New Testament Eschatology

(from the Introduction)
Retiring as professor of Systematic Theology at the University of Tübingen, Germany, The Coming of God is Jürgen Moltmann’s final installment to his five-volume “Contributions to Theology” series. Divided into five main sections, the book seeks to answer four primary questions: how does hope relate to eternal life? What is hope in relation to God’s kingdom? How does hope relate to the new heaven and new earth? Finally, what is glory’s hope for God? The author ultimately aims to integrate individual, universal, historical, and natural eschatology into a unified whole.  In the end, Moltmann’s eclectic eschatology provides wonderful insights and offers a much-needed reminder about the ecological and cosmic dimensions of eschatology. While not always defensible, his eschatological schema is an important corrective for those eschatologies that ignore social justice or focus entirely on future dispensations.

(from the Introduction)
Being the final product of his doctoral studies, Paul Wilkinson’s book, For Zion’s Sake, intends to reveal how John Nelson Darby’s detractors have distorted Christian Zionism while directly challenging academics who believe dispensationalism has little theological or historical value.  The purpose of this review is not to critique dispensationalism directly but to summarize and evaluate Wilkinson’s research and conclusions. In the end, Wilkinson’s ideological agenda and prejudicial research presents a thoroughly one-sided and indefensible case for Christian Zionism. In addition to his shameful demonization tactics against anyone who disagrees, Wilkinson’s research capabilities demonstrate a deliberate bias with little intention of conducting a fair and honest assessment of the subject. His style of writing amounts to nothing more than inflammatory claptrap, engaging in a puerile smear campaign against nondispensationalists that panders to the rhetoric of pseudo-intellectual prophecy pundits and apocalyptic hysteria. His research and conclusions are elementary at best, if not outright disgraceful.

(from the Introduction)
Intending only to research medieval conceptions of hell, author Alan Bernstein wanted to investigate postmortem retribution in the ancient world for historical context. This investigation turned into an entire book of its own. In The Formation of Hell, Bernstein seeks to explain how the idea of hell achieved a prominent place in people’s minds. He explicitly states that he intends to accomplish this without any prior concern for whether hell actually exists or any preceding judgement as to the nature or value of hell.  In the end, Bernstein provides a superb example of historical investigation and rigorous scholarship. Though there are certain theological and metaphysical implications omitted from the book, the author successfully demonstrates that the notion of hell originally arose late in Judaism out of a need to explain the injustices in the world and became a rhetorical device designed to elicit conformity to religious and cultural mores.

A little over a decade after Edward Fudge invited critical readers of The Fire That Consumes to "Measure this work by every proper standard," Robert A. Peterson responded in a paper presented at the 1994 ETS Convention entitled "The Hermeneutics of Annihilationism: The Theological Method of Edward Fudge." In his paper Peterson alleges to "have pointed out deficiencies in [Fudge's] methodological approach" and concludes that "evaluated in terms of hermeneutics and theological method, [Fudge's] case appears to be weak." This paper presents a case for conditional immortality and the annihilation of the finally impenitent, arguing that they—and not the traditional view—result from exegesis done according to accepted hermeneutical principles, responding to Peterson's critique along the way.

This is the full text of my MA thesis on the theology of A.A. van Ruler. I have decided to publish this on this site as I believe that it is a useful introduction to the theology of one of the great Dutch theologians of the twentieth century who deserves much more recognition than he has, as most of his serious theological works remain untranslated.
Also, this text is no longer available on the site that it was published on in 1998.
I hope there are theologians out there that will find this study useful!

Christopher Buck, “Bahāʾīs.” Encyclopaedia of the Qurʾān: Supplement. Ed. Jane McAuliffe. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill. (Published December 1, 2016.)

Having arisen out of Islamic historical context and milieu, the Bahāʾī religion has certain Islamicate elements, yet the Bahāʾī Faith exhibits certain other features that phenomenologically are supra-Islamicate and socially and institutionally distinctive in character. For instance, Islamic doctrine adheres to a belief in successive revelations, beginning with Adam, and culminating with the Prophet Muḥammad as the “Seal of the Prophets.” In Bahāʾī teachings, the idea of successive revelations is invested with a teleology that transforms it into “progressive revelation” where the succession of Messengers throughout the history of religions is not only sequential but cumulative, coefficient with the social evolution of humanity. As humankind advances socially, so does the corresponding need for guidance and laws suited to the exigencies of the day and age. Here, “progressive” conveys the notion of a “fuller” and “more advanced” repository of divine guidance (by way of revelatory sacred texts), without making a claim of intrinsic superiority.

