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The Millennial Maze: Sorting Out Evangelical Options

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Jesus is coming back! On this issue Evangelicals are united. But ask, "When will he return? Before or after the millennium? What will the millennium be like? What exactly is our hope?" and you enter a bewildering maze of options all claiming to be the right one. In this book Stanley J. Grenz provides historical and biblical, as well as theological, perspective on the four major positions held by evangelicals--postmillennialism, dispensational premillennialism, historic premillennialism and amillennialism. Assessing the strengths and weaknesses of each position, he seeks to cut a new path through the maze that reaffirms the valid insights of each and sounds a fresh note of hope in an age of shattered illusions. As an added bonus readers will find that Grenz takes note of some of the latest development in dialog between dispensationalists and covenant theologians. The result has been some modifications in long-held positions that have brought the two groups closer together.

239 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 1992

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About the author

Stanley J. Grenz

54 books33 followers
Stanley James Grenz was born in Alpena, Michigan on January 7, 1950. He was the youngest of three children born to Richard and Clara Grenz, a brother to Lyle and Jan. His dad was a Baptist pastor for 30 years before he passed away in 1971. Growing up as a “pastor’s kid” meant that he moved several times in his life, from Michigan, to South Dakota, North Dakota, Montana and Colorado.

After high school Stan began his undergraduate studies in 1968 with the idea that he would become a nuclear physicist. But God had other plans for him, and in 1971, while driving home to Colorado after a visit with his parents in Oklahoma, he received a definite call into full time Christian ministry.

In 1970-1971 Stan traveled in an evangelistic youth team where he met Edna Sturhahn (from Vancouver, BC), who then became his wife in December, 1971. Both Stan and Edna completed their undergraduate degrees at the University of Colorado and Stan went on to receive his M. Div from Denver Seminary in 1976, the same year in which he was ordained into the gospel ministry. During the years of study in Colorado he served as a youth pastor and an assistant pastor. From Denver, Stan and Edna moved to Munich, Germany where Stan completed his Doctor of Theology under the mentorship of Wolfhart Pannenberg. Their son, Joel was born in Munich in 1978.

During a two-year pastorate (1979-1981) in Winnipeg, MB, where daughter Corina was born, Stan also taught courses at the University of Winnipeg and at Winnipeg Theological Seminary (now Providence Seminary). His full time teaching career began at the North American Baptist Seminary in Sioux Falls, SD (1981-1990). Those years were followed by a twelve-year (1990-2002) position as Pioneer McDonald Professor of Baptist Heritage, Theology and Ethics at Carey Theological College and at Regent College in Vancouver, BC. From 1996 to 1999 he carried an additional appointment as Professor of Theology and Ethics (Affiliate) at Northern Baptist Theological Seminary, Lombard IL. After a one-year sojourn as Distinguished Professor of Theology at Baylor University and Truett Seminary in Waco, TX (2002-2003), he returned to Carey in August 2003. In fall 2004, he assumed an additional appointment as Professor of Theological Studies at Mars Hill Graduate School, Seattle WA.

Stan has authored or co-authored twenty-five books, served as editor or co-editor for two Festschriften, contributed articles to more than two dozen other volumes, and has seen to print more than a hundred essays and an additional eighty book reviews. He had plans to write many more books. Two more of his books will appear in print within the next year.

In addition to writing and lecturing all around the world, Stan loved preaching. He admitted to “breaking into preaching” in some of his lectures. He served as interim pastor of several congregations and as guest preacher in many churches. He loved the Church, both locally and worldwide.

Stan wholeheartedly supported and encouraged his wife Edna in her pastoral ministry, her studies and in the enlargement of her ministry gifts. At First Baptist Church, he played the guitar and trumpet in the worship team and sang in the choir. He was proud of his children and their spouses, Joel and Jennifer and Corina and Chris, and delighted in his new granddaughter, Anika. Stan was a friend and mentor to many, always encouraging people to strive to new heights.

As a theologian for the Church Stan wrote from the deep, interior vision of the sure hope that we would enter into the community of God in the renewed creation. He articulated the reality of this new community as the compass for Christian theology: 'Now the dwelling of God is with human beings, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.' (Rev. 21:3

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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
Profile Image for Isaiah Bennett.
31 reviews2 followers
September 1, 2023
If you are looking for a book that reasonably lays out each of the different views on the millennium, this is the book to read. Grenz clearly explains the biblical reasonings for each view and offers different counterarguments to each view. He does such a good job of representing every view I had a hard time figuring out which view he holds to.

I appreciate his last chapter where he reminds the reader that the main point of eschatology is not necessarily to predict the chronology of Jesus' return, rather it's to live our lives now in anticipation of Christ's return. This should prompt us to have a zeal for evangelism and living holy lives.

And if you're curious - I remain a historic premillennialist.
Profile Image for William Schrecengost.
907 reviews33 followers
July 15, 2020
A really good book on the different views of the millennium. I liked how he critiqued the positions from the perspectives of the other positions. He also gave a good history of the Millennial views of the church.
76 reviews2 followers
July 30, 2010
My hope in reading this book was to get a balanced and clear explanation of the three primary millenial views in Christianity (pre-mil, post-mil, and amillenial). Though raised in a dispensational, pre-mil background, in the past couple years I have been re-evaluating what I have learned in the areas of eschatology, and I hoped this book might be helpful in better understanding the various views.

