The Rise and Fall of Dispensationalism
How the Evangelical Battle over the End Times Shaped a Nation
Author Daniel G. Hummel Foreword by Mark A. Noll ISBN 9780802884862 Binding Trade Paper Publisher WM B. Eerdmans Publishing Company Publication Date January 02, 2025 Size 152 x 229 mm
A fascinating history of dispensationalism and its influence on popular culture, politics, and religion The Rise and Fall of Dispensationalism, Daniel G. Hummel illuminates how dispensationalism,
A fascinating history of dispensationalism and its influence on popular culture, politics, and religion
In The Rise and Fall of Dispensationalism, Daniel G. Hummel illuminates how dispensationalism, despite often being dismissed as a fringe end-times theory, shaped Anglo-American evangelicalism and the larger American cultural imagination.
Hummel locates dispensationalism’s origin in the writings of the nineteenth-century Protestant John Nelson Darby, who established many of the hallmarks of the movement, such as premillennialism and belief in the rapture. Though it consistently faced criticism, dispensationalism held populist, and briefly scholarly, appeal—visible in everything from turn-of-the-century revivalism to apocalyptic bestsellers of the 1970s to current internet conspiracy theories.
Measured and irenic, Hummel objectively evaluates evangelicalism’s most resilient and contentious popular theology. As the first comprehensive intellectual-cultural history of its kind, The Rise and Fall of Dispensationalism is a must-read for students and scholars of American religion.
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In The Rise and Fall of Dispensationalism, Daniel G. Hummel illuminates how dispensationalism, despite often being dismissed as a fringe end-times theory, shaped Anglo-American evangelicalism and the larger American cultural imagination.
Hummel locates dispensationalism’s origin in the writings of the nineteenth-century Protestant John Nelson Darby, who established many of the hallmarks of the movement, such as premillennialism and belief in the rapture. Though it consistently faced criticism, dispensationalism held populist, and briefly scholarly, appeal—visible in everything from turn-of-the-century revivalism to apocalyptic bestsellers of the 1970s to current internet conspiracy theories.
Measured and irenic, Hummel objectively evaluates evangelicalism’s most resilient and contentious popular theology. As the first comprehensive intellectual-cultural history of its kind, The Rise and Fall of Dispensationalism is a must-read for students and scholars of American religion.
Themelios
“Hummel’s book is breathtaking in its scope, written as much as a history of American culture as a work of historical theology. . . . The Rise and Fall of Dispensationalism is a monument to Hummel’s industry, spread across years and miles travelled.”
CHOICE
“This is a judicious treatment of dispensationalism, diminished as a theological school of thought but still part of American culture. . . . Recommended.”
The Christian Century
“Dispensationalism is a Christian theology which divides the history of the world into divinely ordained ages and which often looks forward to the end of all ages and the second coming of Jesus. Daniel Hummel tackles this enormous subject with consummate skill, producing the best study of dispensationalism in decades.”
Library Journal (starred review)
“This is an exceptional resource for readers looking to understand conservative Christianity. The book also illuminates much of U.S. religious history in general.”
“In this brilliant and original book, Daniel G. Hummel traces the extraordinary history of one of the most influential religious groups in modern American life. His research is impressive, his writing is sharp, and his arguments will transform what we think we know about American religious history. An impressive achievement!”
—Matthew Avery Sutton, author of Double Crossed: The Missionaries Who Spied for the United States during the Second World War
“Daniel Hummel has written the best and most comprehensive history of dispensationalist theology currently in existence. Combining impressive historical research with an exceptionally nuanced attention to theological developments, Hummel’s work offers a detailed, engagingly written historical survey of a movement that is often mentioned in studies of evangelical politics but rarely understood on its own terms. This is the book for people who want to go beyond the headlines to understand the long historical trajectory of the most influential end-times theology in American evangelicalism.”
—Daniel K. Williams, author of God's Own Party: The Making of the Christian Right
“A tremendous achievement, based on meticulous research and bold synthesis. Thanks to Dan Hummel, we can finally understand how these influential ideas moved through North American culture and politics.”
—Molly Worthen, associate professor of history, University of North Carolina
“As I write these words, I am looking at my bookshelf where I see a copy of the Scofield Reference Bible sitting next to my multivolume set of Lewis Sperry Chafer's theology and a few of the Left Behind novels. As someone whose teenage conversion to evangelical faith led him to study at a dispensationalist Bible college, I was reminded of my young-adult obsession with a brand of conservative Protestantism that shaped much of twentieth-century American evangelicalism. If you want to learn more about the evangelical fascination with the rapture, Israel, the antichrist, and the prophetic books of the Bible, The Rise and Fall of Dispensationalism is the place to start.”
—John Fea, distinguished professor of history, Messiah University and author of Believe Me: The Evangelical Road to Donald Trump
“Writing in the Trump moment when sweeping generalizations (and indictments) of evangelical populist thinking (and politics) easily prevail, Daniel Hummel takes the tougher route. With notable patience, careful attention to the granular as well as the big picture, and a sensitive touch with the pen, he guides readers through the centuries-long developments that saw a dissenting dispensationalist theology rise to the fore of mainstream evangelicalism and American apocalyptic culture. The result of his considerable efforts is a remarkably learned and readable book that surprises and entertains as well as enlightens.”
