Book Review: Heaven Misplaced, by Douglas Wilson

Warning: Theology Book Review!  If Christian Theology isn't your thing, I'm totally fine with you reading my previous two reviews of baseball books.  If baseball isn't your thing, we probably shouldn't hang out.

My views on eschatology (And here's the litmus test, because I'm not defining that term.  So I guess this post is for insiders only.) have been described as "weird," though I always insist that my views are in fact in the majority.  Just not amongst contemporary American evangelicals.  Their loss, I say.

The problem is that I find the whole Pre-Tribulation Rapture thing to be escapist nonsense, not really backed up by scripture.  I try to be charitable to those who hold this view, but I can't help but think they take it because they haven't actually read about any of the other views.  (I don't think I'm coming across as charitable here.  But I seriously don't think this stuff is worth dividing over.  Arguing over…definitely.)

I grew up under Dispensational Premillennial teaching (think Left Behind), and have vivid memories of watching (and having the excrement scared out of me) by the film A Thief in the Night.  For years afterward, I'd worry I'd been left behind any time my parents were late getting home.  Even now I typically remark "I thought I'd missed the Rapture again" when I have to wait on a Christian friend.  (Though to be fair, I do my share of Rapture-scaring other people if they think the way I do.  My bad.)

When I got to college and started studying my Bible, and more so since I've started reading the Bible every year, and not just my Bible but commentaries and theology books, I've found there's a lot more out there than the Tim LaHaye take on things.  So I went from Dispensational Premillennialism (invented in 1830) to Amillennialism (the majority view throughout most of history, and the majority view currently except perhaps in America).  But I never gave Postmillennialism much thought.

I suppose I should define some terms here.  Dispensationalists look for a secret Rapture, followed by the Tribulation, then the Second Coming, then the thousand year Millennium in which Christ reigns from Jerusalem.  Postmillennialists believe the Tribulation is in the past and the Second Coming will occur after the reign of Christ in the Millennium (it's a spiritual reign).  Amillennialists believe basically the same as the Posts, but with the Millennium instead being an undefined period we call the Age of the Church.  (I learned from Wilson that most modern Posts take an indefinite period for the Millennium, too.)

The main difference between the A's and Posts is that the Posts believe the Gospel will essentially win, and the vast majority of the world's population will become Christian.  It's extremely optimistic, and that's why Douglas Wilson terms the view "historical optimism" in Heaven Misplaced: Christ's Kingdom on Earth.  The altered term draws attention away from the Millennium, which he describes as "a thousand years of peace that Christians enjoy fighting over."

(I've neglected to even mention Historic Premillennialism here since it's somewhat lesser known, but as it's title implies, it's got more of a pedigree to it than Dispensationalism does.  I've unfortunately sort of thrown out the Millennial baby with the Dispensational bathwater to this point.  I'll have to read up on it eventually.)

Some weeks ago, I watched and very much enjoyed "An Evening of Eschatology," hosted by John Piper.  It was a panel discussion with three Reformed theologians debating the various Millennial views.  I'm not a fan of Reformed Theology in general, but I was most impressed with Douglas Wilson, so I requested his book through InterLibrary Loan.

Heaven Misplaced is a nice, short book setting out a logical and Biblical argument for the historical optimism position, and while I can't say I'm entirely convinced by it, Wilson's arguments are certainly persuasive.  I find myself entirely in agreement with him on the subjects of Biblical interpretation.  That is, that we should interpret the Old Testament the way the New Testament writers did.  His chapters titled "And the Stars Fell from Heaven" and "666 and All That" should be required reading.  Yeah, that good.  You get a taste of some of it in the video, if I recall correctly.

As good as the Biblical evidence is for the Postmillennial view, it's tough to look at the world and be really that optimistic.  Though I've said in the past that on my optimistic days I'm a Postmillennial Universalist.  That's not most days, mind you.  But I hope that way.

By the way, Wilson is a Calvinist, and therefore not a Universalist.  Just wanted to make that clear.  But the cynic in me thinks that hoping for the Post view is a kind of soft Universalism.  "Okay, so most of the people who ever lived weren't part of the Elect, but at the end, most everyone will be."  Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain!  I'm not actually implying that Wilson is anything but honest in his eschatology.  It's just that I think the doctrine of unconditional election stinks, and I don't think the idea of the ultimate triumph of the Gospel in Postmillennialism overcomes the stench.  (And yes, I'm familiar with the scriptures used to defend the odoriferous doctrine.)

But the core point he makes about the progress of the Gospel is a good one.  Much of Jesus' teaching involved the Kingdom slowly growing and filling the Earth (Dispensationalists completely screw up the interpretation of the Kingdom parables). Is it so far fetched to think that the progress of the Gospel will continue to grow and succeed?

Do I really believe that, prior to the return of Christ, the earth will be as full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea?  Do I really believe that all the nations of men will stream to their Lord and savior, Jesus Christ?  Do I really believer that Jesus Christ is the desire of nations?  I really do.

I'm not totally there, but I'm certainly willing to hope he's right.

The other main point of the book, and of Postmillennialism, is that Christ is reigning now from Heaven and will eventually bring Heaven to Earth.  That's where the title, Heaven Misplaced, comes from.  As he puts it in the video I linked, "Heaven is not my home, I'm just a-passing through."  (BTW, Rob Bell has made this point several times in his books, but he's too controversial to have people recognize he's right about it.)  We don't hope to escape the Earth and flee to Heaven.  We anticipate Christ returning from Heaven to make his dwelling with us on a New Earth.

If you've never read much on eschatology, or if your reading has been one-sided, I highly recommend Douglas Wilson's little book.  It'll give you a different perspective.

I had to get this book through InterLibrary Loan because my library didn't have it.  What it did have was Collision, a documentary following Wilson and Christopher Hitchens as they debated around the country.  Highly recommended.  Douglas Wilson is a smart dude and an excellent debater.  He also has one of the greatest blog names in history (Blog and Mablog, definitely an inside joke for eschatology wonks.)

Next up is probably Jumper, a rare To Be Read list pick, and interesting science fiction.

Note: If you click through and buy this book or anything else linked to Amazon, I'll receive a very small amount of money.  But you owe me that, don't you think?  You were having trouble sleeping and I helped, after all…