The Millenial Maze met my expectation in most areas.
First, it was balanced. This is one of the most difficult things to find in books about eschatology, because usually the author is (understandably,no matter how objective he/she claims to be), trying to persuade you of their view. In this book, Grenz is fairly balanced, and though I believe his inclination is discernible, his treatment of each view seems fair.

Second, Chapter Two (Millenarianism in the History of the Church) was extremely helpful. By looking at the way this subject has been understood and treated in church history (and seeing how Christians have held to all three views in different periods and times), the reader can avoid an attitude which discards other viewpoints as heretical and un-Christian.

Third, Grenz did a great job of explaining that the importance of millenial view is not just a matter of the timetable of future events, but rather the worldview and outlook that each view holds to. In Chapter 8, he discussed each of these worldviews and examined the things we (the church) can learn from each viewpoint as well as the things that are agreed on by everyone.

I suspect that those who have a deep interest and knowledge of any of the views would feel that his discussion is not deep and detailed enough to do justice to each of the views. I would say that this would always be true when you are trying to write a book just over 200 pages which critiques such a large topic.

Coming away, I can't say that it greatly helped me to clarify my personal views about the millennium, but I feel like I have a better understanding of each of the views, the worldview that accompanies them, the historical background of each view, and the fact that within the broader scope of Christianity, multiple and differing views can be accepted.
Profile Image for Steve Irby.
319 reviews8 followers
September 9, 2021
I just finished "The Millennial Maze: Sorting Out Evangelical Options," by Stanley J. Grenz.

Grenz gives a bit of eschatological (doctrine of last things: death, second coming, judgement, life eternal) historical coverage which I'll try to summarize. It seems that the whole "sell the farm and let's go wait on a mountain" thing has been around for a while. We think it's been real in the last 40-50 years but imagine the Y1K. The book of Rev is talking about the thousand year reign so when Y1K hits the banks and all are still fine but people think Jesus is coming back. Well, He didn't. So Y1K+33 has to be it because Jesus was 33 at His ascension. That didn't work either. Y1K+65 it must be because in that year Good Friday coincidence with the day of Annunciation, of course. Not then either.

Fast forward to the 19th century and the progressive outlook for the coming (here?) Golden age. It had to be. We were sitting in a peaceful time with the enlightenment in the rear view mirror, technology was on the rise and Christian principals were being enforced at the point of a gun (prohibition anyone?). Heck yeah: "we are paving the way in for you, Jesus" (postmillennial: 1000 years of bliss and then Jesus comes). Add a scoop of WW1, a second of WW2 then sprinkle some Korea and Nam on top and that progressivism dies out; the golden age is a bit tarnished. So about the time progressivism is dying cynics are pulling out their Scofield reference bibles and newspapers (reference is about premillennialism: Jesus comes back to rule for 1000 yrs). By the time the book was written in 1994 people have gone full cynic as much as 100 yrs earlier they were full utopian (which he compares to Marxist utopian eschatology).

All this sets the stage for laying the flavors of, specifically, the Millennium questions: what's the nature of the millennial reign and the relationship between the return of Christ and that period of time. Grenz then spends time covering the two premillennial schools (historical and dispensational), postmillennial, and Amillennial.

Then Grenz dives in to look at what the tradition--the earliest belivers after scripture was complete around 100 and on-- believed. Polycarp was a pupil of John, one of Polycarps pupils, Papias, was very premillennial (not futurist like modern flavors of premillennial thought)in his thought. Out of Hellenistic Judiasm came the school of thought that held the seven days of creation as a bit of framework for the statement that a day to God is like a thousand years. So they looked for a total earth age of seven thousand years, from creation to the new earth. Justin Martyr blended the two above and claimed there were others who held this view but it wasn't a point of orthodoxy for him. Irenaeus did more than any of this perior to lay out the rational for the Millennium and to further premillennial thought. Augustine didn't care for the premillennial doctrine because it was too fleshly during the Millennium: too much wine and eating and happiness and if Augustine was anything he was against having fun. That's the main key for the history of the Churches take on millennial thought for the first 1500 years or so. A council would make literal millennial doctrine verboten and a nonmillennial doctrine would take root. But these fringe sects on the outskirts of the official Roman Church would revert back to premillennial thought as persecution picked up. Medieval theology would see some signs that seemed very postmillennial like the expected forthcoming golden age that preceeded the second coming with Christians as agents ushering in this age. Protestantism kept and continued the nonmillennial thought while the Radical Reformation may have had one too many one night and caused a mess in Munster whike awaiting the Millennium.

