Customer Reviews

Ultimate Things: An Orthodox Christian Perspective on the End Times

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Finally!! One of the faithful from the Holy Orthodox Church steps into the eschatology fray and knocks the socks off the pop prophecy fads so in vogue today. Also features a preface from one of my favorite heirarchs in the Church today, Fr. Tom Hopko.

Rather than setting out his own interpretation, as is so vogue in many fractalized Protestant circles today, Engleman, in the true tradition of the Orthodox Church, quotes extensively from the Church Fathers on eschatological matters. Heretical and 'gitchee' modern doctrines like the Rapture are debunked as non-canonical, non-scriptural, and the vain imaginings of a 19th century Scotish woman.

As a practicing Orthodox Christian myself, I received immense guidance from this book and am very thankful to Dennis Engleman for this timely and much needed contribution.

This is an amazing book. It is defintely the best book written on the coming times. Throw out Nostradamus, according to the Holy Scriptures, the Church Fathers of Ancient Christianty, and Orthodox Bishops of old and new, Nostradamus is way off! The Orthodox Church does not recieve prophecy from a single person, nor does it give dates on future events that do not happen. This book is a must read for all Orthodox Christians and those who want to live in eternal life forever. People who read this book will be very surprised to find what the end really holds for our lives and the planet we live on. MUST READ!! MUST READ!!

An Unbeleivable Eye openner, being a Russian Orthodox and just starting to re-explore my faith.
This book is of monumental porportion, it's scarry yet having a strong beleive in my Orthodox religion and knowing what awaits us in the after life it's an inspiration.
A must read for anyone whos faith is shaken or whos soul is searching for a true religion...Ultimate Things puts all the HERESIES of the Rapture and the Millenial reign of Christ on earth to rest and shows people the thruth of what is to come. ORTHODOXY proclaiming the THRUTH since 33 A.D

After years of reading everything from non-traditional end-times views by Seventh-Day Adventist and pre-millinial views like LeHaye and Lindsey, I wanted so much to read a more careful and thoughtful depiction on Christian Eschatology. So far I'm still wanting.

First, the title is a misnomer, since in the forward, Father Hopko, who endorses the book, also tells the reader that the book is an "Orthodox Perspective" not neccesaarily "Orthodox Teaching." I'm not to sure what that is supposed to mean. The Orthodox Church does not agree with this escthalocial construct, but it is written with an Orthodox twist? It is not clear. Therefore, the book is purchased with a kind of false pretense. The title "Orthodox Perspective" gives the suspecting buyer the ideal he is reading "Orthodox teaching."

While the author quotes several Saints of the Church, scripture, and teachers, he is sometimes dis-jointed in connecting the dots. He often quotes too much and fails in providing enough personnal commentary.

While I tend to agree with his position compared to the curent rage of Pre-tribulational theology, I do not find too much different from traditional Amillinialism. The twist comes here in this text with a focus on Eastern Christrianity. This is the books strength. The West has ofetn view the "last days" through an American eyes version. The middle East climatic battles are read on what is America's role. This book tends to demonstarte the Church's role as we are Christians first, and Nationalist second.

That is the books strength and for it allow this book should be read.

I was disappointed after reading this book, but it was the first Orthodox resource I had come across that dealt with the end times. Sadly, it is so rooted in the ethos of the 20th century that the approach of the author was indistinguishable from fundamentalist Protestant writers. The insistence that THESE are the last days, and that THESE are the signs which prove it is symptomatic of the apocalyptic sectarian thinking which has characterized a small but vocal part of American Christianity over the past 150 years. While no Southern Baptist would identify the "restraining power" spoken of in 2 Thes. 2 with the holy martyr Tsar Nicholas II of Russia, the specificity of this identification is one which has been shunned by the Orthodox Church. It has been over 85 years since the Bolshevik Revolution. How long do we have to wait before deciding that this event, tragic as it was, was not the beginning of the end?

