J. Stuart Russell

Due the influence of his older brother, Russell chose to pursue Christian ministry.

He served in a law office for a time before studying in the Theological Halls of Edinburgh and Glasgow, ultimately finding his way to Cheshunt College.

Based on his critical analysis of the relevant New Testament texts, Russell set forth his interpretation that Christ's Second Coming occurred in A.D. 70, when Jerusalem and the Temple were destroyed by the Romans.

In his preface to this later edition, Russell commented on scholarly and public reaction to his first edition: "It was hardly expected that [his Preterist or past-fulfillment] views, which come into conflict with traditional and popular opinion, should meet with ready concurrence; but the author must confess his disappointment that no serious attempt has been made to disprove any of his positions.

The work is almost wholly exegetical; and there is no attempt to invent or establish a theory, but only, by honest and faithful interpretation of the New Testament Scriptures, to allow them to speak for themselves."