The lineage of Calvin saw the eschaton in a favorable light beginning and maturing what would come to be postmillennialism, really embracing the golden age motif. Fast forward to the great awakenings on the new continent. Many who came here did so with a mind for progress and spreading the Good news to the new world. And at thus tike the new world was drunk on some postmillennialism. Sermons by Edwards which cover fall to consummation had been bound into book form giving the golden age view traction. To get a quick dose of this read the lyrics of the Battle Hymn of the Republic. People were getting caught up in the abolitionists movement (good) and later prohibition (bad) as a sign of how to usher in the golden age. This was also the sign that the postmillennial crowd split with conservatives on the one side and secularists (think manifest destiny) on the other.

In 1830 Darby worked out his dispensationalism. Being in the Plymouth Brethren, a splinter from Anglicanism, dispensationalism made sure to see the Revelation evil structures as Anglican. There are many twists and turns herein. But a strictly literal reading of scripture made prophecy likewise literal and dispensationalists found correspondence in modern events like a post WW1 Russia as the Kingdom of the North and the establishment of the modern state of Israel in 1948. Dispensationalism was so bedded with fundamentalism that the "Premillennial second coming" was the first of seven tenants of fundamentalism. And like all things that get overmuch focused on, it became on par with a "Biblical faith."

Grenz fleshes out the different postmillennial schools of thought. Postmillennial reconstruction (dominion theology) sees the working to establish a Christian republic. The liberal postmillennial view was largely secular. Where the reconstructionists and postmillennialism historically believed in the work of the Spirit or inbreaking action of God, the liberal secular postmillennialism believed that human effort and evolution would take mankind to the golden age. That sentence reads like most of yalls FB posts about political philosophy and economics; it's ignorant to think you're going to leverage government into passing laws to achieving utopia. Take your Marxist eschatological and March on off to the gulag.

Amillennialism hardly gets mentioned until ch 6. This makes sense because pre and post argue about the forthcoming millennial reign, Amillennialism says 1000 is figurative of the period of time from the resurrection/ascension/Pentecost until the second coming.

Amillennialist hermeneutic gives priority to the New Testament over the Old and the primacy of clear texts over symbolic. At this point things work out kinda simply: the strong man is bound (still active but can't deceive nations) while the gospel is spread. A second coming, a resurrection, a judgement, a new heavens appears and a new earth comes down. No carrying of the 1, no newspapers, no planes falling out of the sky, no movies for Kirk.

Summary: premillennialism=pessimism; postmillennialism=optimism; Amillennialism=realism.

This is the best balanced and most fair descriptive evaluation of millennial positions I've read.

#MillennialMaze #TheMillennialMaze #StanleyJGrenz #StanleyGrenz #Grenz #Eschatology #Millennium #Premillennial #Amillennial #Postmillennial
Profile Image for Katherine Jones.
Author 2 books80 followers
January 30, 2024
A remarkably balanced, unbiased, thorough yet concise overview of the subject. Though comprehensible by the layman, it does assume a fair amount of knowledge (of terms, biblical literacy). Given that it was published on 1992, I would love a new edition that provides an update on contemporary thinking. Four Views of the End Times: Christian Views on Jesus' Second Coming by Timothy Paul Jones makes an excellent companion piece.
Profile Image for Stephen.
120 reviews
March 28, 2020
A fair and insightful survey of the various millenarian positions on offer in contemporary evangelicalism. I especially enjoyed the chapter on the mood of church and the millennial positions.
Profile Image for Kirsten.
102 reviews
August 10, 2016
So far, this is my favorite book in laying out the various debates surrounding the millennium. Stanley Grenz does an excellent job explaining each side (postmillennialism, dispensationalism, premillennialism, and amillennialism). He then takes the time to discuss what we can learn from each view, instead of shattering all of those opposed to his own.

"Rather, because there are deeper issues at stake in this debate, we must strive to see clearly the world view represented by each of the major positions. And having done so, we can then listen intently to what the Spirit is saying to the church through each." ~ Stanley J. Grenz
Profile Image for Shannon Presler.
23 reviews43 followers
April 10, 2010
I had to read this for my umpteenth theology class. When I hear the words 'end times' I immediately think of a lion, a cheeseburger and Tim LaHaye's hair. Tragi-comic! This book is not a scholarly work. It is an even-handed survey of the four predominant views that evangelicals have traditionally held about the chronology of events in Revelation. I thought I knew, but I didn't know. It was good to refresh my memory and to put something else in my brain to reference besides fast food and crazy evangelical hairsculptures when strangers yell at me about Jesus coming back.
Profile Image for Pearlie.
42 reviews8 followers
July 19, 2010
If you need a book that can give you a thorough yet readable all-in-one discussion about the Millennial views, this is it. After introducing the topic with a thorough overview on the historical development of the millennium, he zeroed in on each of the views, beginning with a run up of what it entails, followed by its biblical basis and concluding each view with a critique. As such, you can hold on to any view and still read the book peacefully. Of all the materials I tried to get my hands on on the Millennium, this is by far the best of the lot.
Profile Image for Craig Toth.
28 reviews3 followers
May 7, 2009
One of my seminary professors recommended this book to help students learn about different views on the Second Coming of Jesus. I have read other books by Grenz, and am looking forward to reading this.
Profile Image for David Rathel.
84 reviews4 followers
August 17, 2012
A fair examination of the different views of the Millennium (Rev. 20). A great resource for anyone interested in eschatology.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews

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