While the Left Behind books conceived by Tim F. LaHaye and written by Jerry B. Jenkins are “just” novels (kind of like the DaVinci Code is “just” a novel), the influence they have on forming people’s views of the end times is enormous. My own eschatological views aside, my interest was piqued when I saw this book dealing with the “Left Behind” phenomenon:
, Left Behind? The Facts Behind the Fiction (Judson, 2006).
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The work gets a pretty good endorsement from Walter Brueggemann: “The ‘Battle for the Bible’ continues, largely in a context where fear feeds ignorance. Flesher presents a careful, well-informed comment on dispensationalism in general and “left behind� eschatology in particular. Flesher shows the way in which Scripture is distorted to serve a political ideology that is grounded in fear. Her book is an accessible invitation to find out what the real scoop on the matter is. There is much to unlearn, and Flesher contributes to that task.�
Obviously the work does not share the premillenial dispensational outlook of the Left Behind series, but seeks to provide alternative understandings of end-times events from a biblical-theological perspective.
The book looks interesting and I think it is worth a gander — especially those who are “into” the Left Behind series, if only to let you become more informed about some other eschatological views.
Tyler, I know you are a great Oilers fan. But I didn’t know you support Toronto subconsciously (see title).
Duh! I lived in Toronto for five years, so maybe that explains it! (For people who read this after I edit the title of this post, I wrote “Leaf Behind” instead of “Left Behind”)
Is Brueggemann really claiming that dispensationalism is a political ideology, or is this book picking out a specific variety of it that is political? His claim strikes me as way out of touch if he really thinks dispensationalism is about politics. I would have a hard time seeing Charles Ryrie, John MacArthur, or Zane Hodges as remotely political. Certainly some politically active dispensationalists are, but it strikes me as strange to treat them as paradigm cases of dispensationalism.
“the facts behind the fiction” – what confidence (arrogance?) she shows in her eschatology! I find it sad that dispensationalism is under popular attack in the blogosphere and some in print. Where are the exegetical affronts? I ordered this book to see if she offers an exegetically-based response to dispensationalism – or just another philosophical/theological one; like the oodles of posts against the dispensational approach to eschatology.
This statement is posted from an employee of Left Behind Games on behalf of Troy Lyndon, our Chief Executive Officer.
There has been in incredible amount of MISINFORMATION published in the media and in online blogs here and elsewhere.
Pacifist Christians and other groups are taking the game material out of context to support their own causes. There is NO “killing in the name of God� and NO “convert or die�. There are NO “negative portrayals of Muslims� and there are NO “points for killing�.
Please play the game demo for yourself (to at least level 5 of 40) to get an accurate perspective, or listen to what CREDIBLE unbiased experts are saying after reviewing the game at http://www.leftbehindgames.com/pages/controversy.com
Then, we’d love to hear your feedback as an informed player.
The reality is that we’re receiving reports everyday of how this game is positively affecting lives by all who play it.
Thank you for taking the time to be a responsible blogger.