eschatology ‘The doctrine of the last things’ (Greek: ta eschata) came in Christian discourse to mean: death, judgement, heaven, and hell. But in biblical studies the word denotes the basket of ideas in both OT and NT and the inter-testamental literature about the end period of history or existence—‘end’ meaning both a terminal point and also the events by which everything else is assessed.

In the OT the promise of a ‘good land’ (Exod. 3: 8) turned sour when the Assyrians and Babylonians subdued it. The prophets (e.g. Isa. 40 and Jer. 46) predicted restoration when the nation's sufferings had been sufficient to atone for their apostasies, or when the Temple had been rebuilt (Haggai and Zechariah). But still there was no sign of peace and security and a form of eschatology was adopted by the apocalyptic writers who maintained that God had revealed the future to his chosen witnesses. There would be cosmic catastrophes to usher in the terrible day of the Lord, preceded by the return of the prophet Elijah urging national repentance (Mal. 4: 5–6). The unrepentant wicked would be tormented eternally (Isa. 66: 24). There would then be an era of justice and prosperity and a descendant of David would reign (Isa. 11: 1).

Israelites who had already died would be raised (Dan. 12: 2)—a more precise definition of the afterlife than had existed before, though it is not the case that the Hebrews had no belief at all in life after death until the composition of the book of Daniel in the 2nd cent. BCE.

In the NT, eschatology denotes the complex ideas surrounding the kingdom of God in the preaching of Jesus, the coming of the Son of Man, the Parousia, and the conditions obtaining in the age to come. By some scholars, classically by Albert Schweitzer, it has been held that Jesus' expectations were wholly set on an imminent future. This theory is known as ‘consistent’ or ‘thoroughgoing futurist’ eschatology. But also in the NT eschatology embraces events which have occurred in history (the life and death of Jesus, for example) as well as those events associated with the Parousia, or return of Christ, when departed believers would be raised incorruptible and those still alive would be awarded new bodies suitable for inheriting the Kingdom (1 Cor. 15: 35–53). For example, the fourth gospel recognizes that participating in eternal life can begin here and now (John 5: 25–9; 6: 40). Several NT writers suggest that the End will come suddenly (1 Pet. 4: 7), but delay did not weaken their Christian faith since they held that the decisive work and victory of Christ had been achieved by the Son of Man in the past. In the language of some biblical scholars, it was ‘an eschatology inaugurated’ but still to be consummated in the future. Modern readers recognize that the expectation of the coming of divine judgement represented an incentive to generosity and goodness (Matt. 13: 30) in the first Christian generation. It is less compelling today. Modern Christians may prefer to give a new interpretation to the sense of urgency which was imparted by NT beliefs about the imminence of judgement. This could be understood as dismay at the continuing evils in the world, and a determination to take political action against them.

Eschatology

Eschatology, from the Greek word eschaton (the last), is the theological study of the last things, the final state of each individual, of the community of all individuals, and of reality itself. Thus, traditionally eschatology has dealt with the themes of death, judgment, heaven, hell, purgatory, the resurrection of the dead, the end of the world, and "the new heavens and the new Earth." Generally, eschatology deals with the ultimate destiny of individuals and creation, and what it is legitimate to hope for. For Christians, that destiny is envisioned as the resurrection of each individual with Christ and the transformation and unification of all things with him in God forever. In theological reflection since late 1960s, there has been a shift in stress to the present realities, which through God's active presence in the risen Christ and in the Spirit are considered the seeds or partial realizations of this ultimate destiny (realized eschatology). Full flowering and completion will only be achieved after death and the "final consummation" of the universe.

It is at this point that the natural sciences have a contribution to make. Biology, paleontology, geology, and astronomy help one appreciate the transience and fragility of all that exists, even though nature is continually bringing new things and new life out of dissolution and death. No individual entity or species continues forever. Cosmology assures that the observable universe itself will eventually become sterile and evanesce as it expands forever, undergoing heat death. The natural sciences are, of themselves, unable to discern anything beyond physical dissolution and biological death. However, because theologically there must be a continuity between present reality and its final transformation at the eschaton, certain key characteristics of reality, such as relationality and pattern, will undoubtedly be the enhanced basis for its eschatological completion.

See also Death; Eternity; Life After Death

Bibliography

polkinghorne, john, and welker, michael, eds. the end of the world and the ends of god: science and theology on eschatology. harrisburg, pa.: trinity press international, 2000.

william r. stoeger

eschatology, the doctrine of the last things, that is the ultimate destiny both of the individual soul and of the whole created order. When the end of the world expected in the early Church did not take place, it became peripheral to most Christian theology. The concept was gradually individualized and the ‘Four Last Things’ (death, judgement, Heaven, and Hell) formed the subject of Advent preaching. In the 19th cent. the discovery of early Jewish Apocalypses drew attention to the eschatological material in Scripture. More significantly, in 1892 J. Weiss claimed that Christ Himself spoke primarily of God's final intervention; A. Schweitzer popularized the view of the centrality of the eschatological element in Christ's teaching. Its extent is now a matter of debate (see JESUS CHRIST). C. H. Dodd eliminated the futuristic element in the phrase ‘Kingdom of God’ (q.v.) by describing Christ's teaching as ‘realized eschatology’. K. Barth reinterpreted biblical eschatology in terms of the presence of eternity and R. Bultmann in terms of human existence, both losing its future scope. This has been recovered by J. Moltmann and by liberation theologians drawing on modern biblical scholarship and also on Marxist categories. See also PAROUSIA.

Eschatology (Gk., eschatos, ‘last’). That which is concerned with the last things, the final destiny both of individuals and of humanity in general, and of the cosmos. The word was first used in the 19th cent., in discussing the Bible, but it refers to a concern in those religions which have a sequential (from a beginning to an end) understanding of time, and by application to religions which envisage an end to this particular cosmic cycle.

es·cha·tol·o·gy / ˌeskəˈtäləjē/ • n. the part of theology concerned with death, judgment, and the final destiny of the soul and of humankind. DERIVATIVES: es·cha·to·log·i·cal / eˌskatlˈäjikəl; ˌeskətl-/ adj. es·cha·tol·o·gist n.

eschatology the part of theology concerned with death, judgement, and the final destiny of the soul and of humankind (the four last things).

eschatology XIX. f. Gr. éskhatos last + -LOGY.