Christian eschatology
Christian eschatology is a branch of study within Christian theology which deals with the doctrine of the "last things", especially the Second Coming of Christ, or Parousia. The word eschatology derives from two Greek roots meaning "last" and "study" – involves the study of "end things", whether of the end of an individual life, of the end of the age, of the end of the world, or of the nature of the Kingdom of God. Broadly speaking, Christian eschatology focuses on the ultimate destiny of individual souls and of the entire created order, based primarily upon biblical texts within the Old and New Testaments.
Christian eschatology looks to study and discuss matters such as death and the afterlife, Heaven and Hell, the Second Coming of Jesus, the resurrection of the dead, the rapture, the tribulation, millennialism, the end of the world, the Last Judgment, and the New Heaven and New Earth in the world to come.
Eschatological passages appear in multiple places in the Bible, in both the Old and New Testaments. A number of extra-biblical examples of eschatological prophecies also exist, as well as extra-biblical ecclesiastical traditions relating to the subject.
History
within early Christianity originated with the public life and preaching of Jesus. Jesus is sometimes interpreted as referring to his Second Coming in Matthew 24:27; Matthew 24:37–39; Matthew 26:64; Mark 14:62. Christian eschatology is an ancient branch of study in Christian theology, informed by Biblical texts such as the Olivet Discourse, The Sheep and the Goats, and other discourses of end times by Jesus, with the doctrine of the Second Coming discussed by Paul the Apostle in his epistles, both the authentic and the disputed ones. Other eschatological doctrines can be found in the Epistle of James, the First Epistle of Peter, and the First Epistle of John. According to some scholars, the Second Epistle of Peter explains that God is patient and has not yet brought about the Second Coming of Christ, in order that more people will have the chance to reject evil and find salvation ; therefore, it calls on Christians to wait patiently for the Parousia and to study scripture. Other scholars, however, believe that the New Testament epistles are an exhortation to the early church believers to patiently expect the imminent return of Jesus, predicted by himself on several occasions in the gospels. The First Epistle of Clement, written by Pope Clement I in ca. 95, criticizes those who had doubts about the faith because the Second Coming had, in his view, not yet occurred.Christian eschatology is also discussed by Ignatius of Antioch in his epistles, then given more consideration by the Christian apologist, Justin Martyr. Treatment of eschatology continued in the West in the teachings of Tertullian, and was given fuller reflection and speculation soon after by Origen. The word was used first by the Lutheran theologian Abraham Calovius but only came into general usage in the 19th century.
The growing modern interest in eschatology is tied to developments in Anglophone Christianity. Puritans in the 18th and 19th centuries were particularly interested in a postmillennial hope which surrounded Christian conversion. This would be contrasted with the growing interest in premillennialism, advocated by dispensational figures such as J. N. Darby. Both of these strands would have significant influences on the growing interests in eschatology in Christian missions and in Christianity in West Africa and Asia. However, in the 20th century, there would be a growing number of German scholars such as Jürgen Moltmann and Wolfhart Pannenberg who would likewise be interested in eschatology.
In the 1800s, a group of Christian theologians inclusive of Ellen G. White, William Miller and Joseph Bates began to study eschatological implications revealed in the Book of Daniel and the Book of Revelation. Their interpretation of Christian eschatology resulted in the founding of the Seventh-day Adventist church.
Christian eschatological views
The following approaches arose from the study of Christianity's most central eschatological document, the Book of Revelation, but the principles embodied in them can be applied to all prophecy in the Bible. They are by no means mutually exclusive and are often combined to form a more complete and coherent interpretation of prophetic passages. Most interpretations fit into one, or a combination, of these approaches. The alternate methods of prophetic interpretation, Futurism and Preterism which came from Jesuit writings, were brought about to oppose the Historicism interpretation which had been used from Biblical times that Reformers used in teaching that the Antichrist was the Papacy or the power of the Roman Catholic Church.Preterism
is a Christian eschatological view that interprets some or all prophecies of the Bible as events which have already happened. This school of thought interprets the Book of Daniel as referring to events that happened from the 7th century BC until the first century AD, while seeing the prophecies of Revelation as events that happened in the first century AD. Preterism holds that Ancient Israel finds its continuation or fulfillment in the Christian church at the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70.Historically, preterists and non-preterists have generally agreed that the Jesuit Luis de Alcasar wrote the first systematic preterist exposition of prophecy, Vestigatio arcani sensus in Apocalypsi, during the Counter-Reformation.