—Darren Dochuk, Andrew V. Tackes College Professor of History, University of Notre Dame
“Daniel Hummel has done us all a service by digging up the bones of a theological beast that left massive footprints across the land and then (all but) disappeared. Dispensationalism needs to be reckoned with. Its history of theological innovations, inclinations, obsessions, and curiosities is with us still, even if they’re just skeletons buried in the backyard. Hummel’s careful accounting and thoughtful interpretations are a gift to anyone trying to understand the contemporary landscape of ev
View Review quote
“Hummel’s book is breathtaking in its scope, written as much as a history of American culture as a work of historical theology. . . . The Rise and Fall of Dispensationalism is a monument to Hummel’s industry, spread across years and miles travelled.”
CHOICE
“This is a judicious treatment of dispensationalism, diminished as a theological school of thought but still part of American culture. . . . Recommended.”
The Christian Century
“Dispensationalism is a Christian theology which divides the history of the world into divinely ordained ages and which often looks forward to the end of all ages and the second coming of Jesus. Daniel Hummel tackles this enormous subject with consummate skill, producing the best study of dispensationalism in decades.”
Library Journal (starred review)
“This is an exceptional resource for readers looking to understand conservative Christianity. The book also illuminates much of U.S. religious history in general.”
“In this brilliant and original book, Daniel G. Hummel traces the extraordinary history of one of the most influential religious groups in modern American life. His research is impressive, his writing is sharp, and his arguments will transform what we think we know about American religious history. An impressive achievement!”
—Matthew Avery Sutton, author of Double Crossed: The Missionaries Who Spied for the United States during the Second World War
“Daniel Hummel has written the best and most comprehensive history of dispensationalist theology currently in existence. Combining impressive historical research with an exceptionally nuanced attention to theological developments, Hummel’s work offers a detailed, engagingly written historical survey of a movement that is often mentioned in studies of evangelical politics but rarely understood on its own terms. This is the book for people who want to go beyond the headlines to understand the long historical trajectory of the most influential end-times theology in American evangelicalism.”
—Daniel K. Williams, author of God's Own Party: The Making of the Christian Right
“A tremendous achievement, based on meticulous research and bold synthesis. Thanks to Dan Hummel, we can finally understand how these influential ideas moved through North American culture and politics.”
—Molly Worthen, associate professor of history, University of North Carolina
“As I write these words, I am looking at my bookshelf where I see a copy of the Scofield Reference Bible sitting next to my multivolume set of Lewis Sperry Chafer's theology and a few of the Left Behind novels. As someone whose teenage conversion to evangelical faith led him to study at a dispensationalist Bible college, I was reminded of my young-adult obsession with a brand of conservative Protestantism that shaped much of twentieth-century American evangelicalism. If you want to learn more about the evangelical fascination with the rapture, Israel, the antichrist, and the prophetic books of the Bible, The Rise and Fall of Dispensationalism is the place to start.”
—John Fea, distinguished professor of history, Messiah University and author of Believe Me: The Evangelical Road to Donald Trump
“Writing in the Trump moment when sweeping generalizations (and indictments) of evangelical populist thinking (and politics) easily prevail, Daniel Hummel takes the tougher route. With notable patience, careful attention to the granular as well as the big picture, and a sensitive touch with the pen, he guides readers through the centuries-long developments that saw a dissenting dispensationalist theology rise to the fore of mainstream evangelicalism and American apocalyptic culture. The result of his considerable efforts is a remarkably learned and readable book that surprises and entertains as well as enlightens.”
—Darren Dochuk, Andrew V. Tackes College Professor of History, University of Notre Dame
“Daniel Hummel has done us all a service by digging up the bones of a theological beast that left massive footprints across the land and then (all but) disappeared. Dispensationalism needs to be reckoned with. Its history of theological innovations, inclinations, obsessions, and curiosities is with us still, even if they’re just skeletons buried in the backyard. Hummel’s careful accounting and thoughtful interpretations are a gift to anyone trying to understand the contemporary landscape of ev
Table of Contents
Foreword by Mark A. Noll
Preface
Introduction
Part I: The New Premillennialists, 1830–1900
1. Across an Ocean
2. American Mission Field
3. Border-State Conversions
4. Numbers and Structures
5. Revival
6. The Premillennial Complex
Part II: The Dispensationalists, 1900–1960
7. Sprawl
8. Standard Text
9. The “World System” and War
10. Factions
11. Scholastic Dispensationalism
12. The Great Rift
13. Dispensational Politics
Part III: The Pop-Dispensationalists, 1960–2020
14. Pop Dispensationalism
15. The Great Rupture
16. The “Humanist Tribulation”
17. Saturation and Its Limits
18. Collapse
19. Surveying the Aftermath
Epilogue: Maranatha
Acknowledgments
Glossary
Bibliographic Essay
Index