A Bahāʾī theology of pluralism, with special reference to Islam, may be based on a statement by Shoghi Effendi, “Guardian” of the Bahāʾī Faith (1921–57): “Unequivocally and without the least reservation it proclaims all established religions to be divine in origin, identical in their aims, complementary in their functions, continuous in their purpose, indispensable in their value to mankind.” (S. Effendi, World Order, p. 58). This, of course, applies as much to Islam as to other religions.

Islamic prophetology is anchored in the received interpretation of Q. 33:40, which is widely believed to establish Muḥammad as the final prophet (see prophets and prophethood). In what is perhaps his most significant exegetical maneuver, Bahā’u’llāh relativizes that claim in order to supersede it, refocusing the reader’s attention a mere four verses later (Q. 33:44) on the eschatological attainment to the presence of God (liqāʾ Allāh) on the last day (see eschatology):

*** Even as the Lord of being hath in His unerring Book (Qurʾān), after (baʿd az) speaking of the “Seal” in His exalted utterance: “Muḥammad is the Apostle of God and the Seal of the Prophets” (Q. 33:40), hath revealed unto all people the promise (vaʾda) of “attainment unto the divine Presence (liqāʾyi khudā).” To this attainment to the presence of the immortal King testify the verses of the Book, some of which We have already mentioned (vide par. 148: Q. 29:23, 2:46, 2:249, 18:111, 13:2). The one true God is My witness! Nothing more exalted or more explicit than “attainment unto the divine Presence” hath been revealed in the Qurʾān. (va khudā-yi vāḥid shāhid-i maqāl ast kih hīch amrī a’ẓam az liqā’ va asraḥ-ī az ān dar furqān zikr nayāftih.) Well is it with him that hath attained thereunto, in the day wherein most of the people, even as ye witness, have turned away therefrom. ***

*** And yet, through the mystery of the former (avval) verse, they have turned away from the grace promised by the latter (thānī), despite the fact that “attainment unto the divine Presence” in the “Day of Resurrection” (liqāʾ dar yawm-i qiyām) is explicitly stated in the Book (Qurʾān). (Bahā’u’llāh, the Kitāb-i-Īqān, trans. Shoghi Effendi, Pars. 181–182; parenthetical references added; id. Īqān, Pars. 181–182). ***

In this pivotal passage, when Bahā’u’llāh relates back to “verses of the Book, some of which We have already mentioned,” a quick search of the Īqān shows that, in par. 148, Bahā’u’llāh cites Q. 29:23, 2:46, 2:249, 18:111, 13:2. Yet in this passage, Bahā’u’llāh also alludes to a Qurʾānic announcement of the “attainment unto the divine Presence” in the “Day of Resurrection” (liqāʾ dar yawm-i qiyām) that comes “after” (baʿd az) the “Seal” verse.

Shoghi Effendi, in his dual role as authorized translator and interpreter of Bahāʾī scriptures, provides a word-for-word, literal translation in rendering the Persian so: “And yet, through the mystery of the former.” Then Shoghi Effendi inserts one word for amplification: “verse” (not in the original Persian). This subtle, yet highly significant, gloss disambiguates the text, narrowing the reading from an episodic sequence of prophetic/eschatological events (“Seal of the Prophets” followed by “Divine Presence”) to a textual, qurʾānic sequence, i.e. of a pair verses descriptive of this same sequence. This makes perfect sense since the preposition “after” (baʿd az) can also mean “next.”

An attractive hypothesis (with strong evidence shy of conclusive proof) is that Bahā’u’llāh intended this pair of verses, Q. 33:40 and Q. 33:44, to be read together. Indeed, the very next verse after the “Seal” verse that refers to the eschatological encounter with God is Q. 33:44, which reads: “Their greeting the Day they meet Him will be, “Peace.” And He has prepared for them a noble reward” (Sahih International). A Shīʿī rendering is: “On the day when they will be brought into the presence of their Lord, their greeting to each other will be, ‘Peace be with you.’ God has prepared an honorable reward them” (Muḥammad Sarwar).

Élian Cuvillier shows that the classical ways of asking about the authenticity of the Second Epistle of Paul to the Thessalonians prevents from understanding the theological function of its fictional dimension. Through the device of pseudepigraphy, the author of the Epistle provides to all the communities founded by the apostle an updated version of his eschatology. While seeking to remain faithful to Paul’s message, he ensures its reception in a new context. His Epistle thereby exemplifies the truth of literary fiction as theorized – in different though compatible ways – by Paul Ricœur and Jacques Lacan.

