by postodave » February 18th, 2008, 10:27 pm
The interesting thing about dispensationalism is that it is not so much concerned with life after death let alone with life after life after death as with what happens immediately before the end. The result is that while eschatology has traditionally been about the four last things: death, judgment, heaven and hell to many modern evangelicals it is really about a series of events that take place at the end of history. What Wright and a number of others have done is to point out that many of the texts that are taken to refer to those events are actually about events that took place back in the first century. I find that interpretation much more plausible than the dispensational one.
As for Christian Zionism: this goes back a long way. Ever since John Nelson Darby proposed the dispensational scheme back in 1830 his followers have been manipulating history to fulfil prophecy. That sounds an astonishing claim but I can back it up with evidence and I am convonced that without this manipulation the modern state of Israel would not exist.
Whether a particular belief about the afterlife, rather than about the end of history or the furure of the Church in this age has political consequences as Wright claims I, like Ben, am less sure. I do believe, and I am sure this has political consequences that part of our purpose in this life is to work to redeem this fallen world.
So I drew my sword and got ready
But the lamb ran away with the crown
