Which is the Oldest Approach to Interpreting Revelation? Part 2

Originally published by Discern the Meaning.

Modern scholarship is also in agreement on the origins of Preterism and Futurism. It is acknowledged that they were both products of the sixteenth century, Roman Catholic Counter-Reformation, invented as attempts to deflect criticism of the Catholic Church. Bigalke notes the sixteenth century Jesuit Francisco Ribera “is generally credited with the origin of the futurist view as a Catholic response to the historicism of the Reformers”,[1] and DeRoo says Futurism was “inaugurated by Francisco Ribera”.[2]Likewise, Gabalch says Preterism was the invention of Alcazar, “as a defense against the historicist views of Martin Luther and other Reformers”,[3] Collins says Preterism was “introduced by the Spanish Jesuit, Alcasar”,[4] and Bigalke identifies the sixteenth century Jesuit Alcazar as the author of “The first systematic presentation of the preterist viewpoint”.[5]

[1] Francisco Ribera of Salmanca, Spain, is generally credited with the origin of the futurist view as a Catholic response to the historicism of the Reformers.”, Ron J. Bigalke Jr., “The Revival of Futurist Interpretation Following the Reformation,” Journal of Dispensational Theology Volume 13 13, no. 38 (2009): 48.[2] Neal DeRoo, “Phenomenology as Eschatological Materialism,” The Journal of the Faculty of Religious Studies 39 (2011): 139–40.[3]“The initiation of this futurist view is credited to Spanish Jesuit Francisco Ribera (1537-1591), who developed it as a defense against the historicist views of Martin Luther and other Reformers who strongly identified the papacy with the Antichrist.”, Wilfried E. Glabach, Reclaiming the Book of Revelation: A Suggestion of New Readings in the Local Church (Peter Lang, 2007), 12.[4] “As indicated above, the preterist school introduced by the Spanish Jesuit, Alcazar, was taken up by the German scholar, Hugo Grotius, and the German rationalists.”, Oral E. Collins, The Final Prophecy of Jesus: An Introduction, Analysis, and Commentary on the Book of Revelation (Wipf and Stock Publishers, 2007), 483.[5] “The first systematic presentation of the preterist viewpoint originated in the early seventeenth century with Alcazar, a Jesuit friar, whose work was not free from controversial bias.”, Merrill C. Tenney, Interpreting Revelation (Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 1988), 136.