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The Rapture Exposed: The Message of Hope in the Book of Revelation Paperback – July 6, 2005

by Barbara R. Rossing (Author)
4.4 out of 5 stars 308 ratings
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The idea of "The Rapture" -- the return of Christ to rescue and deliver Christians off the earth -- is an extremely popular interpretation of the Bible's Book of Revelation and a jumping-off point for the best-selling "Left Behind" series of books. This interpretation, based on a psychology of fear and destruction, guides the daily acts of thousands if not millions of people worldwide. In The Rapture Exposed, Barbara Rossing argues that this script for the world's future is nothing more than a disingenuous distortion of the Bible. The truth, Rossing argues, is that Revelation offers a vision of God's healing love for the world. The Rapture Exposed reclaims Christianity from fundamentalists' destructive reading of the biblical story and back into God's beloved community.
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  1. Print length
    222 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Basic Books
  4. Publication date
    July 6, 2005
  5. Dimensions
    5.3 x 1 x 8 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    0813343143
  7. ISBN-13
    978-0813343143
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Editorial Reviews

Review

"Rossing persuasively argues that there is neither a 'rapture' nor a 'count down to Armageddon' in the Scriptures."

About the Author

Barbara R. Rossing teaches New Testament at the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago. She holds a doctorate from Harvard University Divinity School and a Masters of Divinity degree from Yale University Divinity School. An ordained minister in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, she lives in Chicago.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Basic Books (July 6, 2005)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 222 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0813343143
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0813343143
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 9.3 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.3 x 1 x 8 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.4 out of 5 stars 308 ratings

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Barbara R. Rossing

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Customer reviews

4.4 out of 5 stars
308 global ratings

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Customers say

Customers find this book easy to read and appreciate its thorough explanation of the Book of Revelation, particularly its insights into Rapture theology. The writing is well-crafted, and customers describe it as an eye-opener that is riveting from start to finish. They value its hope-filled approach, with one customer noting how it connects each situation in Revelation, while another highlights its high reverence for the Bible.

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33 customers mention "Readability"33 positive0 negative

Customers find the book easy to read and appreciate it as a study guide.

"This was a great book that left me feeling inspired and hopeful...." Read more

"...This would be a good book for a study group as it has questions for discussion at the end...." Read more

"This is a very good book and as I read I was able to get a better view of Revelation and also 'rapture theology' than I ever had before...." Read more

"...the books in the Left Behind series and must confess them to be a riveting read. But it's poor theology. In fact, it's more than that...." Read more

27 customers mention "Revelation content"24 positive3 negative

Customers appreciate the book's content, particularly how it explains the Book of Revelation and Left Behind series, with one customer noting its powerful insights.

"...The author explains in detail the difference between the LEFT BEHIND series and what Revelation really tells us...." Read more

"This book is a true exposition and explanation of how the book of Revelation ought to be interpreted...." Read more

"...This book does a great job of debunking the rapture myth, showing the we have a God of Love not the mean, nasty God of the Left Behind Series, and..." Read more

"...Wright's more serious works, I found this to be a lucid and compelling explanation of how faulty reading of scripture has captured the &#..." Read more

21 customers mention "Theology"17 positive4 negative

Customers appreciate the theological depth of the book, particularly its thorough exploration of Rapture theology, with one customer noting its high reverence for the Bible and another highlighting its ecumenical approach.

"...But here is a clearly devout Christian, an insider, who has a completely different take on the whole story...." Read more

"...This book is written with wisdom and knowledge of the Bible and shows us HIs love of all His creations...." Read more

"...This well-meaning, mainstream, ecumenical interpretation of the bible, summed up in the unfortunate slogan "Lamb Power"..." Read more

"...She takes the reader through scripture, particularly Revelation, to share the Truth of a loving God." Read more

19 customers mention "Writing quality"16 positive3 negative

Customers find the book well written and easy to read, with one customer noting its sound biblical exegesis.

"...This book is written with wisdom and knowledge of the Bible and shows us HIs love of all His creations...." Read more

"...This well-meaning, mainstream, ecumenical interpretation of the bible, summed up in the unfortunate slogan "Lamb Power"..." Read more

"...Extremely well written and so readable, with a last chapter that is the most beautiful and inspiring work on Revelations I have read to date...." Read more

"The Rapture Exposed is an exceptionally well written and researched book...." Read more

11 customers mention "Hope"11 positive0 negative

Customers appreciate the book's message of hope in Revelation, with one customer noting the absence of gloom and doom, and another highlighting how the recurrent themes and events make perfect sense.

"This was a great book that left me feeling inspired and hopeful...." Read more

"...The recurrent themes and events make perfect sense when viewed this way; it is clear that the Revelation retells the same story in different ways,..." Read more

"...when you see this work through Christ love for us, it changes it from a good War Story to one of Christ's love for us, and is in harmony with the..." Read more

"This book speaks words of hope and grace in ways that I only hope that I'll someday be gifted to speak...." Read more

10 customers mention "Eye opening"10 positive0 negative

Customers find the book eye-opening and inspired, with one mentioning it provides a better view of Revelation.

