Arno Clemens Gaebelein (August 27, 1861 – December, 1945) was a
Methodist
Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a Protestant Christianity, Christian Christian tradition, tradition whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's brother ...
minister in the United States. He was a prominent teacher and conference speaker. He was also the father of educator and philosopher of Christian education
Frank E. Gaebelein.
Career
Being a
dispensationalist
Dispensationalism is a theological framework for interpreting the Bible which maintains that history is divided into multiple ages called "dispensations" in which God interacts with his chosen people in different ways. It is often distinguish ...
, he was a developer of the movement in its early days. Two of his books, ''Revelation, an Analysis and Exposition'' and ''Current Events in the Light of the Bible'' explain the dispensationalist view of
eschatology
Eschatology (; ) concerns expectations of the end of Contemporary era, present age, human history, or the world itself. The end of the world or end times is predicted by several world religions (both Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic and non-Abrah ...
.
Gaebelein did not support the
Christian Zionists
Christian Zionism is a political and religious ideology that, in a Christian context, espouses the return of the Jewish people to the Holy Land. Likewise, it holds that the founding of the State of Israel in 1948 was in accordance with biblica ...
in their alliance with the
World Zionist Organization
The World Zionist Organization (; ''HaHistadrut HaTzionit Ha'Olamit''), or WZO, is a non-governmental organization that promotes Zionism. It was founded as the Zionist Organization (ZO; 1897–1960) at the initiative of Theodor Herzl at the F ...
. In a 1905 speech, he stated:
In 1899, Gaebelein left the
Methodist Episcopal Church
The Methodist Episcopal Church (MEC) was the oldest and largest Methodist denomination in the United States from its founding in 1784 until 1939. It was also the first religious denomination in the US to organize itself nationally. In 1939, th ...
because of its
theological liberalism
Religious liberalism is a conception of religion (or of a particular religion) which emphasizes personal and group liberty and rationality. It is an attitude towards one's own religion (as opposed to criticism of religion from a secular position ...
.
George Marsden
George Mish Marsden (born February 25, 1939) is an American historian who has written extensively on the interaction between Christianity and American culture, particularly on Christianity in American higher education and on American evangelicali ...
notes that he was one of the early
fundamentalist
Fundamentalism is a tendency among certain groups and individuals that are characterized by the application of a strict literal interpretation to scriptures, dogmas, or ideologies, along with a strong belief in the importance of distinguishin ...
leaders to advocate
ecclesiastical separation
Ecclesiastical separatism is the withdrawal of people and churches from Christian denominations, usually to form new denominations.
In the 16th and 17th centuries, the separating puritans advocated departure from the Church of England. These peop ...
.
Gaebelein was an advocate of
gap creationism
Gap creationism (also known as ruin-restoration creationism, restoration creationism, or "the Gap Theory") is a form of creationism that posits that the six-'' yom'' creation period, as described in the Book of Genesis, involved six literal 24-h ...
. He also was the editor of ''Our Hope'', a Christian periodical, for a number of years, and was a close assistant to Dr.
C. I. Scofield on his monumental work, the
Scofield Reference Bible
The Scofield Reference Bible is a widely circulated study Bible. Edited and annotated by the American Bible student Cyrus I. Scofield, it popularized dispensationalism at the beginning of the 20th century. Published by Oxford University Pres ...
.
George Marsden
George Mish Marsden (born February 25, 1939) is an American historian who has written extensively on the interaction between Christianity and American culture, particularly on Christianity in American higher education and on American evangelicali ...
refers to some of Gaebelein's writing as being anti-Jewish.
The Principles of the Hope of Israel Moment
In the Nov-Dec 1896 issue of "Our Hope" one of the best statements of
Hebrew Christians
Jewish Christians were the followers of a Jewish religious sect that emerged in Roman Judea during the late Second Temple period, under the Herodian tetrarchy (1st century AD). These Jews believed that Jesus was the prophesied Messiah and th ...
(
Messianic Jews
Messianic Judaism is a syncretic Abrahamic religious sect that combines Christian theology with select elements of Judaism. It considers itself to be a form of Judaism but is generally considered to be a form of Christianity, including by al ...
) was written under the heading, The Principles of the Hope of Israel Moment.
Works
*''Revelation, and Analysis and Exposition''
*''Current Events in the Light of the Bible''
*''The Annotated Bible'', a commentary on the Old and New Testaments which Gaebelein described as a 'Bible study course'.
Gaebelein's Annotated Bible on Genesis 1
accessed 19 December 2015
*''The Harmony of the Prophetic Word'', a key to old testament prophecy concerning things to come. (1903)
*''The Prophet Daniel'' (1911)
*''The Jewish Question'' (1912)
*''The Book of Genesis: A Complete Analysis of Genesis with Annotations'' (1912)
*''Christ and Glory'' (1918)
*''Studies in Prophecy'' (1918)
*''The Angels Of God'' (1924)
*''The Healing Question'' (1925)
*''The Christ We Know'' (1927)
*''The Conflict of the Ages: The Mystery of Lawlessness: Its Origin, Historic Development and Coming Defeat'' (193
*''The History of the Scofield Reference Bible'' (1943)
*''The Prophet Ezekiel: an analytical Exposition'' (1918)
*''Meat In Due Season'' (nd)
References
External links
*
*
The Annotated Bible by Arno C. Gaebelein
Arno C. Gaebelein's biography at the Pre-Trib Research Center
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gaebelein, Arno Clemens
1861 births
1945 deaths
19th-century American male writers
19th-century American non-fiction writers
19th-century American Methodist ministers
20th-century American male writers
20th-century American non-fiction writers
20th-century evangelicals
American Christian creationists
American Evangelical writers
American male non-fiction writers
American religious writers
Christian fundamentalists
Christian writers about eschatology
Dispensationalism
Editors of Christian publications
German emigrants to the United States
Methodist ministers