{"id":63294,"date":"2016-06-02T00:05:20","date_gmt":"2016-06-02T05:05:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/?p=63294"},"modified":"2016-05-28T09:00:42","modified_gmt":"2016-05-28T14:00:42","slug":"the-rapture-and-other-things-christians-believe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2016\/06\/02\/the-rapture-and-other-things-christians-believe\/","title":{"rendered":"The Rapture and Other Things Christians Believe"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

One of the most intense theological themes in my life was a period \u2014 of about four years \u2014 when all things eschatological were most important to me, including the Rapture: Was it pre trib, mid trib, or post trib? \u00a0As a young professor no longer interested in the rapture question I read RT France\u2019s interpretation of Matt 24:29-31, who saw it tied into 70 AD, and then I learned its connection to folks like G.B. Caird (later to N.T. Wright) and some lesser knowns but quite well known in their days.<\/p>\n

Not so much so among the populist evangelicals who mostly believe in a physical rapture into the skies.<\/p>\n

What do you believe about the Rapture? Yea or Nay? If Nay, what do you think the texts \u2014 say 1 Thess 4\u20135 \u2014 are talking about?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Billy Hallowell<\/strong><\/a>, who told me a year or so ago that he was writing a book on such topics:<\/p>\n

When it comes to eschatology \u2014 the biblical study of the end times \u2014 there are some major theological differences among denominations and broader Christian cohorts.<\/p>\n

From debate over a theoretical tribulation period to battles over a so-called \u201crapture\u201d event, Christian leaders\u2019 views are surely shaped by their organizational affiliations.<\/p>\n

Consider that the research conducted for my new book, \u201cThe Armageddon Code: One Journalist\u2019s Quest for End-Times Answers<\/a>\u201d found that 43 percent of self-identified evangelical pastors embrace a pre-tribulation rapture \u2014\u00a0the view that Christians will be taken up before the tribulation period that precedes Jesus\u2019 second coming \u2014 compared to just 31 percent of Mainline preachers.<\/p>\n

Mainline pastors (36 percent) are also more likely than evangelicals (17 percent) to select \u201cthe concept of the rapture is not to be taken literally,\u201d though it should be noted that it is difficult to pin down some of the differences between these two groups, as they overlap one another.<\/p>\n

There are certainly a number of differences between evangelicals and Mainline Protestants. As PBS once noted<\/a>: \u201c[Mainline Protestants]\u00a0have a more modernist theology. So, for instance, they would read the Bible, not as the inerrant word of God, but as a historical document, which has God\u2019s word in it and a lot of very important truths, but that needs to be interpreted in every age by individuals of that time and that place.\u201d<\/p>\n

Moving behind the evangelical and Mainline paradigm, the research became even more intriguing when considering specific denominational affiliations, with Pentecostal<\/a> preachers distinguishing themselves (73 percent) as the most likely to embrace a pre-tribulation rapture, with 61 percent of Baptists agreeing. Lutheran ministers, though, are the least likely to select this worldview, with just 1 percent of doing so.<\/p>\n

Showing just how strong a belief in a literal rapture is among some Christian leaders, consider that only 6 percent of Baptist pastors and less than one percent of Pentecostals embraced the idea that \u201cthe concept of the rapture is not to be taken literally,\u201d compared to 60 percent of Lutherans, 48 percent of Methodists and 49 percent of Presbyterian\/Reformed pastors.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One of the most intense theological themes in my life was a period \u2014 of about four years \u2014 when all things eschatological were most important to me, including the Rapture: Was it pre trib, mid trib, or post trib? \u00a0As a young professor no longer interested in the rapture question I read RT France\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":197,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-63294","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Rapture and Other Things Christians Believe<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"One of the most intense theological themes in my life was a period -- of about four years -- when all things eschatological were most important to me,\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2016\/06\/02\/the-rapture-and-other-things-christians-believe\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Rapture and Other Things Christians Believe\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"One of the most intense theological themes in my life was a period -- of about four years -- when all things eschatological were most important to me,\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2016\/06\/02\/the-rapture-and-other-things-christians-believe\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Jesus Creed\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-06-02T05:05:20+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2016-05-28T14:00:42+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Scot McKnight\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Scot McKnight\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2016\/06\/02\/the-rapture-and-other-things-christians-believe\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2016\/06\/02\/the-rapture-and-other-things-christians-believe\/\",\"name\":\"The Rapture and Other Things Christians Believe\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2016-06-02T05:05:20+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-05-28T14:00:42+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#\/schema\/person\/5919e847c58ffe6efb5899fb61797252\"},\"description\":\"One of the most intense theological themes in my life was a period -- of about four years -- when all things eschatological were most important to me,\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2016\/06\/02\/the-rapture-and-other-things-christians-believe\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2016\/06\/02\/the-rapture-and-other-things-christians-believe\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2016\/06\/02\/the-rapture-and-other-things-christians-believe\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The Rapture and Other Things Christians Believe\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/\",\"name\":\"Jesus Creed\",\"description\":\"Scot McKnight on Jesus and orthodox faith in the 21st century\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#\/schema\/person\/5919e847c58ffe6efb5899fb61797252\",\"name\":\"Scot McKnight\",\"description\":\"Scot McKnight is a recognized authority on the New Testament, early Christianity, and the historical Jesus. 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