Need for a Trusted Dispensational Resource Center

A new Dispensational Resource Center and a contribution from Dr. Paul Henebury:

The expression of theology known—for better or for worse—as dispensationalism has always had important things to say to the church and to the world.

To the church it has commended an approach to the text of the Bible which prioritizes what is properly called, despite some caveats, the “literal” method. Taking this approach to the reading of the Testaments does not mean that there is a one-sided understanding of the text to which all must acquiesce—a kind of hermeneutical flatland which we should all find ourselves in if we are fully on board with this school of thought. No, although there are always small-minded people who will expect us not to break step, a vibrant and healthy theology will entertain the considered viewpoints of various contributors who, because they are less than perfect, because they cannot see everything, employ a prima facie interpretation and bring their best efforts before their peers and move the conversation forward within its parameters.

Dispensationalism also speaks to the body of Christ about the relative importance of the two testaments. In an era when, more and more, the voice of the Old Testament is being all but muted by theological pre-understandings of the New Testament in influential circles, a robust alternative which gives no preference to either part of Scripture is pertinent now more than ever. What we need is a group of well-informed, sophisticated-yet-humble contrarians to assure us that God means what He says in both to whomever He is talking, and that faith trusts that God will fulfill His Word despite the obstacles which finite reason and historical vicissitude use to fuel their objections to the plain sense. Faith cannot but resign itself to believing the words as they are spoken. If it tries to reinterpret the words as different words it is never quite sure if it has gotten the translation right. And so it is never sure just what it is to believe. A vibrant dispensational (but I would want to say “Biblical-covenantal”) theology will always start us off with the plain sense and will always return us there...keep reading