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What is another name for the progressive dispensational approach?

User Madprops
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Final answer:

The term often used as another name for the progressive dispensational approach is 'contextualism' or the 'contextualist approach'. It's a conservative explanation within dispensationalism that understands biblical covenants as progressively realized while acknowledging their historical-grammatical context, differing from historical millennial sects like the Mormons and Shakers.

Step-by-step explanation:

The term often used as another name for the progressive dispensational approach is contextualism, specifically the contextualist approach. This approach to biblical interpretation and theology recognizes that biblical covenants unfold progressively throughout history.

The progressive dispensational approach is a refinement within dispensationalism, a theological system that seeks to interpret the Bible through a framework of God's sovereign work in different epochs or dispensations of time. Proponents of this approach believe that the promises made to Israel are cumulatively realized in the New Testament and that God’s plan unfolds in successive stages that are both distinct and progressively related. This theological approach is also characterized by its conservative explanation of Scripture while incorporating an understanding of successive dispensations and the historical-grammatical context of the biblical narrative.

In the mid-nineteenth century, different sects anticipated the Second Coming of Jesus, but this historical account does not directly pertain to the progressive dispensational approach as a doctrinal stance, rather it offers insight into the diversity of millennial expectancies during that period. Millennial sects like the Mormons, Shakers, and Millerites, while not directly linked to dispensationalism, illustrate the era's preoccupation with eschatological fulfillment which the dispensationalism movement would later systemize in its theology.

User Chris Beck
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