Eschatological Expectations Research Articles

Eschatology and Religiosity of the People in Russia in the 17th Century

The article studies the religiosity of Russian population in the 17th century in order to find out the type of this state of public mind. Special attention is drawn to the acuteness of eschatological expectations in society, which intensified during periods of crises. After the Time of Troubles (Smuta), the Church, trying to bring society out of the spiritual crisis, had been exploiting the “end of the world” topic through publishing relevant texts. This trend was especially noticeable during the time of Patriarch Joseph. The decision of the Moscow Printing House (Pechatnyi Dvor) to extend the amount of eschatological publications was determined not only by the direction of church policy, but also by the request in society, the desire of the population to get a more complete picture of the Christian teaching about the ultimate destinies of the world and man, since the spiritual crisis had presupposed an increase of apocalyptic moods. This desire indicates that the population was characterized by the religiosity of the medieval type. The article scrutinizes in particular the 2nd half of the 17th century, which modern researchers rightly designate as the early Modern era. In a society with such a keen perception of the time, the church reform, initiated in the middle of the century by Patriarch Nikon, was naturally not supported by a part of the population. In the interpretation of the defenders of the Old Belief, the actions of the reformers turned into clear signs of the advent of the kingdom of Antichrist, as it was prophesied in Christian teaching. It was not some peculiarity of the worldview of the opponents of church reform, their behavior adjusted the religiosity of the epoch. To justify these thoughts the position of Patriarch Nikon could be mentioned. Nikon found himself in a situation of disapproval and, arguing to be wrongfully convicted and misunderstood, he also used the eschatological doctrine. Based on the analysis of such facts, the article concludes that the 2nd half of the 17th century was characterized by religiosity of the medieval type.

Konvergenz von Lebenszeit und Weltzeit

Abstract In the context of this article, the work of Quirinus Kuhlmann (1651–1689) is interpreted as an attempt to project one’s own life onto the history of the world and salvation in the sense of Hans Blumenberg’s essay “Lebenszeit und Weltzeit” (1986). As particularly rich sources of information on Kuhlmann’s biography and his interpretative practice of relating historical events to his own life, the paratexts – preface, motto, commentary, letters, prose introductions, and title copy – are at the centre of the study. These paratextual elements are an integral part of a self-fashioning of authorship that aims to elevate Kuhlmann as the “Son of Jesus” to a central figure in chiliastic and eschatological expectations of the near future.

Pentecostal Engagement with the Concept of Salvation Employed by African Neopentecostalism

Abstract This article argues for the necessity of continuing discourse between established Christianity and African Neopentecostalism to benefit both. The seeming popularity of the African Neopentecostal prosperity gospel is attributed to its ability to contextualise the gospel to Africans regarding the highly appreciated material, physical, and spiritual wellness values. It consists of being hopeful that a positive future will realise because of an entrepreneurial attitude that provides a handle on bettering the future and consistent tithing that guarantees God’s blessings. Strong preacher-prophets proclaim the message with great authority. Its soteriology is described in terms of the Deuteronomist concept of guaranteed blessings that emphasises the material and immediate providence. It challenges established churches to reconsider how they view the relationship between faith and materiality, the doctrine of divine providence, contextualisation of the gospel and denial of the supranatural. The dialogue will also benefit Neopentecostalists when it confronts some abuses, eschatological expectations, understanding of time, understanding of evil in God’s sovereignty and involvement in ecological challenges.

Studien zum Dodekapropheton II: Gesammelte Aufsätze zu Joel, Obadja, Jona, Micha und Nahum

Studien zum Dodekapropheton II: Gesammelte Aufsätze zu Joel, Obadja, Jona, Micha und Nahum

‘We’re all gonna die anyway’: the eschatological tranquillity of Russian Baptists during the pandemic

ABSTRACT The article discusses how the Russian Baptist community reacted to the COVID-19 pandemic and state-imposed restrictions. After initial fears of the unknown and unprecedented threat, most believers normalised the situation and positioned it in the context of their faith, Gospel message, and eschatological expectations. I analyse their eschatological tranquillity in the context of the Russian Baptist interpretative tradition of applying the Bible to everyday life, and moral potentialities that the pandemic and restrictions created for believers.

