A Brief Book Notice from Books At a Glance
By Fred Zaspel
I just read through this book again after some years, and I have to say that it is even better than I remembered. Erickson’s purpose is to survey the leading approaches to biblical eschatology in concise fashion. For each position he presents the distinguishing tenets, along with their primary supporting arguments, their historical development, followed by some brief evaluative comments (both positive and negative).
Erickson holds his own view, of course, and all sides will wish that he had included this or that remark here or there. But all will agree that Erickson’s survey is well-informed, even-handed, clear, and concise. And I think all will agree that he accomplishes his purpose very well. It is not intended to be an in-depth analysis of the views – for that you will still need to read the various representative works or at least Robert Clouse’s The Meaning of the Millennium. Erickson is just a starting point. It is intended to be an introduction to the views, and in achieving this Erickson must be judged successful. An excellent work that charts out all sides of eschatological discussion and crisply demonstrates the distinguishing features of each position with their respective supporting exegetical arguments.
Very useful as an introductory volume for seminary students. For anyone who would like to gain a quick overview understanding of the competing eschatological systems, this is highly recommended.