Par le truchement de la pseudépigraphie, l’auteur de la seconde aux Thessaloniciens actualise l’eschatologie paulinienne à destination de l’ensemble des communautés fondées par l’apôtre ; il s’agit pour lui d’être fidèle au message de Paul tout en assurant sa réception dans un contexte nouveau. Pour étayer cette thèse, Élian Cuvillier examine les conditions d’émergence et les raisons de la pseudépigraphie paulinienne, les principaux arguments relatifs à l’hypothèse pseudépigraphique de 2 Th, l’impasse de l’interprétation de 2 Th comme pseudépigraphe dès lors que sa dimension fictionnelle n’est pas assumée, la possibilité de lire de 2 Th comme traité d’eschatologie deutéropaulinien reposant précisément sur la nature fictionnelle du propos. L’article se conclut par une réflexion sur la vérité de la fiction littéraire que constitue la seconde aux Thessaloniciens.

The editors of The Encyclopedia of the Bible and its Reception (Berlin: De Gruyter, 2007-, http://www.degruyter.com/view/product/36686) have kindly allowed me to post the complete text of the entries for which I wrote the Islamic component. This is a very interesting scholarly project in which every entry contains multiple perspectives.

Ἡ παροῦσα ἐργασία ἀποτελεῖ προσπάθεια σύνοψης, δηλαδή ἐπισήμανσης τῶν βασικότερων σημείων, τῆς εἰσαγωγῆς τοῦ βιβλίου Ἡ ἐσχατολογία στή β’ ἐπιστολή Πέτρου . Ἐντοπίζονται καί παρατίθενται ἐν συντομίᾳ τά πιό οὐσιώδη σημεῖα τῆς εἰσαγωγῆς τῆς μονογραφίας σέ 4 μέρη. Στό πρῶτο ἐξετάζονται τά χαρακτηριστικά τῆς ἐπιστολῆς μέσα ἀπό τήν ἱστορία τῆς ἔρευνας, ὁ σκοπός καί ἡ μέθοδος τῆς μελέτης· στό δεύτερο γίνεται εἰσαγωγή στήν ἐσχατολογία τῆς ἐπιστολῆς· στό τρίτο διερευνᾶται ἡ ἐπίδραση φιλοσοφικῶν καί θρησκευτικῶν ρευμάτων τῆς ρωμαϊκῆς ἐποχῆς καί στό τέταρτο μελετῶνται οἱ ἀντίπαλοι τοῦ συγγραφέα τῆς ἐπιστολῆς.

Moojan Momen, Review of:

Christopher Buck, Symbol and Secret: Qur’an Commentary in Baha’u’llah’s Kitab-i Iqan. Los Angeles: Kalimat Press, 1995.

Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society (Third Series) 7.2 (July 1997): 290–291.

EXCERPTS
“Christopher Buck’s book represents the first book-length attempt in the English language to analyse one of the major works of Bahā’u’llāh. …

One main theme that Buck explores in this book is the question of whether the text of the Īqān contains hints by Bahā’u’llāh of his future claim. Some have expressed doubt as to whether any such hints exist but Buck demonstrates, conclusively I think, that there are many covert and even overt indications of what he calls ‘Bahā’u’llāh’s messianic secret’. …

Buck has created a good starting point for what one would anticipate will be a new genre: critical analyses of the writings of Bahā’u’llāh.”

In depicting an apocalyptic expectation of the revelation of God's children (Rom 8.19–23), Paul personifies 'creation': awaiting the revelation of these children, she 'groans and suffers pains of childbirth.' While Paul's vision is framed with scriptural allusions, Greek and Roman images of Earth Mother also provide a relevant juxtaposition. This study recovers such a context by surveying sources ranging from Hesiod's Gaia to the Roman Terra Mater. Philo provides an especially relevant comparative model, as he relates biblical cosmology to Greek mythological sources and asserts that earth's role as mother is also attested in Genesis. In light of these comparisons, fresh insights emerge: maternal creation gives birth to a new divine era, yet for Paul this remains a future hope rather than a past (mythological) or present (political) occurrence.

The default translation of the phrase δι’ οὗ καὶ ἐποίησεν τοὺς αἰῶνας in Heb 1:2c is spatial: “through whom he made the worlds/universe.” The typical explanation for why this temporal term should have a spatial meaning is that αἰών can have the sense of “the ages and everything in them,” so that it is roughly equivalent to the universe of space and time. In contrast, this paper demonstrates on the bases of lexical-historical, broad contextual, and immediate contextual evidence that a temporal translation (“ages” as in history) is preferable and that this temporal sense is more specifically salvation-historical in meaning.