New Books across the Disciplines

New Books across the Disciplines

Religion, war, and peace in premodern Islamicate polities and the Christian West

The plural Islams and the various Christianities deriving from late Antique Catholicism constitute two families of monotheisms whose relation to armed violence and to peace can be compared over the longue durée. In both, war and peace coexist as values, with the sense however that there can be a corrupting bad peace and a wicked bad war. Both—albeit through different media—produced norms governing warfare. For both, there is a strong correlation between holy war and societal reform. In both, the potential to sacralize a space that then has to be defended (New Jerusalems or second Hejaz) figures prominently. In both, radical warfare, reform, and purge of one’s own group can be triggered by apocalyptic or eschatological expectations (with figures such as a person anticipating typologically the return of the vengeful Christ, a last world emperor, a mujaddid, or a Mahdī). While this contribution focuses mainly on the pre-modern world, it ends on an attempt to relate the current war waged by Boko Haram to this past.

The Apocalypse and the Politics of the Impossible

This article outlines various concepts of the Apocalypse and their relationship to such political ideas of modernity as socialism, liberalism and conservatism. Eschatology is based on the idea that time is striving to elaborate itself and fulfil its own meaning and is therefore directly related to the concept of history as the link between the present, past and future. Different versions of the Apocalypse have become the basis for certain political perspectives: the aspiration to eradicate the old world and establish the Kingdom of God is related to the ambitions of emancipatory and revolutionary movements, while liberalism derives its coherence from a Kantian ethics in which the eschatological assumption provides the foundation for personal moral autonomy. However, the attempts of revolutionaries to realize the meaning of history and the eschatological “fulfilment of time” have become a key element in the criticism of emancipatory movements by conservatives. Contrary to the widespread idea that eschatological expectation and politics are opposed, the author argues that the very notion of politics is impossible without addressing certain concepts from the Apocalypse. The similarity of their eschatological tropes should not be taken as a suggestion that socialist, conservative or liberal ideas (which continue to be in a state of fundamental conflict) may possibly converge; but it does indicate a deep connection between politics as such and the notion of the end of time. These foundations of the political are now threatened by a post-politics associated with the disappearance of the experience of time — an “eternal present” in which the multitude of catastrophes we constantly experience devalues each of them as a unique event and inscribes the idea of the Apocalypse in the reproduction of the existing order of things.

FRANCESCO DATINI IN EPISTOLARY REFLECTION

The article attempts to reconstruct the mentality of the medieval burgher Francesco Datini (1335-1410) on the materials of his epistolary archive in order to study his inherent reflexive practices in the context of time and life circumstances. The period of Datini’s life (XIV-XV centuries) was marked by a number of cataclysms, among which the Great Plague Pandemic of the middle of the XIV century seems to be the most global phenomenon. People of the “Old World” who survived these shocks felt irreversible social and mental changes. Their habitual way of life seemed to go into an irrevocable past, the established group and individual identity was destroyed. At the same time, a new model of life behavior and identity has not yet taken shape. As a methodological basis for the research undertaken, we chose the methods of emotive history, which allowed us to concentrate research efforts on emotions and value orientations, as well as the theory of liminality, which focuses on studying the states impact of uncertainty on groups of people and individuals. Datini’s correspondence was divided into two parts, official — with his business partners and private — with his foster mother Monna Piera di Pratese Boschetti, his wife Monna Margarita and his closest friend, notary and judge, Ser Lapo di Macei. In business correspondence, Francesco Datini appears to be occupied exclusively with thoughts on income, prone to maxims and evil irony. In private correspondence, the religious motivation of his actions, emotions, doubts, fears and fears are revealed, which were reinforced by the eschatological expectations of the transitional period. These observations made it possible to characterize the reflexive practices of Francesco Datini as liminal. Datini’s reflexive experience turned out to be very multidimensional, reflecting the catastrophic nature of the time he lived through, which prompted him in the last years of his life to turn to charity, long fasts and asceticism.

ИОАХИМ ФЛОРСКИЙ, МИССИЯ НИЩЕНСТВУЩИХ ОРДЕНОВ И РАННИЙ ИТАЛЬЯНСКИЙ ПОЛИПТИХ

The paper aims at clarifying the meanings of early Italian painted polyptychs. The rationale behind the genesis of this particular type of altarpiece, which spread rapidly in the 1260s–1320s and became very popular in the churches of the Dominicans and Franciscans, has received only partial explanation in existing scholarship. A new perspective in its study can be advanced through consideration of the mission of early polyptychs in the context of eschatological expectations of the era, which were largely defined by the prophecies of Joachim of Flores. These expectations shaped the mendicant orders’ narratives of their own missions, which found explicit expression in their art only much later. By confronting the early polyptych with the later orders’ pieces reflecting their identity, the author argues that early mendicant altarpieces served primarily as visual representations of each order’s mission, which largely determined their popularity.

