368: Dr. Dan Hummel and Leaving Behind Dispensationalism

How often do you think about the end times? Ever come home to an empty house and wonder if you'd been left behind?

If so, you're going to love this episode because our guest explains where that theological belief—and others you probably hold—came from.

Dr. Dan Hummel is the director of The Lumen Center in Madison, WI and a research fellow in the History Department at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He authored The Rise and Fall of Dispensationalism: How the Evangelical Battle of the End Times Shaped a Nation. 

Dr. Hummel shared his own experiences including how he developed a global perspective as a missionary kid, growing up in a cessationist tradition, and the humility he developed by studying different traditions in Israel.

We also talk about dispensationalism, a theological framework that you're probably more affected by than you realize. He details where it came from, how it still influences us today, including how you read your Bible.

Dr. Hummel's work and story reminds us that understanding our theological tradition is essential for our spiritual growth.

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Stories Dan shared:

• Growing up as a missionary kid and developing a global perspective

• How his family of origin shaped his perspective

• Praying the “sinner’s prayer” as a seven year old

• How his college experiences in a small church shaped his faith

• Deciding to study Middle East history

• The humility he had as he read different traditions

• Growing up in a cessationist tradition

• Spending a year in Israel and the experience of being in the minority

• How studying Christian Zionism led to studying dispensationalism

• The effect of dispensationalism’s “hermeneutical innovation”

• Examples of the effects of dispensationalism in America today

Great quotes from Dan:

Christianity is an inherently eschatological religion.

Resources we mentioned:

• Dan’s website 

• The Rise and Fall of Dispensationalism: How the Evangelical Battle over the End Times Shaped a Nation by Dr. Dan Hummel

• How Should We Then Live?: The Rise and Decline of Western Thought and Culture by Francis Schaeffer

• The Lost World of Genesis One: Ancient Cosmology and the Origins Debate by John Walton

• With by Skye Jethani

Related episodes:

• Skye Jethani and Eternity Breaks In
• Peter Englert and Discipleship Ministry and Mentorship
• Chuck Malott is a Hippy Turned Saint