Reviews for Will Catholics Be "Left Behind"?

The average rating for Will Catholics Be "Left Behind"? based on 2 reviews is 3.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2012-07-09 00:00:00 Jeffrey Saunders Every November as the world world comes to the end-as-beginning of another year, Christians look forward to the yearly celebration of the Coming of the Lord as the Babe of Bethlehem while also looking forward to the and the Second Coming of Christ in Glory and the World-To-Come in the Season of Advent. Traditionally also, this is a time for the preaching of the Four Last Things: Death, Judgment, Heaven, and Hell as it relates to the individual. And a rich source of material for such preaching is to be found in the final book of the Christian Bible, "The Revelation to John". This is especially true of Evangelical preaching and popular fiction about the end times, which is more likely to tie events in Revelation to contemporary world events. A popular movement within Evangelical Christian circles which typifies this style of writing is Dispensationalism with its watchword question "Will you be left behind when Christ comes to rapture His Church?" This is a question not usually asked by Catholic Christians, who instead are more likely to ask, "What is the Rapture?" Carl Olson's "Will Catholics be "left behind? A Catholic Critique of the Rapture and Today's Prophecy Preachers" offers an answer, as well as an answer to the answer, to the question above. Olson, an Evangelical convert to Roman Catholicism, edited the Catholic periodical Envoy and also free-lances for various other Catholic publications. The book was written, in his own words because "the Rapture, and belief in the Rapture, is the heart of a unique and complex view of the Bible, the world, the Kingdom and Israel, and the end of Time" (p13) that is at odds with Catholic (and historical mainline Protestant) theology, and is not to be taken as an isolated doctrine. That is why it is important to understand, and to critique, the rapture. The book is divided into two sections: part one (chapters one through six) gives an introduction and history of the rapture and it's surrounding theology; and part two (chapters 7-10) provides a critique of the same from Catholic principles. An introduction, glossary of names and of terms, notes, index, a lengthy bibliography of primary sources pointing to further information on the topics covered in the book frame the work as a whole. In the introduction, Olson shares his own faith journey and interaction with Rapture theology, as well as his motives for writing "Will Catholics Be Left Behind". Chapter one brings us into the world of the rapture and modern bible prophecy movement, as well as summarizing the confusion that Catholic often when presented with rapture teachings, Chapter two provides an overview of the recent popularity of "Left Behind" and other media treatments and begins to analyze the theology behind it, Then in chapters 3 we are introduced to the literalist method of scriptural interpretation as applied to both the Book of Revelation and the Prophets and the Bible as a whole, as well as a brief history of interpretation of the Book of Revelation through the centuries. Chapters 4-6 bring the focus to the movements and personalities of this theology through the twin lenses of Dispensationalist-Milllenarianism. Chapter 5 and 6 especially give a history of key movements -offering a brief overview of end-times teachings from the Church Fathers on up to the late twentieth century with special attention to British and American writers- and personalities -such as William Miller, John Nelson Darby, Cyrus Scofield (of the Scofield Reference Bible) Hal Lindsey, and Tim LaHaye (of the Left Behind series of apocalyptic novels)-, as well as clarification of many terms used in teaching and commentaries -explaining the differences between pre-, post, and mid-tribulation; and pre-, post- and amillennialism. With chapter 7, Olson begins the critique from Catholic principles, concentrating on what Olson says are the three main areas of disagreement between Dispenseationalists and other forms of Christianity: the relationship of Old Testament Israel and the Church (chapter 7), the interpretation of the Scripture (literalist only approach versus a more nuanced understanding) and "Bible Prophecy" with its constant search to match current world events with the events of "prophecy" as it relates to the End Times and its influence upon the believers who accept such views (chapter 8); and the Rapture itself -the notion of believers being caught up and removed from the world scene before the Second Coming (chapter 9). He ends the book with a chapter giving the Catholic view of the end times (chapter 10). Although Olson himself as he admits, was raised in a Fundamentalist home in expectation of the Rapture, he draws very little upon personal experience in his critique, focusing instead on dispensationalists' own writings as primary source material, on passages of disputed scripture, as well as documents from Vatican II, the Catechism of the Catholic Church, and prominent theologians. Obviously, Olson writes from the perspective of a committed Roman Catholic, but much of his criticism would be agreeable to Anglicans, Eastern Orthodox, Lutheran and the other mainline Protestant churches. His book is helpful in understanding the popularity of End Times fervor among our Evangelical and Fundamentalist brethren, sympathetic yet not afraid to point out fundamental errors in method and effect. At the same time, his reliance on written sources only without engaging in dialogue. The book can appear to be overbalanced in favor of Dispensationalism, with the final chapter a solitary coda on a positive understanding of the End Times, yet is helpful to keep in mind that Olson is not writing a scholarly text, but a popular introduction for Catholics. One [Amazon] reviewer has criticized Olson for not including a discussion of Catholic 'private revelation' and Catholic 'end times prophecies' when giving the Catholic teaching of the End Times(1), but this shows a misunderstanding of the role of private revelation: private revelation is not to be construed as adding anything to doctrine -any such teaching does not belong to the Deposit of the Faith. but is only useful for confirming or illustrating teachings of the faith, and must not contain anything contrary to faith or good morals(2). references: (1) (2) Poulain, A. (1912). Private Revelations. In The Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. Retrieved July 9, 2012 from New Advent:

Review # 2 was written on 2014-02-19 00:00:00 Robert Caprari This book gives a detailed description of fundamentalist eschatology according to Scofield/Darby/Lindsay and the Moody Bible Institute then contrasts it with Catholic theology. It focuses on premillennial dispensationalism (rapture > tribulation > new world order > antichrist > parousia > Armageddon > thousand years > end of days) and the supporting scripture, but walks through the four interpretations of The Book of Revelation (futurist, historist, preterist and idealist) and sheds some light on why there are differences of opinion on the book's meaning. At its core, the two sides of this debate disagree on the definition of The Kingdom. Catholics believe the Old Testament is fulfilled in Christ, The Church is the New Israel and the Kingdom is a present-day reality which will become fully realized in Heaven after the second coming. Fundamentalists who ascribe to Scofield believe in two Parousias: one where those who are Saved will be taken up in the Rapture with Jesus (before the Tribulation) and the another when they return to Earth with Jesus to defeat Satan in the Battle of Armageddon before returning to heaven and turning over the Kingdom (on Earth) to the Jews (God's original chosen people) who will finally believe Jesus is the Christ (the warrior Messiah) and worship him on Earth for 1,000 years. Certainly an eye opener. I wonder how many people who like/believe the Left Behind series of books actually know their full beliefs.