“This Generation”: Reconsidering Mark 13:30 in Light of Eschatological Expectations in Second Temple Judaism

Abstract Mark 13:30 has received significant interpretive attention in the history of NT scholarship. Much of the attention given to this text finds its origin in concern over whether Jesus has erred in his prediction of his parousia and the culmination of the eschaton. As a way forward in resolving this long recognized problem of Jesus making an errant prophecy, this study considers other interpretive difficulties presented by Mark 13:30, including its tension with Mark 13:32 and its reception by the Matthean and Lukan Evangelists. As a means of addressing these difficulties, the study, like many before it, reconsiders the meaning of γενεὰ in Mark 13:30. Unlike previous studies, this study considers the “generation” concept within the eschatological expectations of Second Temple Judaism. The meaning of γενεὰ that emerges from this analysis not only resolves the various interpretive problems of Mark 13:30 but also provides significant coherence to the entirety of Mark 13.

The Unperceived Continuity of Isaiah

The Unperceived Continuity of Isaiah

When Prophecy Adapts

Jehovah’s Witnesses is often presented as a special religious group, one who has preached the imminence of the end of the world for an exceptional long amount of time. The implicit assumption in this statement, is also this article’s hypothesis: an imminent eschatological expectation will, over time, create an explanatory problem, where religions, for the sake of their own survival, must revise and adapt their eschatological expectations. This article examines this hypothesis by analysing the eschatological expectations presented in Jehovah’s Witnesses magazine The Watchtower, from 1985 through 2015. With the use of Roy Rappaports theory, supplemented with some new terms to make the theory fit the case of Jehovah’s Witnesses, it analyses the developments and adaptations in Jehovah’s Witnesses eschatological doctrines, and shows numerous signs of a religious organization that may be headed towards great changes in the immanent character of its eschatological beliefs.

End Time and Emotions: Emotion Regulation Functions of Eschatological Expectations among Jehovah’s Witnesses in Norway

Abstract The aim of this qualitative interview study was to explore the specific expectations that N = 29 Jehovah’s Witnesses (JWs) had of end times and paradise using an emotion regulation perspective. Beyond the general eschatological doctrine of JWs, the participants were encouraged to report their individual beliefs and connected emotions. Thematic analysis identified forecasting of life in paradise in the form of a continuation of physical life but with an overall positive emotional atmosphere. Emotionally, paradise was often contrasted with the present time, as negative emotions and the downregulation of strong positive emotions dominate the current end time. As an emotion regulation strategy between current end times and future paradise, emotional forecasting, i.e., predicting which emotions would arise in the future to regulate present-day emotions, is used. The results are discussed in the frame of positive and negative psychological implications of JWs’ eschatological beliefs and emotional forecasting.

A Survey on the Concept of ‘Tikkun olam: Repairing the World’ in Judaism

A Survey on the Concept of ‘Tikkun olam: Repairing the World’ in Judaism

CAVES ON MONASTERIAL TERRITORIES OF THE RUSSIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH OF 17–21ST CENTURIES: GENESIS AND PLACE IN THE SACRED LANDSCAPE

The article considers genesis of the caves located on territory of 23 monasteries of the Russian Orthodox Church, which are in different subjects of European part of the Russian Federation. It is noted that emergence of the cult caves was influenced by a number of factors. The caves appeared as a transfer result of sacred space of such centres of Christian pilgrimage like Jerusalem, Athos, Kiev onto Russian soil. The caves were also created as a result of spiritual practice of hesychasm, repentance lives and eschatological expectations. Appearance of the cult caves was both in the form of individual penance laypeople and monks, and in the form of peoples cave digging. It should be noted that the caves were built either in new, not previously included in the sacred space of the settlements, or in the areas of monasteries previously abolished as a result of secularization. In some cases creation of caves on monasterial territory was reported. During the Soviet period the caves were abandoned along with closing monasteries. Currently, the sacred space of caves is being recreated along with re-emerging abodes, church service is hold in underground churches. Caves, occupying a unique place in the cultural landscape, attract pilgrims and tourists. However, the sacred space semantics cannot always be fully implemented in them. The concrete examples of transfer discovered in the article fro sacral space of Jerusalem, Mount Athos and Kiev into the cave monasteries of the Russian Orthodox Church intended to level this aspect as well as the aspect of Hesychasts way reflection in the corridors and cells of cave mazes. The structural-semantic method was used in the studies for analysis, which allowed revealing the meaning of cave complexes in sacred monastic space. Anthropological approach to the studies of cave diggers subculture helped analyze the cave creators motives and values.

