Esteemed Founder: Max KingMax King, a “church of Christ” minister who is credited with founding the modern movement known by various names, “Covenant Eschatology”, “Fulfilled Eschatology”, “Consistent Preterism”, “Full Preterism” – or properly called “Hyper-preterism”. Max King wrote several books that are considered foundational to the preterism movement. Max King is now well into his grandfatherly seventies & rarely communicates with his ideological offspring.
Rejected Heir: Tim KingTim King, son of Max King appeared to be primed to take over the reigns of the movement but due to indiscretions & his extremely liberal theology, Tim King could not maintain the image & instead tried to reposition himself & the movement under a new banner called “Transmillennialism™” (which he had the nerve to trademark). This endeavor failed to have a huge following thus the “Transmillennialism™” faction of hyper-preterism mainly acts as a liberal philanthropic organization & an outlet for selling Tim King’s liberal, pop-psychology “teaching” materials.
Traveling Salesman: Don PrestonDon Preston, also a “church of Christ” minister travels around debating mainly other “church of Christ” ministers. Ironically enough it is easy pickings because the “futurist” church of Christ adherents’ “restorationist” views where they believe the true Church & Gospel was lost & thus had to be “restored” is the very thing that handicaps them to effectively refute the errors of hyper-preterism. Don Preston thus appears to pummel his futurist colleagues & the dispensationalists that he often engages in debates. In fact, it is no coincidence that as the readers can see, hyper-preterism is dominant within the “church of Christ” denomination – it’s anti-continuity concepts of historical Christianity lends itself for them to fall into these kinds of heresies.
Presumed Scholar: Sam FrostSam Frost, an admitted “ecumenicist” has for a long time been the presumed “scholar” of the hyper-preterists since he is one of the few, if not the only with any sort of theological degree. He also has been seen as the token “Calvinist” among the hyper-preterists. Although there are other Calvinistic hyper-preterists, they typically use the moniker of “sov grace” which is a vague version of the classic Reformed position. Sam Frost & the minority semi-conservatives are increasingly finding themselves pushed out of the wider hyper-preterist culture.
Proud Prince: Virgil VaduvaVirgil Vaduva, another “church of Christ” member has positioned himself as the prince of preterism – with the leading hyper-preterist website & the most active gathering points for hyper-preterism. Virgil Vaduva is the main promoter of hyper-preterist materials. At one point in time, he even attempted to trademark the term “preterist”. Virgil Vaduva is a Romanian immigrant that married the daughter of one of Max King’s close associates, Terry Hall. Although Virgil Vaduva is not always well known by new adherents of hyper-preterism, he is actually the man behind the curtain & the main pusher of the universalistic & postmodernisitic flavor of hyper-preterism. If it weren’t for Virgil Vaduva, much of the organization of the movement would collapse.
Protagonist/Antagonist: Ed StevensEd Stevens, a former “church of Christ” member is known to some as the antagonist within hyper-preterism since it was Ed Stevens that was mainly responsible for driving Tim King into the background & blamed for derailing initial discussions of Max King with mainstream theologians. Ed Stevens early on saw himself as the protagonist of hyper-preterism but much of his support abandoned him when he began espousing a first-century rapture. Recently, it seems Ed Stevens is trying to work his way back into the center of the movement & he has even engendered kind words from his long time rival, Virgil Vaduva.
Wannabe Hyper-Preterist Players
Of course, no movement is complete without a whole host of supporting players of which hyper-preterism has many. The Soap-Opraesque environment of the Hyper-preterist movement alone makes it an almost addicting thing to observe even if you never buy any of their novel & anti-historical, anti-Christian wild speculations.
http://preteristheresy.blogspot.com/2008/04/hyper-preterist-players.html
