Dispensastionalism: Its History, Teachings and Influences

Year 2024, Volume: 6 Issue: 1, 1 - 17, 30.06.2024

Büşra Elmas

https://doi.org/10.51490/oksident.1376335

Abstract

Dispensationalism is a significant theological movement in the United States, especially within Evangelical Christianity. Dispensations refer to the periods that adherents of this belief separate in explaining world history. These periods are generally designated as seven eras in which the relationship between God and humanity was established in varying ways. The idea of dispensationalism was developed by John Nelson Darby. His literal and futuristic interpretation led him to distinguish the roles of Israel and the Church in the Bible prophecies. After Darby, C. I. Scofield played a crucial role in popularizing Darby’s ideas in the United States with the publication of his Scofield Reference Bible.
This article examines the historical process of dispensationalism and focuses on its founder, John Nelson Darby, and his views on dispensationalism from a historical perspective. The article concludes that Darby’s dispensationalism is widely accepted by Evangelicals, that the rapture and the separation of the Church and Israel in the God’s divine plan have provided the theological basis for Evangelical Christians’ support for Israel and have had various effects on American popular culture.

Keywords

John Nelson Darby, C. I. Scofield, Support for Israel, Amerikan Popular Culture, History of Religions, Dispensationalism

Dispensasyonalizm: Tarihi, Öğretileri ve Etkileri

Abstract

Dispensasyonalizm, Amerika Birleşik Devletleri’nde özellikle Evanjelik Hıristiyanların teolojisinde önemli etki bırakmış bir tarih anlayışıdır. Bu anlayışa sahip kimseler açısından dispensasyonlar, dünya tarihinin dönemlerine işaret etmektedir. Genelde yedi aşama olarak belirlenen bu dönemlendirmelerin her birinde Tanrı-insan ilişkisi farklı şekilde kurulmuştur. Dispensasyonalizm düşüncesini John Nelson Darby geliştirmiştir. Darby’nin literal ve fütürist yorumu, onu Kutsal Kitap kehanetlerinde İsrail ve Kilise’nin yerini ayırmaya itmiştir. Darby’den sonra özellikle C. I. Scofield’ın Scofield Reference Bible’ı Darby’nin fikirlerinin Amerika Birleşik Devletleri’nde son derece popülerleşmesini sağlamıştır.
Bu makalede dispensasyonalizmin tarihi süreci, kurucusu olan John Nelson Darby ve onun dispensasyonalizm görüşü tarihsel olarak ele alınacaktır. Makalede Darby’nin dispensasyonalizm düşüncesinin Evanjelikler arasında yaygınlık kazandığı, özellikle göğe yükseliş ve Kilise ile İsrail’in ilahî planda yerini ayrı tutma düşüncesinin Evanjelik Hıristiyanların İsrail’e desteklerinin teolojik arka planını beslediği ve Amerikan popüler kültüründe muhtelif etkileri olduğu sonucuna varılmıştır.

Keywords

John Nelson Darby, C. I. Scofield, İsrail Desteği, Amerikan Popüler Kültürü, Dinler Tarihi, Dispensasyonalizm

