Christian eschatology, a major branch of study within Christian theology, deals with "last things". Such eschatology – the word derives from two Greek roots meaning "last" (ἔσχατος) and "study" (-λογία) – 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.
The Gospel according to Mark, also called the Gospel of Mark or simply Mark, is the second of the four canonical gospels and of the three synoptic Gospels. It tells of the ministry of Jesus from his baptism by John the Baptist to his death, burial, and the discovery of his empty tomb. There is no miraculous birth or doctrine of divine pre-existence, nor, in the original ending, any post-resurrection appearances of Jesus. It portrays Jesus as a teacher, an exorcist, a healer, and a miracle worker. He refers to himself as the Son of Man. He is called the Son of God, but keeps his messianic nature secret; even his disciples fail to understand him. All this is in keeping with Christian interpretation of prophecy, which is believed to foretell the fate of the messiah as suffering servant. The gospel ends, in its original version, with the discovery of the empty tomb, a promise to meet again in Galilee, and an unheeded instruction to spread the good news of the Resurrection of Jesus.
The Gospel according to John, also known as the Gospel of John or simply John, is the fourth of the four canonical gospels. It contains a highly schematic account of the ministry of Jesus, with seven "signs" culminating in the raising of Lazarus and seven "I am" discourses culminating in Thomas' proclamation of the risen Jesus as "my Lord and my God". John's account contains Jesus' Farewell Discourse, in which he speaks plainly to his apostles before his crucifixion. The gospel's concluding verses set out its purpose, "that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in his name."
The resurrection of Jesus is the Christian belief that God raised Jesus on the third day after his crucifixion, starting – or restoring – his exalted life as Christ and Lord. According to the New Testament writings he was firstborn from the dead, ushering in the Kingdom of God. He appeared to his disciples, calling the apostles to the Great Commission of proclaiming the Gospel of eternal salvation through his death and resurrection, and ascended to Heaven.
Dispensationalism is a particular hermeneutic or analytical system for interpreting the Bible based on a literal translation, and which stands in contrast to the traditional system of covenant theology used in biblical interpretation. Dispensationalism was first developed by John Nelson Darby around 1830, and considers biblical history as divided by God into dispensations, defined periods or ages to which God has allotted distinct covenants or administrative principles. According to dispensationalism, each age of God's plan is thus administered in a certain way, and humanity is held responsible as a steward during that time. Dispensationalists' presuppositions start with the inductive reasoning that biblical history has a particular discontinuity in the way God reacts to humanity in the unfolding of their, sometimes supposed, free wills.
Premillennialism, in Christian eschatology, is the belief that Jesus will physically return to the Earth before the Millennium, a literal thousand-year golden age of peace. Premillennialism is based upon a literal interpretation of Revelation 20:1–6 in the New Testament, which describes Jesus's reign in a period of a thousand years.
In Christianity, Jesus is the Son of God and in mainstream Christian denominations he is the incarnation of God the Son, the second person in the Trinity. He is believed to be the Jewish messiah who is prophesied in the Hebrew Bible, which is called the Old Testament in Christianity. It is believed that through his crucifixion and subsequent resurrection, God offered humans salvation and eternal life, that Jesus died to atone for sin to make humanity right with God.
The concept of the kingship of God appears in all Abrahamic religions, where in some cases the terms Kingdom of God and Kingdom of Heaven are also used. The notion of God's kingship goes back to the Hebrew Bible, which refers to "his kingdom" but does not include the term "Kingdom of God".
Kingdom theology is a system of Christian thought that elaborates on inaugurated eschatology, which is a way of understanding the various teachings on the kingdom of God found throughout the New Testament. Its emphasis is that the purpose of both individual Christians and the church as a whole is to manifest the kingdom of God on the earth, incorporating personal evangelism, social action, and foreign missions.
Oscar Cullmann was a Lutheran theologian. He is best known for his work in the ecumenical movement and was partly responsible for the establishment of dialogue between the Lutheran and Roman Catholic traditions. Because of his intense ecumenical work, Cullmann's Basel colleague Karl Barth joked with him that his tombstone would bear the inscription "advisor to three popes."
