I’ll be giving a talk this week with the deacon at my parish to wrap up our study on the book of Revelation, and I get to tackle Ch. 20, which I also happen to be quite passionate about as I’ve studied and researched the various interpretations of “the millennium” for years. I thought it’d be helpful to list out some of my favorite reads that I revisit often related to the End Times, the Book of Revelation, and Eschatology:
- The Rise and Fall of Dispensationalism: How the Evangelical Battle over the End Times Shaped a Nation, Daniel G. Hummel.
- Revelation: Four Views, A Parallel Commentary, Revised & Updated Edition, Steve Gregg.
- Before Jerusalem Fell: Dating the Book of Revelation, Kenneth L. Gentry, Jr.
- The Days of Vengeance: An Exposition of the Book of Revelation, David Chilton.
- The Great Tribulation, David Chilton.
- The First, Second and Third letters of St. John and the Revelation to John (Ignatius Catholic Study Bible), Scott Hahn & Curtis Mitch.
- Rapture: The End-Times Error That Leaves the Bible Behind, David B. Currie.
- Will Catholics Be Left Behind: A Critique of the Rapture and Today’s Prophecy Preachers, Carl E. Olson.
- Grace and Vocation Without Remorse: Comments on the Treatis De Iudaeis, Communio: International Catholic Review 45, Pope Benedict XVI.
- This document, included in the posthumously published book What is Christianity?: The Last Writings by Pope Benedict XVI is an excellent reflection piece.
- Eschatology: Death and Eternal Life, Pope Benedict XVI.
- Revelation Expounded: Eternal Mysteries Simplified, Finis Jennings Dake.
- This book is on my list despite its reputation and Finis Dake, because it was the first study on Revelation I received when I was around 14 years old, a gift from my wonderful Sunday School teacher at our Assemblies of God church after expressing fear of the coming rapture and tribulation. I’ve probably looked through it searching for answers dozens of times over the years, and it turned into quite strong reference material when I began researching Catholicism and orthodox teachings on Revelation (and all of scripture), ultimately leading me to question, “by what authority is scripture interpreted?” I like to keep it around to re-educate myself on certain Evangelical (popular?) biblical interpretive methods.
There are talks, podcasts, articles, and so many other resources I’ve consumed over the years (not to mention the writings of the Church Fathers and other past theologians), but I’ll mention those in other notes and threads another time. For now, we’ll go with the above list of published books and articles (some online for free) as a quick window into some of my favorite research materials on the subject.