The Folly of Eschatology

The Christian Scriptures are in large part eschatological. That is, they are dominated in the synoptic gospels by the expectation of a coming kingdom in which God will visit the earth in judgment and in the Epistles by the hope of Jesus’ return. This hope found its way into Christian history in twinned fashion, namely the return of Jesus and the projection of the original features of the kingdom onto the after life - heaven and hell. The Scriptural accounts of eschatology shaped how salvation would be understood. This volume argues, first, that the delay in God’s appearance caused Jesus to abandon the Kingdom ideology and, second, that, while the construct continued in the scriptures, John in his writings jettisoned it entirely and reconfigured the gospel message. This reconfiguration enabled not only a more radical understanding of salvation but opened a path to a more radical political engagement for Christians.