This thesis investigates how understandings of history in diverse texts of the Graeco-Roman period illuminate Lukan eschatology. Two strands of Lukan scholarship have contributed to an enduring tendency to underestimate the centrality of eschatology to Luke/Acts.  Hans Conzelmann’s thesis, that Luke focused on history rather than eschatology as a response to the parousia’s delay, has dominated Lukan scholarship since the mid-twentieth century, with concomitant assumptions about Luke’s politics and understanding of suffering.  Recent Lukan scholarship has centred instead on genre and rhetoric, examining Luke/Acts predominantly in relation to ancient texts deemed the same genre while overlooking themes (including those of an eschatological character) that these texts do not share.

This thesis offers a fresh approach.  It illuminates the inherent connections between Luke’s understanding of history and its end, and demonstrates significant ways in which Luke’s eschatological consciousness shapes key themes of his account.  By extending comparisons to a wider range of texts, this study overcomes two clear methodological shortfalls in current research: limiting comparisons of key themes to texts of similar genre, and separating non-Jewish from Jewish texts.  Having established the need for a new examination of Luke’s eschatology in Chapter 1, in Chapter 2 I set out the study’s method of comparing diverse texts on themes that cut across genres.  Chapters 3 to 6 then consider each key text and Luke/Acts in relation to a different aspect of their writers’ conceptions of history: the direction and shape of history; determinism and divine guidance; human culpability and freedom; and the present and the end of history.  The analysis shows that in every aspect of history examined, Luke/Acts shares significant features of the texts with which, because they do not share its genre, it is not normally compared.  Setting Luke/Acts in conversation with a broader range of texts highlights Luke’s periodised, teleological view of history and provides a nuanced picture of Luke’s understanding of divine and human agency, all of which is affected in fundamental ways by his portrayal of the present time already within the final period of history.  As a result, this study not only clarifies Lukan eschatology, but reaffirms the importance of eschatology for Lukan politics and theodicy.

L’articolo è un’analisi dell’ultimo capitolo della Didaché, la sezione cosiddetta “apocalittico- escatologica” (cfr. Didaché 16,1 ss.) che chiude questo documento così importante per lo studio delle dinamiche cultuali e sociali presenti in particolari ambito del proto-cristianesimo siriaco tra I e II secolo. Lo studio rileva le reti che collegano la sezione conclusiva della Didaché ad altri flussi di trasmissione proto-cristiani di poco precedenti e/o coevi (l’Ascensione di Isaia, il Vangelo di Matteo, le Lettere di Ignazio di Antiochia, testimonia e commenti a testi profetici della Bibbia ebraica), sottolineando come il concetto di “Scrittura”, in questo specifico ambito storico e culturale, non possa essere letto alla luce di un canone già stabilito e valido per tutti i gruppi proto-cristiani. Il canone, come è noto, è una formazione piuttosto tarda, e la Didaché testimonia di una fluidità di riprese e modalità di rilettura che coinvolge documenti e tradizioni orali e scritte in molti casi perduti o ricostruibili solo in parte sulla base di testi successivi.

Traditional criticisms levelled at Luke/Acts range from claims that Luke focuses on theologia gloriae at the expense of a theologia crucis, to assertions that he is apolitical (or, worse, advocates complicity with ruling authorities), or that he has removed any sense of imminence from eschatological expectations in order to address a crisis brought about by the parousia’s delay. Such criticisms have been countered in various ways. However, I argue that these concerns can also be addressed by attention to the underlying shape of history in Luke’s account.

This paper suggests that the focus on resurrection, presence of the Spirit, and the spatial location of Jesus at God’s right from the time of his ascension confirms that Luke understands that a new period of history has begun through Jesus’ resurrection. It argues that Luke’s understanding of history, as periodised, planned, and approaching a telos, is reminiscent of the understanding found in apocalypses. This builds on C. Kavin Rowe’s insight that Luke is “apocalyptic”1 but, through a systematic treatment of history in apocalypses, attempts a comparison that illuminates what this might mean in terms of Luke’s theological account of history.

In this paper I consider two apocalypses with historical reviews, 1 Enoch’s Animal Apocalypse and Daniel 7, identifying the temporal placement of key events in these histories. The location of the historical present is of particular interest, as a period of affliction of the righteous and enlightenment for a select group, which stands on the cusp of decisive divine action that will lead ultimately to restoration of the righteous. In comparing the schema of history in these texts to the understanding of key events of history in Luke/Acts, I note that Luke presumes a similar pattern, though with one crucial difference: the resurrection of Jesus is presented as the basis for assurance that the ultimate period has already begun.