Christian Zionism - New Life Tabernacle of Chattanooga

8. Dispensationalism and the Birth of Christian Zionism in America
(1859-1945)
During the Colonial period and even beyond the Civil War (1861-1865),
American Christianity, as in Britain at the beginning of the 19 th Century, was
essentially postmillennial in outlook. Strengthened by the Wesleyan Holiness
movement, 360 there was a strong focus on evangelism, personal morality and
civil responsibility. 361 The Revolutionary War provided a stimulus to popular
apocalyptic speculation and by 1773, King George III was being portrayed as
the Antichrist and the war a ‘holy crusade’ that would usher in the
millennium. 362 In parallel with Britain, the late 18 th and early 19 th Century also
saw an explosion of millennial sects including the Shakers, Mormons and
Millerites. Influenced by the French Revolution and the destruction of the
Papacy in France, historic Premillennialism gradually became more popular.
While these sects may have been influenced by European premillennial
ideas, their views of Israel were entirely different. Joseph Smith of the
Mormons, for example, insisted, ‘We believe in the literal gathering of Israel,
and the restoration of the Ten Tribes: Zion will be built upon this continent’,
that is, America. 363 Similarly, in William Miller’s predictions there is no mention
of the conversion of the Jews or their restoration to Palestine. 364
Between 1859 and 1872, resulting from his extensive tours throughout
America, and reinforced by the trauma of the Civil War, Darby’s premillennial
dispensational views about a ‘failing’ Church and revived Israel came to have
a profound and increasing influence upon American Evangelicalism. It
resulted not only in the birth of American Dispensationalism 365 but also
influenced the Millenarianism associated with the Prophecy Conference
Movement, as well as later, Fundamentalism. 366 Kyle suggests Darby’s
360
Timothy L. Smith, ‘Righteousness and Hope: Christian Holiness and the Millennial
Vision in America, 1800-1900,’ American Quarterly, 31.1 (Spring 1979).
361 Richard Kyle, The Last Days are Here Again, (Grand Rapids, Michigan, Baker, 1998),
pp77-98.
362 Ibid. p81.
363 J. F. C. Harrison, The Second Coming: Popular Millenarianism, 1780-1850, (New
Brunswick, Rutgers University Press, 1979), p180.
364 Kyle, op.cit., p88.
365 Charles Caldwell Ryrie, Dispensationalism Today, (Chicago, Moody Press, 1966).
366 Ernest R. Sandeen, The Roots of Fundamentalism: British and American Millenarianism,
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