The history of “movements” are often not written until much later in time & often by people far removed from the events, piecing together those events by bits of documentation. In light of that & in relation to an important decade marker, it seems only right to document the history of the Preterist Movement from 1996 to 2006 before some of the important events slip away as mere footnotes in the history of preterist theology.

1996 – The Curtain-Raising

The year 1996 might be considered the curtain-raising year of what has become the “preterist movement”, although full preterism had been spreading for ten years in the Churches of Christ (CoC), mostly among preachers who were better versed in the Word than their flocks.  1996 marked the year when the movement began to noticeably find significant adherents in the grass roots & other quarters of Christendom.   It was in 1996 when the famed Reformed author, David Chilton openly declared his move into full preterism. It was in 1996 when Todd Dennis would launch the comprehensive resource website called The Preterist Archive. 

Leading up to 1996 we also see some of the most remarkable contributions to preteristic theology. R.C. Sproul Sr. released his book “The Last Days According to Jesus”. Indeed, the 1990s were the lead up years to the release of many preteristic books by men such as Kenneth Gentry, Gary DeMar & others. (listing of books)

Also during these years many of the Yahoo discussion lists began, like the Reformed Preterists List, the PretCosmos list, & others. It was via these lists some of the very first preterists began to interact – before the current plethora of preterist websites.

The vanguards of early modern preterism were men like Ed Stevens, Walt Hibbard, Joseph Gautier jr., John Noè, Don Preston, Jack Scott, William Bell, & others. Of course there was a strain of preteristic thinking that branched off from Max King & the Church of Christ, but this group never desired to be labeled preterists & soon created another sub-group called “Transmillennialists™”. This group rarely interacts with most modern day Preterists & has more or less marginalized itself.

Many of the first crop of preterists were typically generated from several sources:

 Most current full preterists are coming in through 1, 3, & 5.

An Online Phenomenon

Just as in any movement, especially one so similar in nature to the first Reformation of the 1500s, those advocating its principles sought to interact more & more & thus more venues for this interaction were sought. Along with the Yahoo groups, websites with forums began to spring up. The similarity between the first Reformation & the advent of the printing press & this “Second Reformation” (as preterism is often called) & the advent of the computer & the Internet is remarkable. Indeed, the Preterist Movement has been called a mainly “online” phenomenon. How else would so many people between such great geographical distances find out that they share a common belief?

Preterist Christians began to utilize the full force of the online medium. They were meeting together via instant message programs & online chat programs such as “Paltalk” where they could supplement the kind of open & honest discussion about their preterism which was getting & would get them kicked out of a traditional church without a hearing.

Some of the early “pioneers” of these mediums were men like H.L. James & Kelly Birks. These men would maintain “rooms” on the Paltalk chat forums wherein they held live audio discussions with groups of interested Christians. These groups sometimes would number over 50 & would spend hours on end in discussion, study & debate.

It soon seemed that everyone with any amount of preteristic understanding, be he or she an author or a columnist had a “preterist website”. People began to congregate on these websites & interact with the articles that would be posted by their favorite writers.

As the Internet became more personalized with “blogs” (web logs/online personal journals), individuals began to keep their own preteristic journals. Obviously, all of this promotion of the preterist view would also generate a response, so a few “anti-preterist” websites & blogs began to spring up as well. For the most part these have dwindled to really only one – PreteristSite.com ran by a woman using the name “Dee Dee Warren”.

Ironically enough, it was Dee Dee Warren, the most avowed, “anti-preterist” that had the largest hand in composing the online definition of Preterism in an “open source” encyclopedia called “Wikipedia”. Dee Dee collaborated with a full preterist named Mike Beidler to decide on the original structure & content of the encyclopedia.

Also about this time, preteristic Christians were using traditional communication mediums. Ken Davies & H.L. James broadcasted a radio program called “Beyond the End Times”. Another radio program that broadcasts both on traditional radio & also on the Internet & simultaneously streamed into a Paltalk chat rooms for immediate interaction is “The Voice of Reason” by John Anderson.

Lastly, preterists between 1996-2006 were making use of a new venue called, “podcasting”. With the advent of personal audio storage devices called mp3 players & “ipods”, people began uploading interviews, debates, & discussions (not to mention music) to the Internet wherein other people could download these files to their personal audio storage devices.

As this process became more sophisticated, entire series could be collated into what is/was called a “feed”. A feed (often called rss feed) was simply one file listing all the locations of the files often with descriptive details & timestamps. A user via a directory service could access the feed.

Debate & Conference Circuit

As preterists utilized the Internet to their advantage, they didn’t neglect the traditional method that theological movements typical use to grow. Debates & annual conferences were plentiful.

