Despite the academic sound of the word, there are few things as practical or relevant as eschatology. Simply put, eschatology is the study of the last things. But this is not merely an academic discipline. Every person, no matter their level of education, sophistication, or cultural background engages in eschatology virtually every day. We live our lives based upon a vision - no matter how cloudy or incomplete or speculative or presumptive - of the future. To illustrate, if I told you that you would with certainty die before your next birthday, your life would take upon itself a new shape because what you believe about the future and your end has changed. What you believe about your personal eschatology has been altered and so your present life and its amibitions follows suit. Eschatology (personal, corporate or national, and even cosmic) exerts a powerful, if not always recognized, influence over our lives. It must be made very clear that everyone has an eschatology - whether it is grounded upon the message of a divine revelation (scripture), a philosophical worldview, popular culture, scientific theories, existential pursuits, or (often) a combination of all of the above. Further, eschatology is not just about the future. As I have said, it is also about the present. The way that we spend our money, the politics in which we engage, the priorities that we hand down to our children, along with countless other things in our present lives reflect our eschatology. Eschatology is also about our past. Our vision of the future is informed by our understanding of the past and our overall attitude towards the events which have happened to us and to "our people."
This blog is dedicated to the ongoing discussion of eschatology - biblical, cultural, historical, and interfaith.
And by the way, we (those of us especially in the Church) have for too long allowed the discussion of eschatology to only include fantastic and imaginative (and largely unbiblical) speculations about isssues such as rapture, antichrists, and calculating "times and dates." These topics are obviously a part of any eschatological discussion, but for too long they have obscured and dominated the discussion and have largely missed the bigger point of biblical eschatology. If you have come here looking for times and dates or affirmation of your favorite theory on the antichrist (Who is the antichrist of choice this week?), you have come to the right place - because you really need to have your eschatology challenged.
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