The Origins of Left Behind Eschatology

The Left Behind books by Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins have swept across the Christian world. But what are the origins of such Left Behind ideas as the pretribulation rapture and the sharp distinction between Israel and the Church? The Origins of Left Behind Eschatology begins by investigating the eschatology behind the Left Behind stories, and selects eight teachings which are essential to that way of understanding the End Times. It then searches through the relevant documents produced by the Early Church and many since the Reformation, looking for the origins of each of those eight ideas and when and how they came together in a system. There are plenty of surprises.

The Origins of Left Behind Eschatology is a slightly enlarged version of Bennett's PhD dissertation. It has been called a "clearly argued, thoroughly researched and overwhelmingly convincing thesis", the conclusions of which "should ... dispel much of the uncertainty that has dogged this area of millennial studies." (Crawford Gribben - author of Rapture Fiction and the Evangelical Crisis).


David Malcolm Bennett was born in England during WW2, became a bookseller and moved to Australia in 1973. He has been writing seriously since 1985 and now writes fulltime. David has the degrees B.Th and M.Th (with merit) through the Australian College of Theology and a PhD from the University of Queensland (Australia). Amongst his other books are Why Left Behind Should be Left Behind and The General: William Booth (two volumes), all published by Xulon Press, and The Altar Call: Its Origins and Present Usage, published by the University Press of America. He is a member of Creek Road Presbyterian Church in Brisbane, Australia.