7/24/8:

• Early Church Idealism: The Shepherd of Hermas "Who then is she?" I say. "The Church," saith he. I said unto him, "Wherefore then is she aged?" "Because," saith he, "she was created before all things; therefore is she aged; and for her sake the world was framed."

7/18/7:

• B.F. Westcott: Thoughts on Revelation and Life "NOW when we read the apostolic words, and picture to ourselves the sorrows which they illuminated — when we feel that in the portraiture of the perils of early believers we have the record of true struggles, and know that the essential elements of human discipline must always be the same — we cannot, I think, fail to recognise in the trials of the Hebrews of the first age an image of the peculiar trials by which we are beset ; and so by their experience we may gain the assurance that for us also there is the promise of larger wisdom where they found it in wider views of Christ's Person and Work, that the removal of those things that are shaken is brought about in order that those things which are not shaken may remain in serener and simpler beauty.

7/10/8:

• Critical: David Field: Why idealist readings of Revelation which appeal to "double fulfillment" or "multiple fulfillment" don't work (2007) They ramble back and forth and you'd have to be pretty committed to reading them slowly a couple of times at least for them to make much sense but here are some thoughts on why idealist readings of Revelation which appeal to "double fulfillment" or "multiple fulfillment" don't work.

Response: It is truly the macro scale that is the focal point of all Bible prophecy, and seen as such there is only one substance - the profound redemptive work of Jesus Christ.  As in Matthew 5:17, Christ is the fulfillment of the law.  However, for the individual, this must be personally received, and is not receivable in history alone.  To say that the law is fulfilled for all in history is nothing short of Universalism -- which is the ultimate hurdle that all "single referent" systems must overcome... regardless of the number of "associations" or "applications."

5/22/8:

• Historical: Kim Riddlebarger: What About the "Great" Tribulation? "A second reason why this question is important has to do with the rise of various forms of preterism (full-preterism, which is considered a heresy; and so-called “partial” preterism, which is not) which contend that Christ returned in A.D. 70 to execute judgment upon apostate Israel, the city of Jerusalem, and the Jewish temple and its sacrificial system.  Those who hold to the various forms of preterism believe that this great tribulation spoken of by Jesus (Matthew 24:21) has come and gone with the events associated with the destruction of Jerusalem and its temple by the Romans.  In light of the tendency to relegate a time of "great" tribulation to the distant past or imminent future, it is important to survey the biblical teaching in this regard.  As we will see, this time of “great tribulation” cannot be tied exclusively to the events of A.D. 70, or to the very end.  God’s people may face such tribulation throughout the entire time from Christ’s redemptive tribulation on the cross, until the end of the age."

4/24/8:

• Modern: Todd Dennis - Israel's History a Type - From Beginning to End "Sometimes, however, in an attempt to "confirm" a prophecy, a rush to judgment is made, whereby a mistake brings disrepute upon the supposed author. This happens often regarding supposed prophecies about "the end of the world." For almost 2,000 years, futurist Christians have predicted the end of the world in their near futures, only to have their expectations crushed when the earth did not blow up on cue. Repeated failures have brought an odium of shame to the Bible and the Lord, even though the fault was entirely with those who mistook the prophecies for something they were not. With Hyper Preterism, the miscues usually accrue in the other direction -- declaring something as completed when in fact it was not."

4/23/8:

• INsignificance of AD70: Todd Dennis - Matthew 26:64 is NOT a "Preterist Time Indicator" Pointing to AD70 "In short, the usage of "Apo Arti" in Matthew 26:64 [Apo ("from" - Strongs 575) and Arti ("now on" - Strong's 737)] is highly suggestive of the themes that have been previously offered at this blog ; that is, a series of revelatory recognitions of the power and glory of Jesus Christ's dominance by friend and foe alike. Though the typically pret-friendly Weymouth translation would like to make Jesus say "later on, you will see.." this is not really honest. I would rather say that it was simply a mistake, but I find it impossible to believe that neither Richard Francis Weymouth ("If this belief ever obtains general acceptance the earlier date of the Apocalypse will also be regarded as fully established. For it will then be seen that the book describes beforehand events which took place in 70 A.D.") nor Earnest Hampden-Cook (co-editor and author of "The Christ Has Come") were aware of the importance of this passage regarding their Preterist assumptions. However, not only is there no sense of futurity in this very emphatic Greek phrase, but rather we see quite the opposite. "

4/20/8:

• INsignificance of AD70: Todd Dennis - Matthew 10:23 is NOT a "Preterist Time Indicator" pointing to AD70 (2008) "It has become a working assumption of Hyper Preterism that the "coming" passages in the New Testament refer to AD70. And the eisegetical presupposition that Matthew 10:23 is a "(Hyper) Preterist time indicator" is considered to be unassailable, even though there is not a hint of reference to AD70 in the text or context of the chapter from which to support this conclusion."

