Michael Svigel and the Fathers: The purpose of this post is to introduce Svigel’s book and his articles on the Early Church Fathers. The full title of the book is: Fathers on the Future: A 2nd-Century Eschatology for the 21st-Century Church.
You can watch Dr. Svigel being interviewed by Peter Goeman HERE
The main premise of the book is that the earliest church fathers were premillennial. I haven’t read it yet, and intend to do so early 2024. The bad news is that Dr. Svigel had so much material that his publisher made him cut large chunks out of the book. The good news is that all the supplemental materials are graciously made available by him as free PDF downloads from his website The Fathers on the Future.
The titles of the articles are included below as a teaser. I’ve read a few (Day of the Lord & the Restrainer) and can vouch that they’re more than worthy of a look if you’re interested in eschatology. And they cost nothing! Each article may be downloaded separately, or as a combined PDF file.
The Supplementary Article Subjects
1 Who Was Irenaeus of Lyons and Why Does He Matter?
2 Had Adam and Eve Eaten from the Tree of Life?
3 Bodily Resurrection in the History of the Church
4 “Your Will Be Done” as “Your Kingdom Come”
5 Ancient and Modern Challenges to Early Premillennial Testimonies
6 The Eschatology of Didache 16
7 The Chiliasm of the Epistle of Barnabas
8 The Coming Kingdom in Irenaeus, Tertullian, and Hippolytus
9 The Advent and Advance of Amillennialism
10 What Are We Seeing in Old Testament Prophecy: Fantasy, Photo, or Figure?
11 The Coming Kingdom in the Old Testament: Detailed Analysis of Key Passages
12 Expectation of the Coming Kingdom in the Intertestamental Period
13 Hoekema’s and Merkle’s Approaches to Old Testament Restoration Prophecies
14 The Case for Concurrent Periods in Acts 3:19–21
15 The Case for a Three-Stage Resurrection in 1 Corinthians 15:20–28
16 Who, What, When, and How of Revelation: Pre-interpretive Issues
17 Revelation 19:11–20:10 as a Single Progressive Vision
18 A Survey and History of Interpretations of Revelation 20:1–3
19 A Critique of Beale’s Interpretation of Revelation 20:1–3
20 A Detailed Examination of the Two Resurrections in Revelation 20
21 The Future Restoration of Israel in the Early Church
22 The Old Testament and the Day of the Lord
23 Joel 2 in Acts 2: The Day of the Lord in Peter’s Sermon
24 The Last Trumpet in 1 Corinthians 15:52 vs. the Seventh Trumpet in Revelation 11:15
25 Who (or What) Is the Restrainer in 2 Thessalonians 2?
26 The Mystery of Babylon the Great
27 Escape from the Coming Wrath in the Shepherd of Hermas
28 The Rapture of the Church in 1 Thessalonians 4:17 as an Actual Event
28.5 Supplementary Excursus: Irenaeus of Lyons and the Assumption of the Church
29 Diverse Interpretations of the Male Son of Revelation 12
A caveat
One thing to keep in mind that soon after the Apostle John died, the church quickly adopted Replacement Theology (or Supersessionism). The blurring Of Israel and the church affected their eschatology, leading them to posttribulationism. Perhaps a classic example of this is the insertion of the church as the focus in the Olivet Discourse. Dr. Larry Pettegrew covered this well in the book Forsaking Israel, mentioned HERE.
If you’re interested in the study of historical eschatology, do take a look at Michael Svigel’s materials.
Maranatha!
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