Twelve Books to Read Before the End of the World

When I teach Systematic Theology to seminarians, I make students read two books on eschatology and I recommend about twenty. Since we are beginning a Sunday School series on the subject of eschatology, I wanted to share that list with you. For those who are following along in the series, you don’t need to read any of these books. But for those who would like to do the reading, here’s a good start, complete with a one or two sentence blurb about each.

The Two Most Important Books on Eschatology

Benjamin Gladd and Matthew Harmon, Making All Things New: Inaugurated Eschatology for the Life of the Church (2016). This is my go-to book for eschatology. Not only is it written by two godly men who disagree on the millennium (Gladd is Amill; Harmon is Premill), but it shows how eschatology works in the Bible and the church. If you only read one book, read this.

Graeme Goldsworthy, The Gospel in Revelation (2006). Q. What is Revelation about? A. The Gospel of Jesus Christ. Chances are, that is not how most people answer that question, but this Australian scholar does. And I would encourage anyone who has avoided Revelation for any number of negative feelings to read this Christ-filled look at Revelation. (If you look to buy this book, it’s part of a three-for-one set: The Goldsworthy Trilogy).

Multiple Views in One Book

Robert G. Clouse (ed.), The Meaning of the Millennium: Four Views (1977). George Eldon Ladd and Anthony Hoekema are two of the most consequential theologians of the twentieth century. Throw in Loraine Boettner and Herman Hoyt, and you have an introduction to varying approaches to what John means in Revelation 20, when describes the millennium.

Darrell Bock (ed.), Three Views on the Millennium and Beyond  (1999). Written a generation later, Kenneth Gentry provides one of the best one chapter explanations of postmillennialism you can find, while Craig Blaising present the premillennial view from a Progressive Dispensational approach. And Robert Strimple rounds out the volume defending Amillennialism.

Historical Perspectives

Charles E Hill. Regnum Caelorum: Patterns of Millennial Thought in Early Christianity (2001). With meticulous research, Hill shows how early church fathers who denied the intermediate state (i.e., Christians reigning in glory) affirmed an earthly millennium. If you want to know what the millennium views of the early church were, this is your book.

Iain Murray, The Puritan Hope (1975).  Murray’s classic text was the book I read (ca. 2003) that taught me that postmillennialism was not a utopian wish dream. It did not convince me of the position when I read it, but it showed how many serious students of the Bible affirm postmillennialism. In fact, it was the predominant eschatology of the Puritans and most of the Protestants who founded our country.

Daniel G. Hummel, The Rise and Fall of Dispensationalism: How the Evangelical Battle Over the End Times Shaped Nation (2025). Dispensationalism has been the most popular eschatology in America for more than a century, but that doesn’t mean that this system is monolithic. From Darby (classic) to Ryrie (revised) to Bock (progressive), various Dispensationalisms have developed over time. And in this narrative history, Daniel Hummel tells the story of Dispensationalism as it has developed in America.

Historic Premillennial

George Eldon Ladd. The Presence of the Future: The Eschatology of Biblical Realism (1964). Is the kingdom of God present or future? Ladd answer yes to both. Defending something called “inaugurated” eschatology, he shows how the kingdom of God is present and future. Much more than a book about the millennium, Ladd argues for a view called historical premillennialism.

Craig Blomberg and Sung Wook Chung (eds.). A Case for Historic Premillennialism (2009). Advancing the position of Ladd, all the while citing ancient sources, this book makes the case for a millennial reign of Christ, without arguing for a pre-tribulation rapture. Across evangelicalism, from D. A. Carson to Jim Hamilton, historic premillennialism is a common view. And this book argues for that position.

Amillennial

Anthony Hoekema, The Bible and the Future (1979). This is the most clear and compelling book I’ve read on amillennialism, the view that Revelation 20’s “millennium” speaks about the church age. Yet, this book is so much more than just a book on millennial views. It covers all the aspects of eschatology, both personal and cosmic.

William Hendrikson, More Than Conquers (repr. 2015). New Testament scholar and biblical commentator, William Hendrikson introduces a way of reading Revelation that moves in cycles. Instead of reading Revelation as a blueprint for the future (Premill) or a book that was (largely) fulfilled in the first century (Postmill), Henrikson shows how Revelation offers a series of repeated images that all speak of the same reality—Christ is reigning over the church, even as the devil afflicts the world. If you struggle to understand how Revelation 20 can mean anything but a future, literal 1,000 year reign of Christ, this is your book.

Postmillennialism

R. C. Sproul, The Last Days According to Jesus: When Did Jesus Say He Would Return? (2015). Classic Sproul. If you want a lucid explanation to a debated subject, read this book. Starting with the Olivet Discourse (Matthew 24) and moving to address all the major elements of biblical eschatology, this great theologian offers a postmillennial interpretation of the New Testament.

Kenneth Gentry. He Shall Have Dominion: A Postmillennial Eschatology (2021). Not to be confused with Peter Gentry (who spoke at our men’s retreat), Ken Gentry is a retired pastor and prolific author. If any writer pushed me to affirm postmillennialism, it would be the biblical arguments compiled by Kenneth Gentry, especially his reading of Revelation. He Shall Have Dominion is long, but it rewards the patient reader with a biblical defense of partial-preterism (the view the New Testament was mostly written before AD 70 and Christ’s judgment on Jerusalem in that year). If you need more exegetical support than Sproul provides, turn here.

Finally, should you find reading any of these books too demanding, here are more than a dozen concise essays on a host of eschatological themes. They do not all agree with one another. I do not agree with all of them. I don’t even agree with everything I wrote here, but they are each attempts to faithfully grapple with all Scripture says about the last things. (To find out which ones I agree or don’t agree with and why, come join our Sunday School class on May 10).

Keep this tab open on your phone or computer and read these essays as we go along.
The Two Ages (Benjamin L. Gladd);  The Course of This Age (David Schrock);  The Resurrection of Christ and the Age to Come (Richard B. Gaffin, Jr.);  The Return of Christ, The Rapture Question, and The Tribulation and the Antichrist (Alan S. Bandy);  The Future of Ethnic Israel (Jared Compton); Death and the Afterlife, The Resurrection, and The Final Judgment (Paul R. Williamson) The Day of the Lord (Jason De Rouchie); Views of the Millennium (Alan S. Bandy);  The New Heaven and New Earth (Matt Emerson);  Preterism: Has All Prophecy Been Fulfilled? (Fred Zaspel); The Kingdom of God (Christopher Morgan); Universalism: Will Everyone Finally Be Saved? (Daniel Strange) Hell as Endless Punishment (Denny Burk); Degrees of Punishment in Hell (Albert N Martin and Fred Zaspel).
If you are interested in keeping up with all things eschatological in the days ahead, be sure to follow my blog: DavidSchrock.com. I’ll put further resources on that page.