Customer Reviews

Puritan Hope

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Murray's thoughtful book challenges evangelicals to re-examine their thinking about the return of Christ. He carefully develops the basis for the sense of conviction and purpose that motivated Carey, Wilberforce and many others to do great works for Christ. Arguing that the "fullness of the Gentiles" must precede the conversion of Israel as prophecied in Romans 11, and that both of these events have not yet occurred, and that they portend far greater influence and triumph for the Church on the Earth, Murray lovingly challenges those who are of a "sit at home and wait for the rapture" mentality. He explains how and why the Puritans came to their eschatological beliefs; how these were perverted, primarily in modern times, by men like Edward Irving and J.N. Darby; why we've stopped thinking critically about these theories; and how we must recapture the confident expectation of Christ's triumphant end-time revival of Gentiles, then all Israel, before his return in glory. Excellent and thought-provoking.

From a historical survey, Murray details the relationship of Puritan postmillennialism to their motivation for world missions. Missionaries went boldly into various parts of the earth knowing that Christ has already won the victory over Satan's kingdom at the cross and had promised the victory of the church in history. "All authority has been given unto me in heaven and on earth, go therefore and teach...make disciples of all nations...I am with you even unto the end of the age." "I will build my church, and the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it."

I read this book as part of an extensive research project in eschatology, and it had a definite and important impact on my thinking, not just in "end times" events, but in understanding the Puritan theological heritage of modern Christianity and it implications for today. Released in the early 70's when dispensationalism was at it's height, this book resurrects the old Puritan view and gives it a new hearing.

This book is not a text on eschatology in the proper sense of the word. Murray does not delineate various views and weigh them against different kinds of evidence. Instead what he does is demonstrate that the theology of the Reformation, and especially the Puritans was a victorious-minded postmillennialism which looked forward to Christ's conquest of the nations, and the conversion of the Jews. He then demonstrates convincingly that many good fruits sprang from this hope especially world missions, and many cancers appeared when it was progressively replaced with a dispensational hope of Christ's 'imminent' return. For those from a strong dispensational perspective this may be too much to digest in one session, although the work is not abraisive, however for the rest of us who have been affected by dispensational thought indirectly the ideas in this book are a powerful antidote.

This book would be an excellent tool in any study of Church History, World Missions, or Eschatology.

In an age were all we hear is the end is near, the end is near it is great to hear a voice, or voices from the past that say yea it maybe but lets keep on shining the Light of Christ instead of getting into a bunker and hiding from a broken world, an excellent book!!

Excellent book. You didn't know William Carey, the founder of Protestant missions, was a postmillennialist, along with most of the other 1st-generation Protestant missionaries? You do now! (So was Adoniram Judson.) Expecting from Scripture that the good news of Jesus will prevail worldwide before He comes back is for one thing a sound, truthful hope, and for another thing it transformed what evangelicals do and it has changed lives all over the world. True, and good. God is a history-loving winner.

Besides the biography/history, Murray gives a chapter to expounding Romans 11 as promising God's worldwide blessing during history, and a chapter--which had a tremendous impact on me the first time I read it--on why, no matter how good things get before Jesus comes back, His return is still something we greatly desire. Resurrection bodies, new heaven and earth wherein righteousness dwells--yes! I was considering eschatology when I read it; I didn't become a postmil while reading it, but it helped get me ready to see the light. (For several dozen other postmillennial prooftexts, search my article "Postmillennialism helps prayer.")

He MAY have written too little about the Moravians, who were active in missionary work before Carey. His style is sound enough, but not outstanding; easy enough to read, but not great fun for most people. So four stars; but I warmly recommend it. (Around 300 pages.)