"This was a great book that left me feeling inspired and hopeful...." Read more

"This is a very good book and as I read I was able to get a better view of Revelation and also 'rapture theology' than I ever had before...." Read more

"This book is a true exposition and explanation of how the book of Revelation ought to be interpreted...." Read more

"Very much an eye opener as I have been taught the Rapture as a fairly young Christian...." Read more

4 customers mention "Faith"4 positive0 negative

Customers appreciate the book's faith-based content, describing it as riveting from start to finish, with one customer noting it is inspired by integrity.

"...This book is inspired by integrity and sound acadamic scholarship. It is easy to read for people in all walks of life...." Read more

"This book is riveting from start to finish. Rossing takes an age-old fundamentalist leveling device and levels it herself with courageous truth." Read more

"Dr Rossing’s work is thorough and faithful." Read more

"Strong on Rapture, Weak on Revelation..." Read more

Top reviews from the United States

  • Myself
    5.0 out of 5 stars Worth reading but need open mind
    Reviewed in the United States on June 16, 2010
    Verified Purchase
    This was a great book that left me feeling inspired and hopeful. Almost everything else I've ever heard/read about the Revelation just seemed depressing, frightening, and tragic. And when I see people discussing it in excited tones with shiny eyes, it seems even more depressing, frightening, and tragic.

    But here is a clearly devout Christian, an insider, who has a completely different take on the whole story. Her take seems a lot more in keeping with what I understand the divine to be. And she's not worked up. Her brow is not fevered, nor her eyes shiny.

    You can be a good Christian without believing that god is a (kind and loving) cruel tyrant.

    Some of the complaints, the one star ratings about the book, say that she is too critical of the people who promote the idea of the rapture. But you know, that's just the sort of thing that got Jeremiah and Isaiah in trouble. They were too critical of those who were dominating the religio-political landscape. So it seems to me that this book is an instantiation of prophecy.

    Thanks for it.

    As to the open mind, if you go into this book with a strong belief that the Rapture is everything you've been taught already, it's going to be harder for you to read it. Try to remember the idea that no question is too big for God.
    23 people found this helpful
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  • Susie Anderson
    5.0 out of 5 stars If You Believe In The RAPTURE read this!
    Reviewed in the United States on August 9, 2013
    Verified Purchase
    Our church is doing a study on Revelaton. Along with the study I got this book on my Kindle and it so co-incides with what I believe!
    The author explains in detail the difference between the LEFT BEHIND series and what Revelation really tells us.
    Our Lord is a living God and a loving God and He promised to never destroy the world after Noah. He created this earth and called it good, why would He destroy it? This book is written with wisdom and knowledge of the Bible and shows us HIs love of all His creations. This would be a good book for a study group as it has questions for discussion at the end. I wish I has purchased the book itself and not just on Kindle. I would have that book so marked up and underlined! I will be reading this again and again to get the full understanding (as much as we can) of the symbols and words in Revelation. I intend to puchase a hard copy.
    2 people found this helpful
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  • Cervantes
    4.0 out of 5 stars The Rapture Exposed: The Message of Hope in the Book of Revelation
    Reviewed in the United States on November 5, 2014
    Verified Purchase
    This is a very good book and as I read I was able to get a better view of Revelation and also 'rapture theology' than I ever had before. As someone who read The Left Behind series and was troubled by it, I can honestly say that Rossing has truly helped me better understand what is meant by Revelation and other parts of The Bible and for that I am extremely grateful to her. The most valuable part of this book for me was the historical context that Rossing explains Revelation was written around, relating to Rome at the time it was written. I read the book with a book group at church and it was great for discussions there as well. My only, and I stress only, issue with the book is not in the text, but rather in the price. I paid $10.49 for the Kindle Copy. For some people, this is nothing, but I would have never paid that price unless it was for this book study group. A book as important as this should be priced for the people who cannot afford it but perhaps need its insight most. I am very glad that the group decided to read it, because I needed this, but perhaps next time I will order a paperback from my local used book store for cheaper and wait for it to be shipped. Have a blessed day. I highly suggest the read.
    5 people found this helpful
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  • Tonya Eza
    5.0 out of 5 stars Left Behind Is Busted!
    Reviewed in the United States on July 9, 2007
    Verified Purchase
    This book is a true exposition and explanation of how the book of Revelation ought to be interpreted. Barbara Rossing exposes all of the inconsistencies of Left Behind, Hal Lindsey's "Late Great Planet Earth" and all people of their kind and shows their theology for the hoax and the misinterpretation of the Bible that it truly is. The only criticism that I have of this book is that Rossing focuses so much on good stewardship of the earth and social justice that she "downgrades" heaven a bit. I have no doubt that she still believes heaven to be a real place; however, her main concern is calling Christians in the here and now to live out their faith in Jesus by loving one another as we wait for Him to return. Score one for the true historical Christian faith against these new weird interpretations that were taught NO WHERE and at NO TIME in the Christian church until 1830!
    3 people found this helpful
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  • Queen City Preacher
    5.0 out of 5 stars EXTREMELY IMPORTANT BOOK
    Reviewed in the United States on January 19, 2008
    Verified Purchase
    I teach New Testament at a local community college. Whenever we get to the book of Revelation, half my class wants to talk about the Left Behind series. One student even mimicked a comment Rossing makes in her book: I don't have to read Revelation; I've got Left Behind.
    Rossing does a thorough job of revealing Rapture theology for what it is: a racket. Layer by layer she exposes this theology as nothing more than an 19th century creation by John Darby, a British evangelist; whose dispensationalism would later be expounded on by the likes of Hal Lindsay and Tim LaHaye. I've read a couple of the books in the Left Behind series and must confess them to be a riveting read. But it's poor theology. In fact, it's more than that. It's wrong theology.
    Rossing does the Christian world an incredible service by debunking this flawed theology and replacing it with the true message of Revelation: one of hope and transformation for the world that God loves. We've had rapture theology so ingrained into our culture mindset that it's an incredibly hard one to shake. Even our current federal government uses it to their political advantage. Maybe, just maybe, we'll learn something from this book and let it stick.
    14 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

