artery of modern and popular evangelical theology. Whether or not one agrees with all of Gribben’s analysis, his general concern is hardly debateable when considering the faithful, biblical teaching on both the gospel and the end-times. Fourth, I realize I am writing this review almost twenty years after Gribben orginially published his book. Knowing that may make the book irrelevant to some. But I would argue just the opposite. American evangelicalism in many ways still swims in the pool of ‘rapture fiction’ eschtology, and churches all around the country are filled with Christians who have likely inadvertantly and uncritically adopted this way of thinking. Gribben’s book serves as a gentle wake-up call. The fact that ‘rapture fiction’ has been so widely accepted speaks volumes about the sad state of contemporary American evangelical theology in general, as Gribben himself laments.
Finally, I am thankful I took the risk of purchasing a book that I knew nothing about basically ‘sight-unseen’. I don’t personally know anyone who has read it, and I have never heard anyone refer to it or cite it in a footnote. But, in conlcusion, it is my opinion that this little book is well worth a read, and Christians of all stripes can find it helpful to one degree or another, if they will lay aside their presuppositions long enough to hear Gribben out. Until Christ returns, Christians will always be debating the controversial details of eschatology, but that doesn’t give us an excuse to uncritically believe and absorb bad theology. It also does not give liscense, in mu opnion, for eschatological agnosticism—otherwise known rather humorously as ‘pan-millennialism’ (these folks say something like, “It’ll all ‘pan out’ in the end…”). Furthermore, and more importantly, the gospel is worth getting right, and Gribben has ably demonstrated that the ‘rapture fiction’ genre has gotten the gospel wrong, and that should be reason enough for modern American evangelicalism to rethink its now decades-long obession with it.
For anyone interested in learning more about “amillennialism,” Kim Riddlebarger’s website is a great place to begin. You can find him at The Riddleblog. His bible study podcast The Blessed Hope Podcast is especially good. An oustanding book on this subject has recently been published on the subject by Sam Waldron, titled The Doctrine of the Last Things.
Technically, amillennialism is a form of post-millennialism in the most basic sense of the term. I generally affirm what commonly known today as amillennialism.
I read somewhere, but I cannot remember where, that toward the end of his life G. Campbell Morgan eventually shed dispensationalism but retained an advocacy for premillennialism.