Martin Erdmann, The Millennial Controversy in the Early Church (Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock, 2005).

I'd like to make you aware of a book that I think is very helpful in regard to debates regarding the millennium. It is The Millennial Controversy in the Early Church by Martin Erdmann. Erdmann received his doctoral degree in modern Church History at Brunel University in Uxbridge, England and teaches for Patrick Henry College in Virginia.

This is the best book I have read on the millennium in the early church. The nine chapters cover:

1. Jewish Apocalyptic

2. Millennialism of John

3. Hermeneutical Principles of the Church Fathers

4. Asiatic Millennialism

5. Millennialism of Justin Martyr

6. Millennialism of Barnabas

7. Anti-Millennialism of the Alexandrians

8. Amillennialism of Augustine

9. Conclusion

The book contains a hearty endorsement from Dr. Trevor Craigen of The Master's Seminary in the Foreword, and rightfully so. The book persuasively shows that premillennialism was the overwhelming view of the early church, including those with a close historical connection to the Apostle John. It also documents how the shift to amillennialism later in the Patristic Era was not the result of sound exegesis but of unsound hermeneutical assumptions. I have read a lot of books on the millennium but this is one of the best. I recommend it.

--Michael J. Vlach, Ph.D.

(Click on the book icon below for more information on obatining this book)