Alister McGrath, Christian Theology: An Introduction

Chapter 18

The Last ThingsThe Christian Hope

Wiley-Blackwell 2010

Developments in the Doctrine of the Last Things

• The New Testament– The kingdom of God in Jesus’ preaching– The “now” and the “not yet”– Paul’s eschatology

• The presence of the “new age”• The resurrection of Jesus as eschatological event• The future coming of Jesus Christ at the end of time• The coming of the Holy Spirit

• Early Christianity and Roman beliefs about reunion after death– Cicero (106-43 B.C.)– Cyprian of Carthage– Ambrose of Milan’s eulogy for Theodosius

• Augustine: the two cities– The city of God– The secular city, or the city of the world– Tension and hope Wiley-Blackwell 2010

• Joachim of Fiore: the three ages– The age of the Father– The age of the Son– The age of the Spirit (the year 1260)

• Dante Alighieri: the Divine Comedy – Inferno (Hell), Purgatorio (Purgatory), Paradiso (Paradise)– Virgil, Beatrice, and Bernard of Clairvaux– Italian politics, Christian beliefs, and self-discovery– The nine circles of hell

• Hope in the face of death: Jeremy Taylor– Relationship between Christian belief in resurrection/eternal life and

Christian spirituality– Holy Living and Holy Dying

• “It is a great art to die well”

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• The Enlightenment: eschatology as superstition– Criticism against idea of hell– Karl Marx (1818-83)

• Transformation of the present world• The revolution as secular counterpart to heaven

– Nineteenth-century liberalism• The twentieth century: the rediscovery of eschatology

– Johannes Weiss and Albert Schweitzer– Charles H. Dodd

• The kingdom of God is at hand– Three approaches:

• Futurist eschatology (Weiss)• Inaugurated eschatology• Realized eschatology (Dodd)

• Rudolf Bultmann: the demythologization of eschatology– Existentialism

• Divine judgment as existential crisis– Individualist

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• Jürgen Moltmann: the theology of hope– Ernst Bloch, The Principle of Hope– Rediscovery of corporate Christian hope– “hope seeking understanding”

• Helmut Thielicke: ethics and eschatology– Eschatological Christian ethics– Tension between the present age and the age to come

• Dispensationalism: the structures of eschatology– Cyrus Ingerson Scofield– Periods of history:

• Innocence• Conscience• Human government• Promise• Law• The church• The millenium

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– The church and Israel– The rapture– The tribulation

• Spe salvi: Benedict XVI on the Christian hope– 2006 papal encyclical Spe salvi (“in hope we are saved”)– Contextualization of the Christian hope

• Christian hope as realistic claim in light of the failings of secular hope• Reaffirmation of importance of hope in face of human suffering

– Jürgen Moltmann’s criticisms

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The Last Things

• Hell– Dante’s Divine Comedy– Criticisms

• Contradiction of God’s final victory over evil• Vindictive justice difficult to reconcile with the compassion and love of

God– Conditional immortality

• Purgatory– Practice of praying for the dead– Gregory the Great (c.540-604)– Catherine of Genoa (1447-1510)– Rejected by the reformers

• Lacks scriptural foundation• Inconsistent with justification by faith

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• The millenium– Tertullian– Amillenialism– Premillenialism– Postmillenialism

• Heaven– Consummation of salvation– New Testament images

• Banquet, wedding feast, city (New Jerusalem)– Paul

• Tension between “now” and “not yet”– The resurrection body

• Origen• Methodius of Olympus• Middle Ages

– “status by merit”– The beatific vision

Wiley-Blackwell 2010