alister mcgrath, christian theology: an introduction
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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”
Wiley-Blackwell 2010
• 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
Wiley-Blackwell 2010
• 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
Wiley-Blackwell 2010
– 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
Wiley-Blackwell 2010
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
Wiley-Blackwell 2010
• 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
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