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Review Date: 2/24/2010
This is an excellent collection of ancient texts. It is well organized and the supporting materials are very helpful. Geza Vermes has provide a marvelous tool for scholars and non-scholars alike.
Review Date: 10/5/2009
Helpful Score: 3
This book is a real eye-opener. I recommend it for anyone interested in a view of The Book of Revelation that does not include the destruction of the planet Earth and the devastation of the human race.
I have read and enjoyed the Left Behind series. But I have always been troubled by the ever-increasing violence depicted in them and especially by the lackadaisical attitudes of the main characters toward the violence that they see and even take part in. I have also observed that these characters express no concern for the wellbeing of the Earth itself, an Earth that God entrusted to the care of the human race from the very beginning.
Dr. Rossing addresses these concerns and many others. She refers to the Left Behind novels of Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins as fiction based on a fiction. She then proceeds to substantiate the statement. She gives some historical background for the dispensationalist viewpoint (the basis for the Left Behind series) and discusses its shortcomings in depth. At the end of the book Dr. Rossing takes a close look at the main dispensationalist biblical proof texts, pointing out the falsities and misrepresentations that are now commonly accepted as fact.
The book spends much of its time debunking the views expressed in the Left Behind series and other dispensationalist works. This is undoubtedly necessary. I would nonetheless have preferred that less of the book be devoted to the negativism of the dispensationalists and that more of the book be dedicated to the discussion of "The Message of Hope in The Book of Revelation."
I have read and enjoyed the Left Behind series. But I have always been troubled by the ever-increasing violence depicted in them and especially by the lackadaisical attitudes of the main characters toward the violence that they see and even take part in. I have also observed that these characters express no concern for the wellbeing of the Earth itself, an Earth that God entrusted to the care of the human race from the very beginning.
Dr. Rossing addresses these concerns and many others. She refers to the Left Behind novels of Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins as fiction based on a fiction. She then proceeds to substantiate the statement. She gives some historical background for the dispensationalist viewpoint (the basis for the Left Behind series) and discusses its shortcomings in depth. At the end of the book Dr. Rossing takes a close look at the main dispensationalist biblical proof texts, pointing out the falsities and misrepresentations that are now commonly accepted as fact.
The book spends much of its time debunking the views expressed in the Left Behind series and other dispensationalist works. This is undoubtedly necessary. I would nonetheless have preferred that less of the book be devoted to the negativism of the dispensationalists and that more of the book be dedicated to the discussion of "The Message of Hope in The Book of Revelation."
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