4/16/8:

• INsignificance of AD70: Todd Dennis - Matthew 16:27-28 is Not About AD70 (2008) "Why would we expect the Lord to perform his acts of power and glory just once — be it in the past or the future? What good does that do all the other generations?  It seems to me that all prophecy ultimately finds its accomplishment in Christ internally and personally, as opposed to externally and historically. Even the cross must be received, and each follower must bear it as Jesus said."

4/10/8:

• HYPERpreteristarchive.com - This is my new blog.  woot.  Hope you enjoy it.  It will be taking a critical look at all forms of Preterism from a Modern Idealist point of view

4/4/8:

• Philosophical/Gnostic: The Gospel According to Pagels "Dealing with each topic in her book, Ms. Pagels does not mention crucial evidence concerning Gnostics and Catholics, and distorts what she does mention. She falsely maintains that Catholics insisted upon a physical view of resurrection (as compared to the Gnostics), when a spiritual view is clearly represented from Paul in the first century until Origen in the third century. She asserts that Gnostics did not concern themselves with authority, when in fact they often branded those who disagreed with them as corrupt materialists who were constitutionally incapable of understanding the world of spirit. Attempting to say that the Gnostics were feminists, she ignores texts from Nag Hammadi, as well as Gnostic sources that had been known for centuries before the library's discovery, that portray "Wisdom" (Sophia), the feminine counterpart of the true, masculine God, as literally hysterical — jealous of divine power, but unable to create life on her own, and therefore vindictive. Martyrdom was a common threat to Gnostics and Catholics, and not at all a fate that the Fathers of the Church wanted Christians generally to seek; Gnostics could be as ferocious as Catholics in claiming unique insight, and the knowledge that transcends this world was every bit as much a Catholic as a Gnostic quest.

  Appearing in a book as well written as Ms. Pagels's, her anachronisms have undermined public understanding of early Christianity. Gnosticism proved to be the most powerful philosophical and religious movement of its time because it insisted without compromise that the only truth that matters transcends this corrupt world. Gnostics often denigrated women as creatures of corruption, condemned any disagreement with their teaching as materialist fantasy, and denied that sexuality had any place in the realm of spirit. Trying to turn this orientation into existentialism, or feminism, or an embrace of the world's physicality, will only work with an extremely selective handling of the evidence, and deploys a laundered view of its subject.

3/5/8:

• Symbols/Temple: Alan R. Kerr The Temple of Jesus' Body: The Temple Theme in the Gospel of John (2002) "This book is a study of the Johannine Christian response to the fall of the Jerusalem Temple in 70 ce. A crucial text in this investigation is Jn 2.13-22 and its context, which provide a lens through which other texts in John are viewed. Kerr's examination of the Temple festivals of Passover, Tabernacles, Dedication suggests that in Jesus fulfils and replaces these, while in the case of the Sabbath he effects a transformation. The overall conclusion is that the Johannine Jesus replaces and fulfils the Jerusalem Temple."

2/22/8:

• Philosophical: Terminology - Ousia "Essence / Being"

2/17/8:

• HI: Kim Riddlebarger - Interview with A-Team, Part Three "I do see the events of A. D. 70 as marking that time when Israel became desolate which led to Israel’s diaspora into the nations (Matthew 23:37-39).  As I understand it, all forms of preterism (whether that be the heretical hyper-preterists who deny the bodily resurrection and Christ’s second advent, or the orthodox partial-preterists who affirm the bodily resurrection and Christ’s second advent) tend to agree in terms of seeing the end of the age as occurring in 70 A.D., as well as believing that Jesus truly returned in the heavens at that time.  Many of these writers also reject the distinction between the two ages (as Reformed amillennarians would define it) along with the distinction between the already and the not yet."

