Exegetical Eschatology, the Peasant Present and the Final Discourse Genre: The Case of Mark 13

Abstract

The ancient literary form best fitting the Synoptic "Eschatological Discourse" is the final discourse, the final words of a person about to die, describing what was forthcoming for those near and dear to him/her. The nineteenth-century German theological terms "apocalyptic" and "eschatology" are misplaced and misleading when applied to New Testament documents in general and to the Synoptic final discourse in particular. Ancient self-evident presuppositions about the devolution of life might have naturally (i.e. culturally) served as latent assumptions in the Synoptic story line but do not receive explicit attention.