Hal Lindsay and the Great Dispensational Mutation

Abstract

Abstract: “Prophecy expert” Hal Lindsey has been an extraordinarily influential figure in American popular culture. His distinctive interpretation of the prophetic Scriptures has had remarkable success and has been a crucial shaping force on the way in which Americans think about the future. Notwithstanding this, he remains little-studied and poorly understood. The purpose of this article is to locate Lindsey in his theological and cultural context, and to examine the complicated relationship between his understanding of Scripture and that of dispensationalism. In contrast to the ease with which some critics have conflated Lindseyian pop-dispensationalism and classical dispensationalism, this article argues that Lindsey, in fact, engaged in a dramatic and fundamental re-shaping of dispensational norms.