Pilgrim
Puritanboard Commissioner
I've just won an eBay auction for this tome. Hopefully it's a decent, usable copy. The seller described it as being 1000 pages so I'm guessing that means it's the 2 vols in one edition. Otherwise I won't be happy but I didn't have time to ask about it.
I've been wanting to get it for a while, primarily to look into the parts on ecclesiology and eschatology. That "brand" of premillennial Presbyterianism seems to be just about extinct except among the Bible Presbyterians (perhaps especially in Singapore) and perhaps some older men here and there in the PCA. I know of one in the OPC but not surprisingly he is from a BP background. I'm guessing this may be a significant factor in Buswell being out of print, along with J. Barton Payne's books. But even Reymond's ST is currently out of print.
I wonder what seminaries would have used Buswell's ST besides Covenant. Perhaps Faith and/or Biblical? I wonder what Western Reformed Seminary (a BPC seminary) uses and used in the past? (Their bookstore has the usual Reformed ST's but also has a link to Amazon for Buswell's text.) I know that Dr. John Battle is premil and post-trib. He wrote a helpful essay (PDF) on premillennialism in the BPC.
Regarding 20th Century Presbyterian premillennialism, I recently came across Francis Schaeffer's L'Abri lectures. (Many of his books are found in embryonic form there, probably some to a greater and others to a lesser extent.) I've only listened to a handful, but the titles of some of those related to eschatology and seem to indicate that he was pretribulational. But those lectures seem to have been given in 1960. (The dates given for at least some of the lectures appear to be very inaccurate and quite obviously so. But remarks of his in the first one I listened to on prophecy indicate that it dates from 1960.) Does anyone know if he changed his view on that (the timing of the rapture) at any point later on? In his small book on Baptism in the mid-70's he does allude to unfulfilled promises to Israel stemming from the Abrahamic Covenant, but that alone does not necessarily entail pretrib. There is a sermon on the Book of Revelation in No Little People (1974) in which he states that chapters 4 and following relate to future events. I'm not sure if any other view but the Futurist one takes that position.
James Montgomery Boice was premil to the end but abandoned dispensationalism at some point in the 70's. Nevertheless a dispensational book of his has remained in print, to his chagrin. Because of this, some who are not that familiar with his ministry otherwise assume he continued to hold that view. (Likewise A.W. Pink's books on prophecy have remained in print despite his strong repudiation of them later on.) In some of Boice's messages on the Minor Prophets (and perhaps Rom. and elsewhere in the NT, but I haven't listened to those) he refers to unfulfilled promises to Israel which If I recall correctly go somewhat beyond the large scale conversion of the Jews that is held by many Reformed writers. I don't recall that he went into much detail but I haven't listened to that many of his messages. Does he go into eschatology in detail in his Foundations of the Christian Faith?
For once I'll refrain from adding any more! At least for now.
I've been wanting to get it for a while, primarily to look into the parts on ecclesiology and eschatology. That "brand" of premillennial Presbyterianism seems to be just about extinct except among the Bible Presbyterians (perhaps especially in Singapore) and perhaps some older men here and there in the PCA. I know of one in the OPC but not surprisingly he is from a BP background. I'm guessing this may be a significant factor in Buswell being out of print, along with J. Barton Payne's books. But even Reymond's ST is currently out of print.
I wonder what seminaries would have used Buswell's ST besides Covenant. Perhaps Faith and/or Biblical? I wonder what Western Reformed Seminary (a BPC seminary) uses and used in the past? (Their bookstore has the usual Reformed ST's but also has a link to Amazon for Buswell's text.) I know that Dr. John Battle is premil and post-trib. He wrote a helpful essay (PDF) on premillennialism in the BPC.
Regarding 20th Century Presbyterian premillennialism, I recently came across Francis Schaeffer's L'Abri lectures. (Many of his books are found in embryonic form there, probably some to a greater and others to a lesser extent.) I've only listened to a handful, but the titles of some of those related to eschatology and seem to indicate that he was pretribulational. But those lectures seem to have been given in 1960. (The dates given for at least some of the lectures appear to be very inaccurate and quite obviously so. But remarks of his in the first one I listened to on prophecy indicate that it dates from 1960.) Does anyone know if he changed his view on that (the timing of the rapture) at any point later on? In his small book on Baptism in the mid-70's he does allude to unfulfilled promises to Israel stemming from the Abrahamic Covenant, but that alone does not necessarily entail pretrib. There is a sermon on the Book of Revelation in No Little People (1974) in which he states that chapters 4 and following relate to future events. I'm not sure if any other view but the Futurist one takes that position.
James Montgomery Boice was premil to the end but abandoned dispensationalism at some point in the 70's. Nevertheless a dispensational book of his has remained in print, to his chagrin. Because of this, some who are not that familiar with his ministry otherwise assume he continued to hold that view. (Likewise A.W. Pink's books on prophecy have remained in print despite his strong repudiation of them later on.) In some of Boice's messages on the Minor Prophets (and perhaps Rom. and elsewhere in the NT, but I haven't listened to those) he refers to unfulfilled promises to Israel which If I recall correctly go somewhat beyond the large scale conversion of the Jews that is held by many Reformed writers. I don't recall that he went into much detail but I haven't listened to that many of his messages. Does he go into eschatology in detail in his Foundations of the Christian Faith?
For once I'll refrain from adding any more! At least for now.
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