References

• Ariel, Yaakov. “An Unexpected Alliance: Christian Zionism and Its Historical Significance”. Modern Judaism - A Journal of Jewish Ideas and Experience 26/1 (01 Şubat 2006): 74-100, https://doi.org/10.1093/mj/kjj005.
• Ariel, Yaakov. An Unusual Relationship: Evangelical Christians and Jews. New York: New York University Press, 2013.
• Ariel, Yaakov. “Israel in Contemporary Evangelical Christian Millennial Thought”. Numen 59/5/6 (2012): 456-485.
• Balmer, Randall. Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014.
• Balmer, Randall Herbert. Encyclopedia of Evangelicalism. Waco: Baylor University Press, 2004.
• Basham, Cortney S. Hal Lindsey’s The Late Great Planet Earth and the Rise of Popular Premillennialism in the 1970’s. Yüksek Lisans Tezi, Western Kentucky University: , 2012.
• Blackstone, William E. Jesus is Coming. Chicago: Moody Bible Institute, 1908.
• Blaising, Craig A. “The Future of Israel as a Theological Question”. Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 44/3 (Eylül 2001): 435-450.
• Boyer, Paul. When Time Shall Be No More: Prophecy Belief in Modern American Culture. Londra: Harvard University Press, 2009.
• Burnham, Jonathan David. The Controversial Relationship Between Benjamin Wills Newton and John Nelson Darby. Doktora Tezi, Oxford: University of Oxford, 1999.
• Cox, William E. An Examination of Dispensationalism. Philadelphia: Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing, 1963.
• Danker, Frederick William Danker. The Concise Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1886.
• Darby, John N. “On ‘Days’ signifying ‘Years’ in prophetic language”. StemPublishing, erişim: 15.10.2023, https://www.stempublishing.com/authors/darby/PROPHET/02002E.html.
• Darby, John N. “The Apostasy Of The Successive Dispensations”. t.y., https://plymouthbrethren.org/article/10886.
• Donaldson, Terence L. “Supersessionism and Early Christian Self-Definition”. Jesus Movement in Its Jewish Setting 3 (2016): 1-32.
• Elmas, Büşra. Evanjelik Hıristiyanlarda Kıyamet İnancı. Yüksek Lisans Tezi, Uludağ Üniversitesi, 2017.
• Elmas, Büşra. “Hıristiyanlığın İlk Dönemlerinde Milenyalizm Meselesi”. Oksident 2/1 (2020): 1-25.
• Elwell, Walter A. (ed.). Evangelical Dictionary of Theology. Michigan: Baker Book House, 1985.
• Fruchtenbaum, Arnold G. Footsteps of the Messiah. San Antonio: Ariel Ministries, 2003.
• Frykholm, Amy Johnson. Rapture Culture. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004.
• Fuller, Daniel P. Gospel and Law: Contrast or Continuum?: The Hermeneutics of Dispensationalism and Covenant Theology. Michigan: Grand Rapids, 1980.
• Ice, Thomas D. “Harold L. Lindsey”. Dictionary of Premillennial Theology, ed. Mal Courch, Kregel: Grand Rapids, 1996, 242-243.
• Kalafian, Michael. The Impact of the Book of Daniel on Christology. Doktora Tezi, New York: New York University, 1988.
• Kraus, C. Norman. Dispensationalism in America: Its Rise and Development. Louisville: John Knox Press, 1958.
• Landes, Richard. “Lest the Millennium be Fulfilled: Apocalyptic Expectations and the Pattern of Western Chronography 100-800 CE”. The Use and Abuse of Eschatology in the Middle Ages, ed. W. Verbeke & D. Verhelst, Leuven: Catholic University, 1988, 137-211.
• Lindsey, Hal. The Late Great Planet Earth. Michigan: Zondervan Publishing, 1970.
• Marsden, George. Fundamentalism and American Culture. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006.
• Perez, Anne. Understanding Zionism. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2023.
• Pippin, Tina. “The Rapture in American Imagination”. The Oxford Handbook of the Bible and American Popular Culture, ed. Dan W. Clanton & Terry R. Clark, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2021, 262-275.
• Ryrie, Charles C. Dispensationalism. Michigan: Moody Publishers, 1995.
• Sandeen, Ernest Robert. The Roots of Fundamentalism. Michigan: Grand Rapids, 1978.
• Scofield, C. I. The Scofield Study Bible. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003.
• Scofield, C. I. What Do the Prophets Say. Philadelphia: The Sunday School Times Company, 1918.
• Spector, Stephen. Evangelicals and Israel: The Story of American Christian Zionism. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009.
• Sutton, Matthew Avery. American Apocalypse. Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 2014.
• Sweetnam, Mark S. “Defining Dispensationalism: A Cultural Studies Perspective”. Journal of Religious History 34/2 (2010): 191-212.
• Walvoord, John F. Daniel: The Key to Prophetic Revelation. Chicago: The Moody Bible Institute of Chicago, 1971.
• Weber, Timothy P. “Millennialism”. [E-kitap] The Oxford Handbook of Eschatology, ed. Jerry L. Walls, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008, 365-383.
• Weber, Timothy P. On the Road to Armageddon: How Evangelicals Became Israel’s Best Friend. Michigan: Baker Academic, 2004.
• Wojcik, Daniel. The End of the World as We Know It. New York: New York University Press, 1997.
• Yamaç, Muhammed. “Evanjelik Dinî Hareketin Teo-Sosyolojik Paradigması”. İhya Uluslararası İslam Araştırmaları Dergisi, 8/2 (2022): 704-726.