Before Jerusalem Fell

Before Jerusalem Fell: Dating The Book of Revelation is a 1989 book written by Kenneth Gentry based on his PhD dissertation from Whitefield Theological Seminary. The book is currently in its third edition and is published by American Vision in Atlanta, Georgia.

Content

The book presents a sustained argument from fields such as biblical hermeneutics, ancient history, textual criticism, archaeology, and Christian theology for why the Book of Revelation must have been written before the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70, during the reign of Roman emperor Nero. Gentry argues that Nero Caesar is the "sixth king" presently ruling (Revelation 17:10) who functions in Revelation as the Beast.

In particular, Gentry focuses on the foundation of most external evidence for the late date hypothesis of the Book of Revelation, which is a statement by Ireneaus that 'the Apocalyptic vision was seen during Domitian's reign'.[1] The original statement is ambiguous and Gentry proposes that it could also validly be translated to mean 'apostle John, who wrote the vision, was seen during Domitian's reign', hence it is not relevant to the late date argument.[1] Iraneaus is also considered prone to historical error as, for example, he wrote that Jesus lived until almost fifty years of age, after fifteen years of earthly ministry.[1] These build reasons for Gentry to state that Ireneaus' statement cannot be conclusive.[1]

Controversy

The book is controversial in that it goes against majority evangelical and Dispensational opinion that Revelation was written in the reign of Domitian in AD 95, though the pre-AD 70 date for Revelation was the dominant view of scholars in the 19th century and first two decades of the 20th century.[2]

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See also

References
  1. Book Review: Before Jerusalem Fell: Dating the Book of Revelation (An Exegetical and Historical Argument for a Pre-AD. 70 Composition), by Kenneth L. Gentry, Jr., Th.D. Reviewed by the Rev. Grover E. Gunn, III, pastor, the Carrollton Presbyterian Church (PCA), Carrollton, Mississippi. Counsel of Chalcedon Magazine, March 1990, Issue 2, pp. 22–23.
  2. Gregg, Steve, ed. (1997). Revelation, four views: a parallel commentary. T. Nelson Publishers. pp. 14–18. ISBN 0840721285.


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