Book Review: The Apocalyptic Vision and the Neutering of Adventism

Book Review
Knight, George R. The Apocalyptic Vision and the Neutering of Adventism. Hagerstown, MD. Review and Herald, 2008

I just finished reading this short book (107 pages) and thought a short review might interest you. Let me start with the end in mind.
This is what Dr. Knight says as he concludes the book. It is a comment as to where this book came from. This book comes from the core of messages presented by Dr. Knight at the Pacific Union ministerial council many of us attended in August of 2007.
Dr. Knight comments that the evaluation on his messages by the 800 ministers attending presented him with “two honors”: His series was voted as the most valuable presentation at the convention, and as the least valuable. What this indicated to him, and to me, is that ministers (and as a result, the laity) are radically divided on what Knight calls “the very issues that makes us Adventist.
This book is an attempt, by Knight, to highlight the need for apocalyptic preaching in Adventism. Not beastly preaching, as Knight puts it, but apocalyptic, end time preaching. Knight repeatedly asks the question, “What does it mean to be an Adventist?” And, “Why be an Adventist?” These are two excellent questions.
Knight suggests that for many in our church of 15 million plus, they can’t help it. For others, it’s an addiction, but in the end, what we are discovering as a church is that there have to be good reasons for a person to be and Adventist (especially for those in younger generations). He suggests that we have spent far too much time bickering over apocalyptic minutia, and not enough time focusing on Jesus. One example is the “fear mongering about the ‘time of the end’ and legalistic interpretations about how to arrive at a state where one no longer sins…” Since unfortunately, many believe sin-less-ness is necessary to stand without a mediator during the time of trouble, this has led many to despair that they can never be good enough for God to love them.
Knight spends the rest of the book reviewing the history of the Adventist church and outlining the church’s basic position on apocalyptic prophecy, historicism, and the apocalyptic (end time) chapters in the synoptic Gospels.
Overall, I found the book to be a good overview of our apocalyptic theology. One can find areas of disagreement on how he interprets portions of Revelation, but Dr. Knight’s focus is Christ centered. He also recognizes the need for a social Gospel (feed the hungry, take care of the widows, etc.), and he is concerned about the damage “beastly preaching” is doing to our message.
His overall message, though, is that Adventist must focus on the Book of Revelation. It is, in his view, what makes us Adventist.