As Jesus is the cornerstone upon which the Church is built, so are his teachings the unifying cornerstone of Christian doctrine.

4 popular views of prophecy

Apocalyptic books such as Daniel and Revelation are accepted in all Christian Bibles. There are studied with 4 predominant views of prophecy: fulfillment mostly in very early history, mostly throughout history, mostly in the future and symbolic fulfillment any time any place. These four camps are often called preterism (ancient fulfillment), historicism, futurism and idealism (symbolic or spiritual fulfillment). Because apocalyptic literature is largely symbolic in genre, it seems logical to see its prophecies as also symbolic. A symbolic view also has a place for all three other views. So when we read of prophecies in other literature such as that in Luke 21:5-19 we can see elements which were fulfilled at least in type shortly afterwards (Jerusalem surrounded and trampled) and some which will be more logically completely fulfilled only at Christ’s return (the Son of Man coming).

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