Typically, a debate would be scheduled between the nemeses of preterists – the futurists. Some of the early debates would simply deal with what is called the “time statements” found in the Bible which indicated the coming of the Lord & attenuating events would all be “soon” or “about to be” within the first-century generation. At first, futurists Christians were eager to debate the preterists, thinking that the preterist view was merely a new cultic view that could be easily refuted. It soon became obvious that preterist debaters like Don Preston were no easy targets. They built their case solidly from Scripture. As time went on the debates moved from debating futurists to what is called “partial preterists”. The debates between the full preterist & the partial preterist position may have seemed like the splitting of hairs to some observers since both groups typically agreed about the imminence of the time statements & the pre-A.D. 70 early dating of all of the books of the Bible including the Book of Revelation, thus these debates focused on issues like the nature of the Resurrection of believers & the nature of the final Judgment.

After a while debating opponents became scarce, either due to unwillingness to debate “heretics” (which many people considered preterists to be) or the opponents' inability to mount a real offense against the preterist proposition.

Preterist conferences began to increase as a way to get together & often to have minor debates among themselves. Many of the same speakers would be invited to speak at the various conferences; men like Don Preston, Samuel Frost, Ed Stevens, Kurt Simmons, Todd Dennis, David Curtis & others. These same men were avid writers & published many books. (see this source)

Pairing their use of the Internet era with traditional methods, preterists would often stream parts of the conferences or debates over the Internet &/or make DVDs (digital videos) for immediate release.

The History of the History of Preterism

The old adage is that history is written by the victors, thus merely a form of gratuitous propaganda, yet a true student of history will include even elements that do not paint a pretty picture. Thus, there is also an ugly underbelly to the preterist movement. At the start of the decade, most of the preterist movement was fairly unified, seeking only to stick close to Scripture, using history such as the “Works of Josephus” (first-century eyewitness to the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70) to buttress the perspicuity of Scripture. As time went on, there were some within the preterist movement that indeed wanted it to be a “movement”, much like movements led by dynamic leaders. Preterism up to this point was a “leaderless, student-led” movement. There was at least one man, probably taking his cue from the Kingite Transmillennials™ & their trademarketed label tried to actually trademark the terms “preterism” & “preterist” and he actually threatened several people with lawsuits if they continued to use the terms in a manner he disliked. Ironically enough, despite his threats though he did apply for them he never actually secured the trademarks.

These kinds of shenanigans continued with the same man trying to mimic a faddish movement of the day called, the Emergent “conversation” movement. Slick speakers such as Brian McLaren, Scot McKnight, & other so-called “postmodernists”, loosely led the Emergent conversation. In his effort to create a “new kind of preterism”, this man strained the unity between those Christians who were attracted to the perspective’s solidly biblical-basis & those who were embracing this synthetic brand being proffered. Along with this trendy form of preterism, the unity of the preterist community was further strained by a growing number universalistic preterists who basically taught that all of mankind was now “saved to serve”.

Also about this time, many preterist historians were finding that the roots of preterism were broader than first thought. Many preterists understood the contributions to preterism by men such as J.S. Russell, Ernest Hampden-Cook, Moses Stuart, Milton Terry, F.W. Farrar & even the inconsistent contributions from many of the Reformers such as John Owen & even Martin Luther but as preterist historians began to do more intense research, they found that the so-called “founding” of modern preterism did not originate with Max King as many people propose, but that many men had come before.

Kurt Simmons & Todd Dennis were instrumental in highlighting that men like Samuel Lee, Marion Morris, Foy E. Wallace Jr. & Clifton Voss as perhaps early “fathers” of the modern preterist movement decades & centuries before King. (see “The Road Back to Preterism” by Simmons)

Preterists for the most part, in the Reformed method, originally made their case direct from Scripture despite the lack of secular or Christian historical support. To be sure, preterists could cite a slew of theologians throughout history who inconsistently promoted preteristic conclusions.

The history of the history of preterism is thus one that started with a solid biblical-basis & was at times rightly complimented by historical reference & at other times wrongly manipulated to fit one man's or a specific group's agenda.

Framing the Future

As the preterist movement moved from being a loose group of people unified by shared ideas & conclusions based on Scripture alone, to being affected by wanna-be leaders, & then finally systematically forming solid non-traversable biblical lines it has gone through many important & necessary transformations. Preterists themselves often portray their move from futurism to preterism as a “paradigm shift”.

The preterists have sought to translate their paradigm shift into preterist churches (most of which did not initially succeed probably due to a combination of poor attendance & the fact that the preterist view lends itself to a radical diminishing of the clergy-laity role). They have, for better or worse attempted to create a “Preterist Study Bible”.   They have attempted to interact with mainline Christianity, from which most all preterists come (they aren’t typically hopping from some other fringe group). It is still to be seen if the preterist view will simply be a blip on the theological radar screen or if it has the staying power to not simply partner itself with faddish movements, or preach to its own adherents but actually break into the culture of Christianity & effect a real Reformation.

It is yet to be seen if all those who dream of being remembered in future historical accounts will really wind up being mere minor footnotes if mentioned at all. History has a strange way of writing itself, so even this account may have no bearing on the framing of the future. [NOTE: This article will be updated with relevant hyperlinks from time to time]