A Question of Stories
I am still a dispensationalist (really progressive), but am interested in learning more about Covenant Eschatology. I have tried the “why the dispensationalist view is wrong resources”, but am having a hard time with them because they seem to focus on hyper-dispensationalists or just plain wacky views that I do not hold. Honestly I see those as straw man arguments.
My question is what is the best commentary I can buy that gives a solid understanding of the reformed view of eschatology?
Sarge,
I grew up dispie and was educated progressive dispie, so I understand the frustration with certain Reformed works. My advice would be to look into aspects other than the eschatology. Eschatology in all systems is the symptomatic outgrowth of previous assumptions about how the parts of the Bible fit together. All systems of interpretations are essentially stories about what God has done, is doing, and is planning to do. The Dispensational story is really about the Jews. God's primary work is to make a Jewish kingdom, which is why the church age must be regarded as a parenthesis or an intercalation - it doesn't fit the story. It's why traditional Dispensationalists proposed the postponement story - they couldn't fit the atonement into the story, except as a detour.
On the other hand, there is no "Covenant eschatology," in the sense of one eschatology covenant theology must lead to. Covenant theology is a story, but it is one which leaves a more flexible ending.
For most people, the dispie-covenant shift is a paradigm change that results not from one or two facts, but from a reappraisal of the whole sweep of redemptive history. It is a change of metanarrative. I would strongly encourage you to read materials which give the whole story - Genesis to Revelation - from a covenantal perspective.
According to Plan by Graeme Goldsworthy is a great book, especially because it contains a section on interpretive method, always a concern for dispensationalists. On the heavy end, you can check out Geerhardus Vos'
Biblical Theology or his smaller
The Pauline Eschatology. Keith Mathison's
From Age to Age: The Unfolding of Biblical Eschatology is a hefty work, but one can't ask for more.
[ame=http://www.amazon.com/Age-Unfolding-Biblical-Eschatology/dp/0875527450/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1258210011&sr=1-1]Amazon.com: From Age to Age: The Unfolding of Biblical Eschatology (9780875527451): Keith A. Mathison: Books[/ame]
