Different views of the millennium

[cih1355]

Which books give the best defense of premillennialism, postmillennialism, and amillennialism? I am asking because I want to do a study on the different views of the millennium.

 

[Jimmy the Greek]

This is a fairly good introduction. Each view is presented by a notable proponent and then critiqued by the other three. The "fourth" view results from a distinction between dispensational and historic premillennialism.

Amazon.com: The Meaning of the Millennium: Four Views: George Eldon Ladd, Robert G. Clouse, Anthony A. Hoekema: Books

 

[nicnap]

Premil- Ladd
Amil- Horton
Postmil- Scripture


















sorry, couldn't resist.

 

[CNJ]

Mr. Hayashida:
Within each camp there are variations.
* I like Ladd's The Blessed Hope and The Gospel of the Kingdom for the Historical Premillennialist view.
* I have a lot of issues with Dispensational Premillennialism and so can't recommend a "left behind" book to you, but I can recommend you read Mathison's Dispensationalism: Rightly Dividing the People of God.
* For Partial Preterism/Postmillennialism I would recommend Gentry's Before Jerusalem Fell, Gentry's Revelation Made Simple and Mathison's Postmillennialism: An Escatology of Hope. I honestly am leaning towards this view which my pastor has preached on extensively.
* For studying amil I recommend A Case for Amillennialism: Understanding the End Times by Kim Riddlebarger.
* In addition to the 1977 The Meaning of the Millennium: Four Views mentioned above, you can look at the 1999 Three Views on the Millennium and Beyond.

There is a wealth of resources on Millennial Dreams
where contributors began discussing these views very recently. You are welcome to follow that blog or join as an author.

 

[Calvin'scuz]

Mr. Hayashida:
Within each camp there are variations.
* I like Ladd's The Blessed Hope and The Gospel of the Kingdom for the Historical Premillennialist view.
* I have a lot of issues with Dispensational Premillennialism and so can't recommend a "left behind" book to you, but I can recommend you read Mathison's Dispensationalism: Rightly Dividing the People of God.
* For Partial Preterism/Postmillennialism I would recommend Gentry's Before Jerusalem Fell, Gentry's Revelation Made Simple and Mathison's Postmillennialism: An Escatology of Hope. I honestly am leaning towards this view which my pastor has preached on extensively.
* For studying amil I recommend A Case for Amillennialism: Understanding the End Times by Kim Riddlebarger.
* In addition to the 1977 The Meaning of the Millennium: Four Views mentioned above, you can look at the 1999 Three Views on the Millennium and Beyond.

There is a wealth of resources on Millennial Dreams
where contributors began discussing these views very recently. You are welcome to follow that blog or join as an author.

These are all very good books covering aspects of the different millennial views. I would also highly recommend Boettner's "The Millennium" for a very clear explanation of the postmil view, and Gentry's "He Shall Have Dominion" for more of the same (Gentry's HSHD is done with a reconstructionist bent, so keep that in mind).

 

[DMcFadden]

In addition to the excellent suggestions already mentioned, Basic Guide to Eschatology, A: Making Sense of the Millennium (Paperback) by Millard J. Erickson (Author). Erickson is very good and fair.

A recent book on the historic premil view is Case for Historic Premillennialism, A: An Alternative to "Left Behind" Eschatology (Paperback) by Blomberg, Craig L., & Sung Wook Chung.

In addition to the full scale Promise of the Future by Venema, his more recent Christ and the Future is quite good and accessible.

My favorite on the amil side is still Riddlebarger.

 

[CharlieJ]

I think it's only fair to read some Dispensational work by Dispensationalists. The Rapture Question or The Final Drama by John Walvoord would be a good place to start. The Basis of the Premillennial Faith by Charles Ryrie is an excellent reference source, since he explains Dispensational Premillennialism from the lenses of both biblical and systematic theology. A more advanced work would be Dwight Pentecost's Things to Come, though he is eccentric on some things, even for a Dispensationalist.