2009/04/20 by Ian S. Markham · 1 citation
Social Sciences · #American Constitutional Law and Politics
paper · doi:10.1002/9781118427170.ch36
openalex publication_date 2009/04/20 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/29
The theology of John Nelson Darby lies behind the astonishing success of the Left Behind series. Indeed one could make the claim that Darby is the single most influential theologian on modern American fundamentalist theology. Darby is best known for dispensationalism. For Darby there are seven dispensations. The two most important are the dispensation of law and the dispensation of the church. A deep interest for Darby was eschatology (the end of the age) and the way in which this dispensation would come to an end. Darby's impact on Christianity has been major. He simultaneously created a theology that holds the popular imagination and was popularized very effectively in the margins of the Schofield Bible, and, at the same time, created a secret denomination.