A much better book on the subject is "A Second Look at the Second Coming: Sorting Through the Speculations" by T. L. Frazier. It exposes the heretical teachings behind millenarianism, Zionism, the "rapture," dispensationalism, and numerology but it also presents a positive and hopeful outlook, calling us all to a joyful penitence in light of our Lord's glorious second coming.

Dennis Engleman has written a first-class survey of Orthodox teaching on the End Times in "Ultimate Things." The fact that he presents his facts in a simple, easy to read format makes it just that much better. Furthermore, Dennis is unafraid to take an unequivocal stand on such controversial issues as Tsar St. Nicholas II being the "restraining power" of II Thessalonians 2:7 (which indeed he was, in my opinion--and those of other Orthodox luminaries of our time such as St. John Maximovitch and Fr. Seraphim Rose). This shows that Mr. Engleman has a greater interest in Truth than fads, which is the downfall of many other books in this genre. To me, this book towers over others in its class, and I would highly recommend it. Fr. Hopko (for whom I have a very high respect) takes issue with Mr. Engleman on some subjects, such as the question of the Tsar-Martyr Nicholas II as the "restraining power" (sadly, without providing any alternate explanation of his own for the reader to consider). However, I still would recommend this book as the first option for readers (Orthodox or not) interested in this vital subject.

In this important and excellent book, the author sets forth a theory which was unique to my previous experience and also terribly enlightening: He avers that Tsar Saint Nicholas II was, from prophesy, he who constrained the anti-Christ as the last in a long of Christian Emperors dating back to Saint Constantine in the Fourth Century A.D. Think of the implications of this propositon in light of the history that has transpired since the Tsar and his entire family were brutally murdered by the anti-Christian Bolsheviks. The world saw additional bloodshed in World War I, the slaughter and persecution of Orthodox Christians in the Soviet Union, the disasterous Treaty at Versailles which, in the words of Colonel Dr. James Cooke of Ole Miss, made World War II virtually assured, the awful carnage of World War II, the communist takeover of China, Korea, Vietnam, wholesale abortion in the United States, and now a world hurtling toward a Third World War pitting Zionism against Islam, and the various allies of the two primary combatants. It could be that the author's proposition is exactly right. In any case, the book is excellent, insightful, and well worth reading. God bless.

Dennis Engleman's book dramatically pulls human nature's attention to the ultimate bottom line - the significance and consequence of the world's rejection of Christ.

"The fall of Jerusalem {in A.D. 70}was symbolic of the end of the world, but terrible though it was, it was only a pale shadow of what is to come upon mankind at the very end."

Then...

"What signs are Christians to watch for thus?...the corrupt state of men's souls and of society will itself be a divine warning: 'Universal debauchery, together with the most abundant material progress which engendered it, will be the sign of the end of the age and the approaching terrible judgment of Christ.'"8

Indeed an awakened soul can only tremble to know this but, there is hope:

"Watch therefore, and pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass (Luke 21:36)."

It is ironic that what is most uplifting about this book is also what is most sobering: it offers an education to anyone who seeks to look at the map of prophecy that details the "onslaught of Antichrist as this utterly depraved being seduces and destroys the world." It is an invitation to your soul to travel to a time and place where one can visit the ultimate reality of God's ultimate authority over His Creation.

Dennis E. Engleman subtitles his book Ultimate Things as an Orthodox Christian perspective on the end times. Perhaps it might be better described as a Russian Orthodox Christian perspective on the end times. For as those familiar with the Orthodox Churches know, the Orthodox may share a common faith but the Russian Orthodox tradition has a link to Russian history, culture, and nationalistic fervor that is unique even among the often ethnically divided Orthodox faithful. Part of this tradition is the view of Moscow as the third Rome and hence the tsar as a successor to the Christian Emperors of Constantinople. This view sees Russian and the Russian people as having a unique role among God's people as the great defenders of Orthodoxy and often is given eschatological implications.

