Eschatology of the New Testament

Abstract

The term “eschatology” is a neologism that literally refers to the doctrine (Greek: logos) of the last things (Greek: eschata). The term first emerged in the context of 17th-century Lutheran dogmatics where it referred to that branch of Christian theology that deals with matters such as the second coming (or Parousia) of Jesus Christ, final judgement, the end of the age, hell, and eternal life. In the comparative study of religion, eschatology can be used more broadly for beliefs pertaining to “the end,” which are commonly divided into three categories: personal eschatology (the individual fate of a human upon death), collective eschatology (the fate of humankind), and cosmic eschatology (the ultimate fate of the physical world). This article will chiefly deal with collective and cosmic eschatology in the New Testament and early Christianity. For personal eschatology, see the separate Oxford Bibliographies article “Afterlife and Immortality.” To speak of the ultimate fate of the cosmos or of humankind is not necessarily to speak of its destruction. Many hopes labelled eschatological in Jewish and Christian tradition refer more to a definitive and divinely instigated change in the current order of the world, which reverses social hierarchies, judges the wicked, and instigates an eternal age of peace and justice. The overcoming of death and mortality is another important eschatological theme. A key characteristic of New Testament texts is that they regularly claim certain eschatological expectations have been fulfilled in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, as well as in the present experience of the spirit enjoyed by Jesus’ followers. Other eschatological events, on the other hand, are still expected to occur at an undefined (but often very near) point in the future. Much of the history of scholarship has thus been occupied with trying to determine how different authors understand certain eschatological expectations to have been realized, and what they still expect to happen in the future. On another level, scholars inquire into the function of eschatological language and what practical effects it was intended to have on the texts’ original audiences. The critical study of early Christian eschatology has proved one of the most challenging areas for modern theology to grapple with. At the same time, it has also provided one of the most fruitful resources for creative theological thinking. Many would argue that this dynamic is already present in the texts of the New Testament themselves.