The History of American Pretribulationism

A widely cited 2004 Newsweek poll found that 55% of Americans believe in the rapture.[1] How did such a majority arise? It has now been 150 years since the pretribulational doctrine of the rapture came to the United States through the teaching of Anglo-Irish Bible teacher and evangelist John Nelson Darby (1800-1882). This paper seeks to answer the question "how did Darby's understanding of pretribulationism become a widely-recognized part of the American religious and cultural experience?" ...