While I am not sure whether Mr. Engleman attends a parish affiliated with either the Russian Church or its offshoots in this country (such as the OCA and ROCOR), it is quite apparent from the heavy reliance upon the Russian theologians that he has been greatly influenced by the streams of thoought in the Russian tradition. This is not necessarily a bad thing as this tradition is extremely rich. However, some writers in the Russian Church can often be extremely triumphalistic and can have a distorted view of eschatological issues. Ironically, in seeking to combat the parochialism and lack of perspective common in American Protestantism on eschatological topics, the author relies heavily on those with some of the same problems.

Engleman - like many Protestant dispensationalists - sees Scriptural prophecies of the eschaton pointing to current events. Unlike them, he sees the role of Russia as a postive force and that of America and the West in a generally negative light. Here we see the myopic views of both camps distorting their perspective. In this book, Engleman goes as far as to say the force restraining evil in the world prophesied to be taken out was the Russian monarch. Such a questionable conclusion surely rests upon an overtly romanticized view of the role of Christian monarchs in general and that of the Russian monarch in particular.

There are some strong sections to the book. His exposition of certain themes in prophecy and in patristic views of the end times are quite good reading. However, his use of quotations oftne ignores that many of the quotes supplied are by those who might agree with his view on a particular issue but would have placed this element within an entirely different context. Also, some of those cited were placing their expectations of the end of all things in their own historical period. Thus, while they may be respected as great saints, their opinions on this issue should be taken as a pious belief and not as an authoritative statement.

Another strike against Engleman's book is the style of writing. Rather than the richer theolgical perspective one would hope from an Orthodox view of prophecy, we are given a book that seems to take an outline of popular Protestant dispensationalist works and adopt it to Orthodox purposes. This is seen most amusingly when Engleman cites dispensationalist author Grant Jeffrey approvingly. The net result is to prove that Evangelical Protestants do not have a monopoly on wild entimes speculation.

Despite some postive elements, Ultimate Things just has too many questionable assumptions to be a recommended source on eschatology. Except for those interested in seeing what happens when someone in one of the historical Churches contracts "millennial madness", it is best to pass on this offering.

It's an Orthodox take on the "end times" and it's quite interesting at that. Reformed and evangelical readers who are moderately familiar with the end times arguments will find many of Engleman's arguments familiar. To the degree that evangelicals follow St Augustine's City of God, they will recognize and appreciate many of Engleman's arguments.

It would be a misnomer to call this "amillennialism." Such a category is worse than useless and tells you nothing, except that you aren't a dispensationalist. But it kind of looks like it. The difference between Engelman's eschatology and amillennialism, is that the latter is annoyingly vague on eschatology except in saying that we are in the "millennium" now. Engleman, however, is quite refreshing: he is frank and specific in a way that doesn't draw up time frames.

The book isn't perfect by any stretch. An editor could have at least made the endnotes aesthetically consistent. Quotations that are longer than four lines should be set apart in the text (especially if the quotation is a page long!). And much of the book is simply narrating bible passages (I suppose that's good). It's an easy read, all things considered. I'm beginning to see a pattern in his argumentation, from varying strength to weakness.

Strengths: to the degree he is following consistently to the monks, the church fathers, and Fr Seraphim Rose, the book maintains a stunning intensity and power in argument. This is why his view is better than amillennialism. He has the same basic structure as amillennialism, but can is specific in naming evil characters on the world scene.

Weaknesses: I'm not sure he is fully aware of some of the sources he is quoting. And some of his bible passages seem jarringly out of context. He is right to see Antichrist rebuilding the Temple and ruling the world from Jerusalem (presupposing, of course, a return of the Jews to Israel). Presumably, this is a bad thing for Christians. However, it doesn't make any sense to have marshalled all the beautiful passages where God himself promises to rebuild the temple for his people in the latter days (pp. 51-54). Engleman is an Orthodox guy. He follows the holy fathers, so he must be familiar with allegorizing and spiritualizing the text. Wouldn't it make more sense to see the temple as some sort of spiritual type or fulfillment of Christ? Isn't this what Orthodoxy believes anyway?

The book is a good read. It will spur the reader on to deeper holiness. My favorite part was Tsar Nicholas II as the restrainer of evil.