In most theological controversies, differences among competing viewpoints are rooted in different hermeneutical methodologies.4 This holds true in the dispute between partial preterists and futurists. The futurist applies a consistently literal, or normal,5 interpretive grid. This method attaches to every word the same meaning that it would have in normal usage, whether in speaking, writing, or thinking.6 It also entails interpreting the Apocalypse according to the same hermeneutical