Journal: Masters Seminary Journal
Volume: TMSJ 06:1 (Spring 1995)
Article: The Hermeneutics of Progressive Dispensationalism
Author: Robert L. Thomas

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MSJ 6:1 (Spr 95) p. 79

The Hermeneutics of Progressive Dispensationalism1

Robert L. Thomas

Professor of New Testament

Progressive Dispensationalism differs from Dispensationalism in a number of ways, one of them being in not viewing the time of the rapture to be as crucial. Progressive dispensationalists view themselves as a continuation of the dispensational tradition, but realize they are moving toward nondispensational systems. The movement’s desire for rapproachment with other theological systems has involved a hermeneutical shift in its understanding of Scripture. It has replaced grammatical-historical interpretation with a system of hermeneutics called historical-grammatical-literary-theological. Several comparisons that illustrate the differences between the two hermeneutical systems relate to the function of the interpreter, the historical dimension, the “single-meaning” principle, the issue of sensus plenior, and the importance of thoroughness. The bottom line is that a choice between Dispensationalism and Progressive Dispensationalism amounts to a choice of which system of hermeneutics an interpreter chooses to follow.

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A recent development related to the pretribulational rapture has come from a relatively new movement calling itself Progressive Dispensationalism (hereafter usually designated by “PD”). For the most part, progressive dispensationalists believe in a rapture prior to the future seven-year tribulation, but they do so in a rather tentative

MSJ 6:1 (Spr 95) p. 80

fashion.2 Their system could dispense with this doctrine without altering their position significantly.

A closer look at PD will clarify why its adherents do not hold the pretrib view to be crucial. The name “Progressive Dispensationalism” derives from the proclivity of its adherents to see the movement in the lineage of dispensational theology and from the understanding of dispensations as not being different arrangements between God and the human race but as successive arrangements in the progressive revelation and accomplishment of redemption.3 An attempt at defining PD must remain vague because progressive dispensationalists themselves are still in the process of trying to define it. The title of a recent book, Dispensationalism, Israel and the Church: The Search for Definition (1993), reflects the uncertainty of those within the movement about definition.

Lineage and Mediating Stance of Progressive Dispensationalism

The leaders in the movement

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