In Christianity, the gospel or good news is the news of the imminent coming of the Kingdom of God. This message is expounded upon as a narrative in the four canonical gospels, and as theology in many of the New Testament epistles. As theology it is expanded, and related to the death by crucifixion of Jesus. It perceives this as saving acts of God due to the work of Jesus on the cross and Jesus' resurrection from the dead which bring reconciliation between people and God.
In Christian eschatology, the post-tribulation rapture doctrine is the belief in a combined resurrection and gathering of the saints coming after the Great Tribulation.
Realized eschatology is a Christian eschatological theory popularized by J.A.T. Robinson, Joachim Jeremias, Ethelbert Stauffer, and C. H. Dodd (1884–1973) that holds that the eschatological passages in the New Testament do not refer to the future, but instead refer to the ministry of Jesus and his lasting legacy. Eschatology is therefore not the end of the world but its rebirth instituted by Jesus and continued by his disciples, a historical phenomenon. Those holding this view generally dismiss eschatology theories, believing them to be irrelevant; they hold that what Jesus said and did, and told his disciples to do likewise, are of greater significance than any messianic expectations.
George Eldon Ladd was a Baptist minister and professor of New Testament exegesis and theology at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California, known in Christian eschatology for his promotion of inaugurated eschatology and "futuristic post-tribulationism."
Christianity in the 1st century covers the formative history of Christianity from the start of the ministry of Jesus to the death of the last of the Twelve Apostles and is thus also known as the Apostolic Age. Early Christianity developed out of the eschatological ministry of Jesus. Subsequent to Jesus' death, his earliest followers formed an apocalyptic messianic Jewish sect during the late Second Temple period of the 1st century. Initially believing that Jesus' resurrection was the start of the endtime, their beliefs soon changed in the expected Second Coming of Jesus and the start of God's Kingdom at a later point in time.
Eternal life traditionally refers to continued life after death, as outlined in Christian eschatology. The Apostles' Creed testifies: "I believe... the resurrection of the body, and life everlasting." In this view, eternal life commences after the second coming of Jesus and the resurrection of the dead, although in the New Testament's Johannine literature there are references to eternal life commencing in the earthly life of the believer, possibly indicating an inaugurated eschatology.
The Kingdom of God is one of the key elements of the teachings of Jesus in the New Testament. Drawing on Old Testament teachings, the Christian characterization of the relationship between God and humanity inherently involves the notion of the Kingship of God. The Old Testament refers to "God the Judge of all" and the notion that all humans will eventually "be judged" is an essential element of Christian teachings. Building on a number of New Testament passages, the Nicene Creed indicates that the task of judgment is assigned to Jesus.
The Kingdom of God has different meanings in different Christian denominations and they interpret its meaning in distinctly different ways. While the concept of Kingdom of God may have an intuitive meaning to lay Christians, there is hardly any agreement among theologians about its meaning in the New Testament, and it is often interpreted to fit the theological agenda of those interpreting it.
George Raymond Beasley-Murray was an evangelical Christian and prominent Baptist scholar, Principal of Spurgeon's College, London, and later Professor of New Testament Interpretation at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. He is known particularly for what became the standard work on Baptism in the New Testament (1962), and his major study of Jesus and the Kingdom of God (1986). He received his D.D. from Jesus College, Cambridge.
Consistent eschatology is an exclusive futuristic eschatology, the consistent interpretation of Jesus' eschatology as an expectation of an imminent end, and the thorough-going eschatology, the first position by Albert Schweitzer. He used a thorough eschatology to provide a solution to the historical problems associated with Jesus' life. According to this view, the proclamation of Jesus asserted by Johannes Weiss and his actions and ministry are dominated by the eschatological expectation of the impending return. It is in contrast to realized eschatology, which sees the kingdom of God as not in the future but already completed in the ministry of Jesus Christ. It has evolved into inaugurated eschatology which started the synthesis of the consistent eschatology by Albert Schweitzer and realized eschatology by C. H. Dodd.
