BOOK REVIEW - DISPENSATIONALISM: ESSENTIAL BELIEFS AND COMMON MYTHS BY MICHAEL J. VLACH

 

 One of the saddest moments of my life - my wife and I were talking to a Christian friend and mentioned a certain Dispensationalist teacher. That friend went into a diatribe that bordered on hatred, and it definitely made accusations that we knew weren't true.

I find the best way to know a view is to hear what the proponents of the view say, and then read the critiques and judge if they're accurately portraying the proponent's view. Dispensationalism is one such controversial topic, and this book does an excellent job in giving it.

Dispensationalism: Essential Beliefs and Common Myths by Michael J. Vlach, does what is promised. He gives a list of what all dispensationalists believe and deals with common misconceptions (most of which are based on either poorly worded statements from Dispensationalists or misunderstanding, though there's a few accusations that border on slander.

One thing that Vlach deals with is that Dispensationalism is limited in the doctrines it affects, namely ecclesiology (doctrine of the church) and eschatology (doctrine of end times). He also recognizes that Dispensationalism is known as a doctrine of discontinuity (i.e. how the Old and New Testament differ) and then points out where Dispensationalists hold to continuity between the two Testaments.

This is a short book (just barely over 100 pages), because it has a specific purpose - dealing with what dispensationism is and what it isn't. This is not a book designed to convert people to dispensationalism or to win arguments; it is more of a defense against the attacks on that view. It definitely points out that Dispensationalists and Covenant Theologians agree that salvation from Adam on has always been by grace alone through faith alone (Ephesians 2:8-9).

I did find some things that weren't covered. I've noticed that some of the arguments against dispensationalism are based on  the gifts of the Spirit, though Vlach would probably point out that there are continuist as well as cessasionist dispensationalists. Vlach also doesn't mention Pauline Dispensationalism (which teaches that Paul is the New Testament writer dealing with the church and thus focus his teachings, nor acknowledge that all Dispensationalsist don't see the church at Pentecost (for example, Les Feldick who was an Acts 9 Pauline Dispensationalist. These items, however, aren't necessary for what Vlach is focused on in this volume.

This is an excellent introduction to dispensationalism.