I
thought I would begin a yearly reflection on my family's
spirituality/lineage with some common ground shared by both families.
This common ground is Cyrus Ingerson Scofield. Leona Baker, Richard
Morville, and Jeanette Karloski all owned Scofield Reference Bibles.
Knowing that C. I. Scofield is a common reference point should tell you a
lot about this family. For those of you who are unfamiliar with
Scofield, or those who's bells are not sounding as to his lasting impact
on this family, please continue reading.
Cyrus Ingerson Scofield (August 19, 1843 - July
24, 1921) was an American theologian, minister, and writer whose best-selling annotated
Bible popularized dispensationalism among fundamentalist
Christians. Let me try to unpack this rather dense theological phrase
from Wikipedia. C. I. Scofield's religious background was English
Puritan and Episcopalian. The Puritan influence plus an early life of
war, heavy drinking, and a rocky marriage led Cyrus to St. Louis (He was
born in Michigan, interesting!). It was in St. Louis where Cyrus met
Dwight L. Moody, the famous evangelist. A combination of Scofield's
background and his new friendship with Moody and James H. Brooks, a
Presbyterian minister of notable reputation, led Scofield to become a
strong fundamentalist and premillennial dispensationalist
(Please keep reading, I know these words sound like gobbledygook). Let's
start with fundamentalism and work our way to premillennialism, and
then dispensationalism. Then hopefully we can see how these ideas (and
ways of life) bring light onto my grandparents and their grandparents
and everyone in between. Most of the posts will not be this theologically difficult, but this is important "set up" information.
Fundamentalism
arose out of British and American Protestantism in the late 19th century and
early 20th century among evangelical Christians. The
founders of Fundamentalism reacted against liberal
theology and militantly stood on 2 pillars or foundations of doctrine,
the inerrancy of the Bible and Jesus Christ as the only means to
salvation/atonement. To simplify this, "liberal theology" emphasized
deeds (feeding the poor, taking care of the widows, orphans, etc),
whereas Fundamentalism emphasized creeds (primarily) and deeds. The type of Fundamentalism that Scofield was associated with (and I think all of our family) was Evangelical Fundamentalism. This type of fundamentalism was a movement about correct beliefs (doctrine). This movement stressed the
need for personal conversion, sometimes called being "saved" or "born again", a high
regard for biblical authority, an emphasis
on teachings that proclaim the saving death and resurrection of the Son of
God, Jesus Christ, and actively expressing and sharing the gospel.
Dispensationalism is a way of interpreting the scriptures. Adherents of Dispensationalism typically see the bible as a series of
chronologically successive "dispensations"
or periods of history in which God relates to human beings in different
ways
under different Biblical covenants. (The notes in Leona, Jeanette, and
Richard's Scofield Reference Bibles all reflect this way of interpreting
scriptures.) There are 4 major pillars or foundations of Dispensationalism. 1.)
Israel and the Church are two separate people groups with two separate
histories in God's ultimate plan for his people. This view is contrasted
with the view that the Church is now the "new Israel." 2.) There is
more discontinuity than continuity between the Old and New Testaments. 3.) The church
began at Pentecost in Acts chapter two, rather than the view that puts the
beginning of the church in Genesis chapter twelve. Lastly 4.) The bible's
meaning is obtained through studying its historical context and through
the grammar of the biblical text itself. 
Premillennialism is the last distinction. Other than evangelism, premillennialism is probably what all of us learned by talking with our family. Premillennislism
is a view that literally means "a belief in something before the
millennium." Premillennialists held to a specific view of the Bible that
strongly believed the Christians were going to be taken to Heaven
before the 1000 year reign of Christ. I trust that if you are seriously
confused by all of this you will read more about on Wikipedia's
excellently written article. What I want to stress is that people who
believe in Premillennialism are people who strongly hope in the second
coming, who truly believe God has not forgotten us and has woven us into
his plan all the way up to the end of time. I remember living on Elliot
Street growing up and Grandma Karloski was there sleeping in my room.
One night before bed she began telling me about the book of Revelation
and about all the things she believed would happen when God would come
back to create a new heaven and a new earth.
I remember being so scared that I asked my mother to sleep in a
different room. Looking back on that evening I am flattered that Grandma
cared enough about me to give me a glimpse of what she thought God's
plan for world history would be.
So
quickly let me summarize the four major pillars/foundations on which
Jeanette Karloski, Richard Morville, and Leona Baker stood:
1. Fundamentalism: You must believe certain creeds and you must be "born again".
2. Dispensationalism: God works with different people from different times in different ways.
3. Premillennialism: Belief that God has revealed details of the end times in the book of Revelation.
4. Evangelicalism: Focus on atoning work of Christ and inerrancy of Scripture as the two central elements of faith. If you are an evangelical, you are a fundamentalist, but if you are a fundamentalist you are not necessarily an evangelical.
Jeanette, Leona, and Richard were all fundamentalists and evangelicals.
Links Worth Checking Out:
