RaptureIn some modern traditions of Christian eschatology, the Rapture is a reference to the "being caught up" referred to in 1 Thessalonians 4:17, when, in the End Times, the Christians of the world will be gathered together in the air to meet Jesus Christ.<1> Rapture is used in at least two senses, in the sense of pre-tribulation views in which a group of people will be "left behind" and as a synonym for the Resurrection generally.<2><3><4><5>
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Doctrinal historyThe concept of the Rapture, in connection with premillennialism, was expressed by the 17th-century American Puritan father and son Increase and Cotton Mather. They held to the idea that believers would be caught up in the air, followed by judgments on the Earth, and then the millennium.<14><15> The term Rapture was used by Philip Doddridge<16> and John Gill<17> in their New Testament commentaries, with the idea that believers would be caught up prior to judgment on the Earth and Jesus' Second Coming....emphasis addedThere exists at least one 18th century and two 19th century pre-Tribulation references: in an essay published in 1788 in Philadelphia by the Baptist Morgan Edwards which articulated the concept of a pre-Tribulation Rapture,<18> in the writings of Catholic priest Emmanuel Lacunza in 1812,<19> and by John Nelson Darby in 1827.<20> However, both the book published in 1788 and the writings of Lacunza have opposing views regarding their interpretations.
Emmanuel Lacunza (1731–1801), a Jesuit priest, (under the pseudonym Juan Josafat Ben Ezra) wrote an apocalyptic work entitled La venida del Mesías en gloria y majestad (The Coming of the Messiah in Glory and Majesty). The book appeared first in 1811, 10 years after his death. In 1827, it was translated into English by the Scottish minister Edward Irving.
Dr. Samuel Prideaux Tregelles (1813-1875), a prominent English theologian and biblical scholar, wrote a pamphlet in 1866 tracing the concept of the Rapture through the works of John Darby back to Edward Irving.<21>
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rapture