As the Waters Cover the Sea: Millennial Expectations in the Rise of Anglo-American Missions 1640-1810

"This volume surefootedly guides us through the complex relation of millennial expectations and Anglo-American missiology from the Puritan age to the beginning of the nineteenth century. He shows how millennial hopes varied throughout this period from an adventist type of premillennialism to a low-keyed postmillennialism. Nevertheless, De Jong concludes that these anticipations often balanced themselves out somewhere between other-wordly and secularized hope and between the temporal and eternal aspects of salvation. This balance enabled believers to engage in mission work confidently yet realistically, setting a viable pattern for us to follow today as we continue to look to Christ in hope, drawing our vision of humanity and missiology from His Word." - Joel Beeke

"This volume accurately traces out millennial views in the 17th and 18th centuries. Information is structured, compact, and easy to read. For instance, John Owen's views are cited in six points, one of which is 'the subjection of the nations throughout the whole world unto the Lord Jesus Christ.' The author reminds us that 'William Carey's Enquiry' became the charter of the missionary movement. In the preface Carey declared that 'God has repeatedly made known his intention to prevail finally over all the power of the Devil.' This volume is a powerful endorsement of the fact that an eschatology of victory was motivational to missionary endeavour on a very wide scale. THIS IS A MOST RELEVANT AND VALUABLE BOOK!." - Erroll Hulse

Arie de Reuver (ThD, University of Utrecht) teaches systematic and historical theology at the University of Utrecht and is the author of numerous academic monographs. James A. De Jong (ThD, Free University of Amsterdam) is president emeritus of Calvin Theological Seminary.