Privacy as Protection of the Incomputable Self: From Agnostic to Agonistic Machine Learning

Abstract This Article takes the perspective of law and philosophy, integrating insights from computer science. First, I will argue that in the era of big data analytics we need an understanding of privacy that is capable of protecting what is uncountable, incalculable or incomputable about individual persons. To instigate this new dimension of the right to privacy, I expand previous work on the relational nature of privacy, and the productive indeterminacy of human identity it implies, into an ecological understanding of privacy, taking into account the technological environment that mediates the constitution of human identity. Second, I will investigate how machine learning actually works, detecting a series of design choices that inform the accuracy of the outcome, each entailing trade-offs that determine the relevance, validity and reliability of the algorithm’s accuracy for real life problems. I argue that incomputability does not call for a rejection of machine learning per se but calls for a research design that enables those who will be affected by the algorithms to become involved and to learn how machines learn — resulting in a better understanding of their potential and limitations. A better understanding of the limitations that are inherent in machine learning will deflate some of the eschatological expectations, and provide for better decision-making about whether and if so how to implement machine learning in specific domains or contexts. I will highlight how a reliable research design aligns with purpose limitation as core to its methodological integrity. This Article, then, advocates a practice of “agonistic machine learning” that will contribute to responsible decisions about the integration of data-driven applications into our environments while simultaneously bringing them under the Rule of Law. This should also provide the best means to achieve effective protection against overdetermination of individuals by machine inferences.

Halen som logrer med hunden

The tail is wagging the dog: On Pentecostal eschatology and social engagement Pentecostals have often been accused, and rightly so, of an other-worldly eschatology that leads to escape from, rather than engagement in, society. In contrast, this article seeks to demonstrate that Pentecostal spirituality and worldview carry the seed of a more fruitful approach towards social engagement and transformation, and proposes (a) proleptic anticipation, (b) holistic soteriology, (c) openness to God, and (d) prophetic imagination as starting points for an eschatology that takes both Pentecostal characteristics and the well-being of society seriously. Further, the study points out dispensationalism, fatalism, understanding of time, and waning eschatological expectations as issues that must be addressed for this potential to be realized. Finally, it concludes with implications for pastoral leadership and preaching, highlighting the need for an eschatological pulpit to avoid the damage of the contemporary therapeutic culture in the life of the church.

The spirituality of apocalyptic and millenarian groups. The case of the Branch Davidians in Waco

This article investigates the eschatological expectations of apocalyptic and millenarian groups from a spirituality perspective. It first analyses various historical examples of such expectations with particular attention to their sociopolitical consequences. A second part discusses the negative perceptions of, and violent responses to such groups by those who hold them in contempt as lacking spirituality. This issue is then specifically analysed in more detail in terms of the siege of the Davidian group, an offshoot of Adventism, in Waco, Texas, by law enforcement officials in 1993. An analysis of the group’s spirituality discusses their religious commitment, spiritual practices and use of the Bible as positive outcomes that they share with other millenarian groups. A concluding part spells out the negative characteristics and dynamics of their spirituality.

Mission in Pentecostal Theology

AbstractThe purpose of this essay is to seek to discern as accurately as possible some key theological resources and impulses that stand behind global Pentecostal mission, whose tremendous growth has caught the attention of scholars and practitioners alike. After outlining a profile of key factors believed to be behind missionary enthusiasm and discerning the current state of the emerging Pentecostal missiological scholarship, the essay seeks to provide a fairly comprehensive theological analysis of leading motifs. The essay suggests that the following theological themes undergird Pentecostal missiology, namely a keen eschatological expectation, the pursuit of a distinctively Pentecostal “Full Gospel,” the vision of a holistic salvation, and the reliance on the power and energies of the Holy Spirit. Since Pentecostal theological analysis is still in the making, the current writing should be considered as an interim report.