On Tuesday, Charles C. Ryrie died at the age of 90. Ryrie taught as professor in systematic theology and also served as a dean at Dallas Theological Seminary (DTS). Often known for the Ryrie Study Bible that has sold over 2.6 million copies, Ryrie authored over 50 other books during his career. While at DTS, much of Ryrie’s work was centered in dispensationalist theology. Reflecting on Ryrie’s career, Mark Bailey, president of DTS, said, “Dr. Ryrie was a master at biblical and theological synthesis. He had the unusually rare gift of being able to state complex theological ideas in succinct statements. All of us are indebted to his efforts to articulate and defend dispensational premillennialism.”
DTS has been well known as a bastion of dispensationalism and was a large factor in popularizing that theological system with the help of Ryrie’s scholarship. In recalling his time with Ryrie, a former student said, “Senior theology — commonly known as ‘Ryrie Roulette’ — was a terrifying experience but was one of the best preparations for ministry. Dr. Ryrie would announce the topic for the next class and tell us to be prepared. We never knew what to expect, so we had to work hard to be ready for anything.”
As a system, dispensationalism examines the span of biblical history and divides it into a series of ages or periods of dispensations from God. These dispensations are understood to be particular frameworks through which God deals with humankind. This language of dispensation connotes the idea that God is effectively administered to humanity in a certain way. In other words, during each dispensation God reveals himself to humanity in a new way, and thus humanity is expected to act and conform according to the revelation of that age. While the precise number of dispensations varies according to positions within dispensationalist theology, these dispensations function to reveal God’s truth in a chronologically progressive manner.
Eschatologically, dispensationalists are premillennial. And although the two are often associated together, it is worth noting that while all dispensationalists hold to a premillennial view, not all premillennialists are necessarily dispensational. Premillennialism is the view that the second coming of Christ will occur before a literal thousand-year reign on earth. Jesus will establish this thousand-year period when he physically returns to earth to win Jerusalem as his capital. Modern-day dispensationalism is often characterized by its literal interpretation of future events such as the seven-year tribulation period, a coming antichrist and the future battle of Armageddon.
Dispensationalism is a popular theological system that is often taught in certain Evangelical circles. And although Ryrie retired from DTS over 30 years ago, his theological legacy still remains there.