  • Amazon Customer
    5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
    Reviewed in Canada on June 25, 2016
    Verified Purchase
    Just what I needed to counter-act the nonsense spread by the Left Behind Books!
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  • P. W. Skerratt
    5.0 out of 5 stars Clear thinking about the 'Rapture'
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 30, 2020
    Verified Purchase
    There is a temptation in the UK to look at the ‘Rapture’ as no more than an amusing example of a theologically illiterate misunderstanding of Christian thinking. But that is to overlook its prevalence and influence in the USA. Barbara Rossing reminds us that this a dangerous distortion of Christianity – an interpretation that prefers the excitement and prurience of fantasy novels over an informed reading of the Bible. Rossing powerfully rebuts dispensationalist thinking and shows that it relies on deliberate misinterpretation and mis-use of Biblical texts, particularly the book of Revelation.
    Rossing seems to be theologically quite conservative, but her scholarship is excellent, making this a well thought out and argued book. If knowledge and rational argument won people over, then the dispensationalist view of the Bible would be seen for what it is: a ‘fabrication’. But exciting fiction has a wide appeal, and violent solutions sadly have a greater attraction than the ‘Lamb power' at the heart of Christianity. It is easier to buy a gun than to follow the teaching of Jesus.
    This book is highly recommended for anyone who wants to know what the book of Revelation is really about, or is interested in contemporary American Christianity. It will be a great help to those who were previously attracted to Rapture thinking and have subsequently realised that it is all a huge con.
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  • Tristan Sherwin
    5.0 out of 5 stars *The Rapture Exposed* is a full on exorcism of the damaging theology and practice that arises from adopting "Left Behind" ideas
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 22, 2016
    Verified Purchase
    *The Rapture Exposed* is a full on exorcism of the damaging theology and practice that arises from adopting the end-times ideas espoused by the (sadly and revealingly) popular *Left Behind* series of novels.

    Rev. Dr. Rossing examines the problems caused by adopting a Rapture-orientated, “dispensationalist” reading of the book of Revelation. A view that has become prevalent throughout the works published by Tim LaHaye (The *Left Behind* series) and Hal Lindsey (*The Late Great Planet Earth*). Not only are the recent historical roots of this interpretation exposed (it is not the traditional or only way of reading Revelation), but Rossing also clearly demonstrates how shaky its foundations are in the key scriptures that its students claim as supporting their view. To embrace a “Left Behind” theology is to embrace a hermeneutical approach that is very selective of its key texts, uber-literalistic, and, in most cases, moves beyond its own literalism by exporting into the text ideas and concepts which are clearly not intended by the original authors to their original audiences.

    Having recently finished *Reading Revelation Responsibly* by Michael Gorman, I would suggest that the *The Rapture Exposed* makes a great follow on/reading companion to that work. Whereas Gorman’s work provides a more thorough framework to understanding the key symbols and themes of Revelation, Rossing’s work provides a more thorough critique of the ideas purported by Tim LaHaye and alike.

    If you truly want to grasp the true message of Revelation—a message that doesn’t endorse violence but subverts it—then I would highly recommend this book!!

    --Tristan Sherwin, author of *Love: Expressed*
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  • P. Benger
    5.0 out of 5 stars The Message of Revelation
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 31, 2015
    Verified Purchase
    This book is brilliant. Not for its debunking of the left behind theology of rapture but for its insight and understanding of the message of Revelation. I highly recommend this book.
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