2/2/8:

• HI: G.K. Beale - Peace and Mercy Upon the Israel of God: The OT Background in Galatians 6:16 (1999) "This essay has contended that Paul’s reference to "new creation" and the pronouncement of "peace and mercy" on the readers in Gal 6,15-16 is best understood against the background of Isa 54,10 and the surrounding context of similar new creation themes elsewhere in Isa 32–66, which are echoed also earlier in Galatians, especially in 5,22-26. The analysis confirms those prior studies which have concluded that "the Israel of God" refers to all Christians in Galatia, whether Jewish or Christian."

2/2/8:

• G.K. Beale - "Babylon the Great'' is the entire corrupt economic-religious system.. Though most past commentators have tended to identify Babylon solely with ungodly Roman culture, or the apostate Church, or Apostate Israel, it is better to see these identifications as not mutually exclusive" (The Book of Revelation p. 885-886)

1/29/8:

• Ideablogging: Why I am not a Dispensationalist (and why you should not be either)  "I don’t know how anyone could be a dispensationalist [be that of the Futurist or Preterist variety] after taking a look at this. I think this image makes it clear that the Bible is a unified book with a unified message about the Kingdom of God, culminating in the person and work of Jesus Christ."

1/27/8:

• FREE ONLINE BOOKS :  Edgar Whitaker Work - "Biblical Idealism in Literature" (From The Bible in English Literature) "THE ultimate test of any literature lies in its power to awaken the mind and heart of man to great thoughts and important endeavors. If literature cannot thus announce a new day of life and service to us, it has failed to attain the highest function of literature. It may inform and instruct, it may prove itself to be in many ways a literature of knowledge, but if it be not also a literature of power, calculated to stir the being of man with a new vision of life, it has fallen far short in its usefulness. It is literature, perhaps, but it is not creative literature. It does not permeate the deep places of life: it does not help to build the Temple of the Soul. Judged in this way the Bible is preeminently a literature of power. " (1917)

1/26/8:

• FREE ONLINE BOOKS :  Paul Levertoff - Love and the Messianic Age - In Hitherto Untranslated Hasidic Writings with Special Reference to the Fourth Gospel (1923) An interesting work which seeks to explain the distinction between objective and subjective, while viewing the Messianic Age as the "time" when both become one.  "He who comprehends the spiritual meaning of the Word of God and receives it into the innermost chambers of his heart is called 'the friend and brother of God, and the holy temple of the Divine Spirit.'"

• Ideablogging: Shadows of the cross |

• Administrative: Added working definition for "Hyper Idealism" -   HYPER IDEALISM  (Personal revelation preferred above strict adherence to the Word of God) - In the future, this will be focused more on Gnosticism, which will be made synonymous with Hyper Idealism

Perhaps THE major driving force behind the creation of this website has been to present a hermeneutical system which appreciates the Christological focus of prophecy and eschatology, without forsaking the Word of God for spiritualism and mysticism -- which so often is the case with "heavenly minded" people.   The likes of Swedenborg bring - in my opinion - disgrace to Christ and Christianity and are to be cautiously avoided.   Universalist Idealists, such as certain Quakers or J. Preston Eby, likewise take whatever benefit their personalizing applications offer, and turn them instead into dangerous lures to what is an overall dangerous system.   In almost all cases, the lack of diligence with hermeneutical study in the manifest Word of God is a clue to this tendency.  Hence, such unfettered systems are classified as "Hyper" Idealism. The likes of Swedenborg bring - in my opinion - disgrace to Christ and Christianity and are to be cautiously avoided.   Universalist Idealists, such as certain Quakers or J. Preston Eby, likewise take whatever benefit their personalizing applications offer, and turn them instead into dangerous lures to what is an overall dangerous system.   In almost all cases, the lack of diligence with hermeneutical study in the Bible is a clue to this tendency.   Ultimately, drifting upon this sea of mysticism shows a disrespect for the Bible as the manifest Word of God.    Hence, such unfettered systems are classified as "Hyper" Idealism.  Though the materials will be archived here, they will be segregated in the "/hyper" category (or on the whatsnew pages)

1/25/8:

• Added the "Parable" Chart:

1/24/8:

• Redirectionalism.com (Donald James Perry)

1/23/8:

• Back to action!  Thanks for your patience.. been a LOT of progress this fall.  Mostly, I reformatted the entire PreteristArchive.com website to reflect my reclassification of ALL full preterism as "Hyper Preterism" -- Also, there have been amazing advances in the  Preterist Movement (particularly in the hyper preterist splinter), and a little in the Futurist one.  Details will be forthcoming.  2008 is going to be a very exciting year!

