Kenneth Gentry

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United States
Name: Kenneth L. Gentry, Jr.
Birth: May 3, 1950
School/tradition: Calvinism
Main interests: Christian eschatology, Book of Revelation, theonomic ethics
Influences: Greg L. Bahnsen, Cornelius Van Til, John Calvin

Kenneth L. Gentry, Jr. (May 3, 1950) is a Reformed theologian, and a member of the Presbyterian Church in America. He is particularly known for his support for and publication on the topics of partial preterism and postmillennialism in Christian eschatology, as well as for theonomy. He holds that each of these theological distinctives are logical and theological extensions of his foundational theology, which is Calvinistic and Reformed.

Contents

[edit] Biography

Gentry was born in Chattanooga, Tennessee. He is married and has three grown children.

He received his B.A. in Biblical Studies from Tennessee Temple University (1973, cum laude). After graduating he enrolled at Grace Theological Seminary in Winona Lake, Indiana. After two years at Grace Seminary (1973-1975) he left dispensationalism, having become convinced of a covenant and Reformed theology. He transferred to Reformed Theological Seminary in Jackson, Mississippi (1975-1977). Upon completing studies at Reformed Theological Seminary he was awarded the M.Div. in 1977. After several years of pastoral ministry, he earned a Th.M. (1986) and a Th.D. (1987, magna cum laude) from Whitefield Theological Seminary, both in the field of New Testament.

While at Reformed Theological Seminary he studied under Greg L. Bahnsen, a leading presuppositional apologist. Though Gentry initially resisted the distinctive ethical and eschatological views of Bahnsen, he was eventually persuaded of both theonomic ethics and postmillennial eschatology and became a staunch co-defender of them with Bahnsen. Over the years he developed a close friendship with Bahnsen, often lecturing with him in conferences, co-writing a book with him (House Divided: The Break-up of Dispensational Theology), eventually joining the staff of Bahnsen's Southern California Center for Christian Studies, and finally contributing to the festschrift in honor of Bahnsen, titled: The Standard Bearer.

Gentry is the Executive Director of GoodBirth Ministries, a non-profit religious educational ministry, "committed to sponsoring, subsidizing, and advancing serious Christian scholarship and education." He is also the Director of NiceneCouncil.com a Christian apologetics website.

[edit] Writings

Gentry is perhaps best known for his book Before Jerusalem Fell, which argues that the Book of Revelation was written before the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70. He holds that many of the dramatic events in Revelation correspond to the persecution of Christians under the Roman imperium as well as to the Jewish War against Rome which resulted in the destruction of Jewish temple (see Siege of Jerusalem). This book is the published version of his doctoral dissertation in 1986 under the title "The Dating of the Book of Revelation: An Exegetical, Theological and Historical Argument for a Pre-A.D. 70 Composition." It is widely cited as a major contemporary presentation of the early dating of Revelation, which is enjoying a resurgence in modern academic circles.

[edit] Revelation commentary

Gentry is currently working on an academic commentary on Revelation tentatively titled: The Divorce of Israel: A Redemptive-Historical Interpretation. According to preliminary studies he has released ("The Wrath of God and Israel", Fountain Inn, SC: 2007), he will be presenting evidence that the harlot city "Babylon" (Rev. 16:19-19:2) is a metaphor for first century Jerusalem, and that the book's author John is following the pattern of the Old Testament prophets in denouncing Jerusalem's unfaithfulness by such images (see especially Jer. 2-3 and Eze. 16). Gentry holds that the theme of Revelation is Christ's judgment coming against those who pierced him (Rev 1:7), and the "slain Lamb" (Rev 5:8,13; etc.) is wreaking vengeance upon first-century Jerusalem in order for God to divorce his unfaithful wife so that he might take a new bride, the Church (Rev. 21-22). Thus, Revelation dramatizes the transition from the old covenant, Temple-based, Judaic economy to the New Covenant, spiritual economy that includes all ethnicities, not just Jews (compare supersessionism).

[edit] Bibliograpy

  • The Christian Case Against Abortion (Footstool, 1982, 1986).
  • The Christian and Alcoholic Beverages (Baker, 1986, 1990).
  • The Charismatic Gift of Prophecy (Footstool, 1986, 1990; Wipf & Stock, 1999).
  • The Beast of Revelation (Institute for Christian Economics, 1989, 1994; American Vision, 2002).
  • Before Jerusalem Fell: Dating the Book of Revelation (I.C.E.: 1989; Christian Universities Press: 1997; American Vision: 1999). *House Divided: The Break-up of Dispensational Theology, with Greg L. Bahnsen (I.C.E., 1989; 1997).
  • The Greatness of the Great Commission: The Christian Enterprise in a Fallen World (I.C.E., 1991, 1994).
  • He Shall Have Dominion: A Postmillennial Eschatology (I.C.E., 1992; 1997).
  • Lord of the Saved: Getting to the Heart of the Lordship Debate (Presbyterian and Reformed, 1992).
  • God’s Law in the Modern World: The Continuing Relevance of Old Testament Law (P&R, 1992; I.C.E., 1997).
  • The Great Tribulation: Past or Future? with Thomas D. Ice (Kregel, 1999).
  • Perilous Times: A Study in Eschatological Evil (Covenant Media Foundation, 2000).
  • God Gave Wine: What the Bible Says About Alcohol (Oak Leaf, 2001) [a reprint of the title on alcohol above].
  • Yea, Hath God Said? The Framework Hypothesis v. Six Day Creation with Michael R. Butler (Wipf & Stock, 2002).
  • Covenantal Theonomy: A Response to T. David Gordon and Klinean Covenantalism (Covenant Media Press, 2006).

[edit] Contributions

  • "Private Charity Should Care for the Poor" in The Welfare State (David L. Bender, ed.) (Greenhaven Press, 1982).
  • "Civil Sanctions in the New Testament," "Church Sanctions in the Epistle to the Hebrews," and "Whose Victory in History?" in Gary North, ed., Theonomy: An Informed Response (I.C.E., 1991).
  • "The Preterist View" in Four Views on the Book of Revelation (ed. Marvin Pate) (Zondervan, 1998).
  • "The Postmillennial View" in Three Views of the Millennium and Beyond (ed., Darrell Bock) (Zondervan, 1999).
  • "Reformed Theology and Six Day Creationism" in P. Andrew Sandlin, ed., Creation According to the Scriptures: A Presuppositional Defense of Literal, Six Day Creation (Chalcedon, 2001).
  • "A Revelation of the Revelation" and "Theonomy and Confession" in Robert R. Booth, ed., The Standard Bearer: A Festschrift for Greg L. Bahnsen (Covenant Media Foundation, 2002).
  • "The Historical Problem with Hyper-Preterism" in Hyper-Preterism: A Reformed Critique, ed. Keith A. Mathison (P & R 2003).
  • "Agony, Irony and the Postmillennialist" and "Victory Belongs to the Lord" in Thine Is the Kingdom: A Summary of the Postmillennial Hope, ed. by Kenneth L. Gentry, Jr. (Ross House, 2004).
  • "Pauline Communion v. Paedocommunion" in Joseph A. Pipa, Jr. and C. N. Willborn, eds., The Covenant: God’s Voluntary Condescension (Presbyterian Press, 2005).

[edit] External links