Definitions for "Dispensationalism"
A system of thinking about the end-times reflecting the premises of John Nelson Darby concerning the rigid plan of history laid out by God as he divided human history into seven distinct dispensations or ages. This system is non-biblical.
a theological view of Time as held by many evangelicals, which divides the history of Mankind into periods called dispensations, according the ways God related into Man in each period.
Dispensation is from the Greek [ oikonomia] meaning an administration. In theological terms it means an administration of time of epocs. Premillennial dispensationalism is a method of interpreting scripture popularized by John Nelson Darby (1800-1882), and the notes in the Scofield Reference Bible. This system divides history into epocs (eras) or extended periods called "dispensations," in which God deals with man in different economies for the presenting of His world program. In dispensationalism it is believed that ethnic Israel and the Church are separate and unequal bodies in God's dispensations. [ back