12/10/7:

• Kim Riddlebarger : Eschatology Q & A: What Are the Strengths and Weaknesses of the Different Millennial Views? (2008) "As for weaknesses, there are many.  One is that the presuppositions of dispensationalism (which, despite protests to the contrary, is a hermeneutic) cannot be sustained.  The belief that God has distinct redemptive purposes for Israel and for the Gentiles is highly problematic in light of a text like Ephesians 2:11-22.   Another serious problem with dispensationalism is the way in which the "literal interpretation" of Scripture is worked out in practice.  The dispensational stress upon "literalism" actually amounts to an Israel-centered hermeneutic, largely taken from the Old Testament prophets which then predetermines what the New Testament authors can tell us about Israel. "

11/1/7:

• StudyArchive: The INsignificance of AD70 - "Many are careful, however, not to overstate the importance of the fall of Jerusalem in AD70, recognizing how easily some are led astray by overestimating what that event accomplished.   This page will archive such comments, seeking to show where a reasonable line may be drawn between appreciation and overappreciation."

10/5/7:

• Adding a bunch of stuff to round out the Philosophical Idealism Study Archive, like The Evolution of Theology in the Greek Philosophers by Edward Caird (absolutist)

10/2/7:

• Book by Modern Idealist!   Donald James Perry - Redirectionalism: Absolute Orthodoxy and the Revelation of Jesus Christ (2004)  "Our interpretation of eschatology rests on Christ's coming, as defined by His coming to His Firstfruits. Our conclusions result in an interpretation that salvation is a process for each individual and the church the exact same way it was for those who lived during the generation of Jesus Christ. We understand that we today must live and think just as the apostles and Jesus Christ, if we, too, are to meet Christ. We cannot depart from the sanctification and way of the Firstfruits (2 Cor. 11:4), for if we could, that would then make us unorthodox, and leave us without a claim to orthodoxy."

9/30/7:

• Administrative: Website Doctrinal Classifications and Color Key

  • Philosophical Idealism - Primarily Concerned with Epistemology ("Theory of Knowledge")

  • Theological Idealism - Primarily Concerned with Theology ("Theory of God")

    • Historical Idealism - End of Jewish State as Type of Historical "Parousia of Christ at the End of the World" - Prophetic Substance Found in Both Jesus Christ and the Natural Realm

    • Modern Idealism - End of Jewish State as Type of Timeless Work) - Prophetic Substance Found in Jesus Christ, NOT in the Natural Realm

    • Incidental Idealism - Idealist Applications Within a Preterist or Futurist Paradigm

9/27/7:

• Saint Bonaventure Study Archive - Student of both Theological and Philosophical Idealism ""From memory and intelligence is breathed forth love, which is the tie between the two. These three--the generating mind, the word, and love--are in the soul as memory, intelligence, and will, which are consubstantial, coequal, and coeval, mutually immanent. If "

9/26/7:

• Philosophical Idealism Study Archive "St. Augustine developed the Platonic teaching, and in his philosophy is idealism in the genuine meaning of the term. "

• Willmann, Otto : Philosophical Idealism | Kant Critique of Pure Reason (pdf) | Epistemology | Platonism

9/25/7:

• Hermeneutics: Interaction on David Field's article "Idealism and Double Fulfillment"  "The idealist’s desire to be inclusive and general results in incoherence. And, funnily enough, you’ve lost coherence in an attempt to gain something which you think the preterist/futurist lacks when in fact they (so long as they do their association/application thing seriously) not only have it but are the only ones who have grounds for having it and holding it stably and securely."

