I am currently researching Hal Lindsey and his book The Late Great Planet Earth. Although I’ve found some commentary related to it and papers/books published in reaction to it, most of them are fairly recent. I’d like to know what the reaction was to him when the book was actually published. Does anybody know of any articles or books that were published in response to Lindsey in the early 1970’s ?
I think it depends on whom you’re talking about.
My parents at the time were in the kind of crowd that swallowed Hal’s line. These days I’d like to give Hal a good hard thump on the head. He’s been publishing the same stuff over and over (in some cases, literally), and I’ve reached the conclusion he doesn’t have the faintest idea what he’s talking about.
I remember watching him on tv during that three day coup in Russia that pushed out Gorbechev momentarily. Hal was saying that real students of biblical prophecy knew that there had to be a militarily strong Soviet Union/Russia, and that this was probably the way that would be preserved.
Hal is an idiot.
I remember his books well because of my mother’s interest at the time but don’t think he got much attention outside the fundie/apocalyptic community. Now it might almost seem qaint that some folks thought UPC barcodes were the mark of the beast but I lot of people really believed that at one time.
I was a Southern Baptist when The Late Great Planet Earth came out. From personal experince, I remember that a lot of my (then) colleagues thought it was the greatest thing since sliced butter topped wheat bread. The problem had been that a lot of people had read Biblical prophecy but no one knew how to apply it to a modern age. Lindsey was one of the first to codify the type of apocolyptic thinking that we see nowadays and led the way for a whole slew of writers who (unfortunately) see fulfillments of Biblical prophecy every time some world leader sneezes.
I always get him confused with that guy who played Barney Miller on TV.
Go to the library reference room or section and find their set of Readers’ Guides to Periodical Literature. Hal Lindsey will certainly be a subject heading.