The Pretribulation Rapture Doctrine and the Progressive Dispensational System

This thesis argues that progressive dispensationalism cannot integrate the pretribulation rapture doctrine into its reconstructed dispensational system on any basis of theological distinctiveness between the church and Israel. This will be accomplished by first setting forth the theological systems of the three major forms of dispensationalism that have existed during its history namely classical revised and progressive dispensationalism and second by showing that each of three kinds of theological distinctiveness namely anthropological soteriological and eschatological distinctiveness are present in the classical and revised systems and therefore these systems can support the rapture's integration but are not present in the progressive system and therefore this system cannot support the rapture's integration. The thesis closes with an explanation as to why progressive dispensationalism is more compatible with amillennialism than with premillennialism.