Max R. King (born 1930) is the founder of the school of thought known as "transmillennialism". King was a minister in the Churches of Christ for 40 years before developing Transmillennialism. King pioneered a field of

theology Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing the ...

that he termed "covenant eschatology." Within fundamentalist and conservative Evangelical contexts, he contended that Biblical eschatology was not related to the end of the space-time universe, but to the transition of the

Old Covenant The Mosaic covenant (named after Moses), also known as the Sinaitic covenant (after the biblical Mount Sinai), refers to a covenant between God and the Israelites, including their proselytes, not limited to the ten commandments, nor the eve ...

to the

New Covenant The New Covenant (Hebrew '; Greek ''diatheke kaine'') is a biblical interpretation which was originally derived from a phrase which is contained in the Book of Jeremiah ( Jeremiah 31:31-34), in the Hebrew Bible (or the Old Testament of the ...

. King offered a unique interpretation concerning the

millennium A millennium (plural millennia or millenniums) is a period of one thousand years, sometimes called a kiloannum (ka), or kiloyear (ky). Normally, the word is used specifically for periods of a thousand years that begin at the starting point (ini ...

as found in Revelation 20 as pertaining to the forty-year period from 30-70 AD. He called this time "the transition period" from Old Covenant to New Covenant. In King's view, this transition opened the way for the full presence of God to dwell with all of humanity. To describe this relationship, King coined the phrase "Comprehensive Grace." King's transmillennialism emerged in the late 1990s as an alternative to dispensational premillennialism,

amillennialism Amillennialism or amillenarism is a chillegoristic eschatological position in Christianity which holds that there will be no millennial reign of the righteous on Earth. This view contrasts with both postmillennial and, especially, with premi ...

postmillennialism In Christian eschatology (end-times theology), postmillennialism, or postmillenarianism, is an interpretation of chapter 20 of the Book of Revelation which sees Christ's second coming as occurring ''after'' (Latin ''post-'') the "Millennium", ...

. It differentiated itself from Reformed

preterism Preterism, a Christian eschatological view, interprets some (partial preterism) or all (full preterism) prophecies of the Bible as events which have already happened. This school of thought interprets the Book of Daniel as referring to events t ...

and

Christian reconstructionism Christian reconstructionism is a fundamentalist Calvinist theonomic movement. It developed primarily under the direction of Rousas Rushdoony, Greg Bahnsen and Gary North and has had an important influence on the Christian right in the United ...

in view of postmodern issues facing the

emerging church The emerging church is a Christian Protestant movement of the late 20th and early 21st centuries that crosses a number of theological boundaries: participants are variously described as Protestant, post-Protestant, evangelical, post-evangelical, ...

and the need to forward its scholarship in the context of

historical Jesus The term "historical Jesus" refers to the reconstruction of the life and teachings of Jesus by critical historical methods, in contrast to religious interpretations. It also considers the historical and cultural contexts in which Jesus lived. ...

studies. In King's view, the covenantal transformation of the first century serves as a model for personal, organizational and societal transformation today. King's first major book, ''The Spirit of Prophecy'', was published in 1971. He published a monthly print journal, ''The Living Presence'', for 15 years; it is currently available in electronic format. King's annual "Covenant Eschatology Seminar" spanned the 1990s and continued through the early 2000s as the "Transmillennial" national conference. Some of King's other major works include ''Old Covenant Israel and New Covenant Salvation'' and ''The Cross and The Parousia of Christ''. His work has now attracted the attention of Spiral Dynamics practitioners like

Don Edward Beck Don Edward Beck (January 1, 1937 - May 24, 2022) was a teacher, geopolitical advisor, and theorist focusing on applications of large scale psychology, including social psychology, evolutionary psychology, organizational psychology and their effec ...

, interspiritual pioneers like Kurt Johnson, and Integral theorists like

Ken Wilber Kenneth Earl Wilber II (born January 31, 1949) is an American philosopher and writer on transpersonal psychology and his own integral theory, a philosophy which suggests the synthesis of all human knowledge and experience. Life and career Wilbe ...

. Max's final manuscript, a study of Romans 9-11 that purports to do for realized

soteriology Soteriology (; el, σωτηρία ' "salvation" from σωτήρ ' "savior, preserver" and λόγος ' "study" or "word") is the study of religious doctrines of salvation. Salvation theory occupies a place of special significance in many religion ...

what his previous works did for

realized eschatology Realized eschatology is a Christian eschatological theory popularized by J.A.T. Robinson, Joachim Jeremias, Ethelbert Stauffer (1902- 1979), and C. H. Dodd (1884–1973) that holds that the eschatological passages in the New Testament do not refe ...

, is due in late 2017. King's "full preterist" position has been widely criticized by churchmen, including

R. C. Sproul Robert Charles Sproul ( ; February 13, 1939 – December 14, 2017) was an American Reformed theologian and ordained pastor in the Presbyterian Church in America. He was the founder and chairman of Ligonier Ministries (named for the Ligonier ...

, for denying hope of bodily resurrection of the dead, or indeed any hope for those living after AD70. King lives in

Dacula, Georgia Dacula ( ) is a city in Gwinnett County, Georgia, United States. It is an exurb of Atlanta, located approximately northeast of downtown. The population as of the 2010 census was 4,442, and the U.S. Census Bureau estimated the population to be 6, ...

, USA. His organization is Presence International. His son, Doug King, is President of Presence International.

Realized Eschatology

Presence International, a non-profit organization based in the metro

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

area, holds annual conferences that teach that all prophecy was fulfilled, including the Second Coming of Christ, the Resurrection of the Dead and the

Last Judgement The Last Judgment, Final Judgment, Day of Reckoning, Day of Judgment, Judgment Day, Doomsday, Day of Resurrection or The Day of the Lord (; ar, یوم القيامة, translit=Yawm al-Qiyāmah or ar, یوم الدین, translit=Yawm ad-Dīn, ...

, by the year A.D. 70 at the

Destruction of Jerusalem The siege of Jerusalem of 70 CE was the decisive event of the First Jewish–Roman War (66–73 CE), in which the Roman army led by future emperor Titus besieged Jerusalem, the center of Jewish rebel resistance in the Roman province of Jud ...

by the

Romans Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

. With the New Covenant fully established, all of humanity has been reconciled with God. This view of Universal reconciliation is referred to as comprehensive grace.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:King, Max 1930 births Living people American theologians Ministers of the Churches of Christ Emerging church movement