Historicism
, a type of method of interpretation of biblical prophecies, associates symbols with historical persons, nations or events. It can result in a view of progressive and continuous fulfillment of prophecy covering the period from biblical times to what they view as a possible future Second Coming of Christ. Most Protestant Reformers from the Reformation into the 19th century held historicist views.Futurism
In Futurism, parallels may be drawn with historical events, but most eschatological prophecies are chiefly referring to events which have not yet been fulfilled, but will take place at the end of the age and the end of the world. Most prophecies will be fulfilled during a time of global chaos known as the Great Tribulation and afterwards. Futurist beliefs usually have a close association with Premillennialism and Dispensationalism.Idealism
in Christian eschatology is an interpretation of the Book of Revelation that sees all of the imagery of the book as symbols.Jacob Taubes writes that idealist eschatology came about as Renaissance thinkers began to doubt that the Kingdom of Heaven had been established on earth, or would be established, but still believed in its establishment. Rather than the Kingdom of Heaven being present in society, it is established subjectively for the individual.
F. D. Maurice interpreted the Kingdom of Heaven idealistically as a symbol representing society's general improvement, instead of a physical and political kingdom. Karl Barth interprets eschatology as representing existential truths that bring the individual hope, rather than history or future-history. Barth's ideas provided fuel for the Social Gospel philosophy in America, which saw social change not as performing "required" good works, but because the individuals involved felt that Christians could not simply ignore society's problems with future dreams.
Different authors have suggested that the Beast represents various social injustices, such as exploitation of workers, wealth, the elite, commerce, materialism, and imperialism. Various Christian anarchists, such as Jacques Ellul, have identified the State and political power as the Beast. Other scholars identify the Beast with the Roman empire of the first century AD, but recognize that the Beast may have significance beyond its identification with Rome. For example, Craig R. Koester says "the vision speaks to the imperial context in which Revelation was composed, but it does so with images that go beyond that context, depicting the powers at work in the world in ways that continue to engage readers of subsequent generations." And his comments on the whore of Babylon are more to the point: "The whore is Rome, yet more than Rome." It "is the Roman imperial world, which in turn represents the world alienated from God." As Stephen Smalley puts it, the beast represents "the powers of evil which lie behind the kingdoms of this world, and which encourage in society, at any moment in history, compromise with the truth and opposition to the justice and mercy of God."
It is distinct from Preterism, Futurism and Historicism in that it does not see any of the prophecies as being fulfilled in a literal, physical, earthly sense either in the past, present or future, and that to interpret the eschatological portions of the Bible in a historical or future-historical fashion is an erroneous understanding.
Comparison of Futurist, Preterist and Historicist beliefs
Preterism v. Historicism
Expositors of the traditional Protestant interpretation of Revelation known as Historicism have often maintained that Revelation was written in AD 96 and not AD 70. Edward Bishop Elliott, in the Horae Apocalypticae, argues that John wrote the book in exile on Patmos "at the close of the reign of Domitian; that is near the end of the year 95 or beginning of 96". He notes that Domitian was assassinated in September 96. Elliot begins his lengthy review of historical evidence by quoting Irenaeus, a disciple of Polycarp. Polycarp was a disciple of John the Apostle of Jesus Christ. Irenaeus mentions that the Apocalypse was seen "no very long time ago almost in our own age, toward the end of the reign of Domitian".Other historicists have seen no significance in the date that Revelation was written, and have even held to an early date while Kenneth L. Gentry Jr., makes an exegetical and historical argument for the pre-AD 70 composition of Revelation.