The Dispensational-Covenantal Rift

by Mangum, R. Todd; Burns, J. Lanier

• ISBN13: 9781556354823
• ISBN10: 1556354827
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2007-06-01
• Publisher: Wipf & Stock Pub

Summary

This groundbreaking study explores how the fight between dispensationalists and covenant theologians started and how a unique dynamic of personalities and sociological factors enflamed it. Readers may be surprised to discover that even the terminology of dispensationalists and covenant theologians originated in the 1930s' disputes; that the majority of the original protagonists on both sides were Presbyterians; and that soteriology, rather than eschatology, was the original bone of contention between them. This study examines how two respective strands of fundamentalism came to identify one another as theological rivals as they each vied for position in their recently formed separatist bodies. The significance of disagreements over dispensationalism is explored in the founding of the Orthodox Presbyterian and Bible Presbyterian churches. And then, as the debate traveled southward, the response of the PCUS is examined, with special attention given to the consummative reports of an ad hoc committee that found dispensationalism to be out of harmony with the Westminster doctrinal standards. Significant misunderstandings that impeded fruitful dialogue from the beginning are clarified, particularly those that have persisted most stubbornly to the present day. Perhaps most surprising of all, the reader will discover that nearly all of the original points of debate between dispensationalists and covenant theologians have since been resolved, as each side has honed its position in light of pertinent critiques. Why has this development gone almost unnoticed? This study suggests an answer, and proposes that understanding how the feud began may hold the key to rapprochement today.

Table of Contents

Foreword	p. xi
Preface	p. xiii
List of Abbreviations	p. xv
Mapping Fault Lines in Twentieth-Century Evangelicalism	p. 1
The Need for this Study	p. 2
The Thesis and Approach of this Study	p. 19
The Fracturing of the Fundamentalist Coalition	p. 25
Two "Fundamentalisms" Emerge from the Modernist-Fundamentalist Controversies	p. 26
The Rift Over Premillennialism in the Orthodox Presbyterian Church	p. 32
After-shocks from the Modernist-Fundamentalist Earthquake: The Collision of Two Conservative Agendas	p. 43
Hairline Fractures in the Premillennialist Coalition	p. 63
A Seismogram of Late-1930s American Evangelicalism	p. 65
Conflicting Understandings of Orthodoxy	p. 65
Conflicting Understandings of Premillennialism and Dispensationalism	p. 72
The Significance of J. Oliver Buswell's Analysis of the Controversy over Dispensational Premillennialism	p. 82
The Tremors Travel Southward (Part 1): The Context of the Controversy Over Dispensationalism in the PCUS	p. 95
Dispensationalism in the Crossfire of Southern Presbyterian "Conservatism" and "Liberalism"	p. 97
The Inquiry from the Presbytery of North Alabama	p. 117
The Tremors Travel Southward (Part 2): The Investigation of Dispensationalism by the PCUS Ad Interim Committee on Changes in the Confession of Faith and Catechisms	p. 125
The Ad Interim Committee on Changes in the Confession of Faith and Catechisms	p. 125
The Committee's Initial Report on Dispensationalism and Its Consignment to a Reconstituted Committee	p. 128
The Unanimous Findings of the Committee's Final Report and Its Adoption by the General Assembly	p. 156
Significant Implications of the PCUS Decision Against Dispensationalism	p. 165
A Concluding Analysis of the Controversies Over Dispensationalism and Covenant Theology in the 1930s-1940s	p. 175
The Points at Issue	p. 175
Significant Misunderstandings and Mistakes	p. 176
By Dispensationalists	p. 176
By Covenant Theologians	p. 197
Conclusion: Is It Safe Today to Build on the Old Fault Lines?	p. 210
The Data Regarding the Denominational Affiliation of Students at Dallas Theological Seminary (1924-1995)	p. 213
The Data Regarding the Denominational Affiliation of Faculty at Dallas Theological Seminary (1924-1995)	p. 217
Copy of Eugene W. McLaurin, A Suggested Report of the Ad Interim Committee on Changes in the Confession of Faith and Catechisms with Regard to the "Question as to Whether the Type of Bible Interpretation Known as 'Dispensationalism' is in Harmony with the Confession of Faith" (Austin, TX: Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary, 1942)	p. 219
Copy of the Original Report of the 1943 PCUS Ad Interim Committee on Changes in the Confession of Faith and Catechisms as to Whether the Type of Bible Interpretation Known as "Dispensationalism" is in Harmony with the Confession of Faith p233
Copy of the Original Report of the 1944 PCUS Ad Interim Committee on Changes in the Confession of Faith and Catechisms as to Whether the Type of Bible Interpretation Known as "Dispensationalism" is in Harmony with the Confession of Faith p241
The Members of the 1943 and 1944 Ad Interim Committees on Changes in the Confession of Faith and Catechisms	p. 246
Bibliography	p. 247
Index	p. 307
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.