• HI: Johannes Oecolampadius Study Archive "Observe here, whoever acts as a preacher, [the nature of] your office.  For the task is, that with Isaiah you may first be a disciple rather than a teacher, and may be among those who have seen God, whom Scripture calls θεοδιδάκτους [taught by God].  May you also be called by God, as was Aaron, and not like Nadab and Abihu, and Korah, and others.  May the desire of Uzziah first die to you, who intruded into sacred things from his own audacity.  [Such desire] dies, however, if you do not receive glory from people.  For from arrogance is born in the mind the contagious disease of leprosy, which is a symbol of heresy.         In the Scriptures, however, if you search them, you will see God.  And when Uzziah has died, you may at once declare God fullest and best.  This is not a perceptible unction to you, or a rite consisting in ceremonies, nor were bishop's hands furnishing [it].  But the sincere heart will be fit for the Holy Spirit and heavenly unction."

9/24/7:

• EC: St. Cyril Study Archive "Although Christ is but one, yet he is understood by us under a variety of forms : He is the tabernacle on account of the human body in which he dwelt. He is the table, because he is our bread of life. He is the ark, which has the law of God inclosed within, because he is the word of the Father. He is the candlestick, because he is our spiritual light. He is the altar of incense, because he is a sweet-smelling odor of sanctification. He is the altar of burnt sacrifice, because he is the victim, by death upon the cross, for the sins of the whole world."

9/23/7:

• MI: Scott Thompson How Heaven and Earth Pass Away (2007) "The way into the "new" : Jerusalem, age, birth, man, heavens and earth, etc., all were very much open long before AD70. The translation from "old" to "new" was, however, waiting to be revealed in a most overt way for all to see. As the Word of God says in Hebrews 9, "the way into the holiest of all was "not made manifest while the first tabernacle was still standing.""

9/18/7:

• HI: Gregory K. Beale Study Archive "The kingdom ending is, of course, Israel, but this time it is her definitive end. Rome would destroy Jerusalem and her temple in AD 70. Joel’s language of the earth’s destruction in Acts 2 is also appropriate as a figurative portrayal of the temple’s destruction, since, as we have seen so often earlier, the temple itself and its parts symbolized the cosmos.”

• HI: Idealist Quakers Study Archive "We see no need of directing men to the type for the antitype, neither to the outward temple, nor yet to Jerusalem, neither to Jesus Christ or his blood [outwardly], knowing that neither the righteousness of faith, nor the word of it doth so direct.’”

9/17/7:

• Website Introduction Posted - "The basic method at IdealistArchive.com will be to display "Idealistic" methods and interpretations -- regardless of the Christian source from which it comes  (be it from a Calvinist, Universalist, Arminian, etc).  This is the same methodology used at the other "archives," where it is demonstrated how Christians throughout the ages have endorsed a particular interpretation, even if their fundamental method is different from the position able to be advocated by their quote.  The goal in this is not to misrepresent the author at all here... but to show how they are in agreement with an Idealist interpretation with the subject at hand."

• MI: Todd Dennis - Eternal Ship with Historical Anchors

9/16/7:

• Added Chart "The Pathway of Revelation"

9/14/7:

• Administrative: "Philosophical Idealism" (aka "Theory of Knowledge") Added as New Classification - Covering the Epistemological Views of Deist and non-Christian Idealists (Such as Plato and Bertrand Russell) // Distinguished from "Theological Idealism" -- Represented by the Classifications "Historical" and "Modern" Idealism

9/13/7:

• II: Jewish Idealism: Destruction in Jerusalem: The Spirit vs. the Letter "Yet, before we point fingers at that generation we should remember the old rabbinic dictum, "each generation in which the Temple is not rebuilt should count itself as being among those who brought its destruction."

• II: Jonathan Edwards The Folly of Looking Back in Fleeing Out of Sodom

9/12/7:

• Free Online Books: II: Harvey Marriott - A Fourth Course of Practical Sermons (1829) "May we, my brethren, take heed lest our prayers be tainted with that worldly character which shall show us to Him, before whom "all hearts be open, and all desires known," as hoping for things temporal while we use words significant of things spiritual. "

• II: C.S. Lewis: "Our spiritual life manifests itself through our physical life. Spiritual things must be spiritually understood. There will always be people who say that religion is nothing but psychological need, justice nothing but self-protection, love nothing but lust, and thought nothing but twitching of grey matter in the brain. People who think this way are like a dog that looks at the pointing finger instead of what the finger is point at. They miss the meaning of everything." (quoted in Surprised by C.S. Lewis, George MacDonald & Dante By Kathryn Ann Lindskoog, p. 130)