Eschatology is a term
referring to the study of end times-that is the end of the world and Universe.
Many cultures have end times prophecies as a kind of counterpoint to creation
stories. Science of course views everything through a jaundiced eye of causality
reasoning from within the field of being. With logical investigations and
mathematical calculations one may infer the cosmological history of the
Universe and project the future of the Universe and even its end. Of course
science does not inevitable have all the facts hence it may miss out on
significant elements for calculating. In 1999 it was discovered that the
expansion of the Universe is increasing and has done so for about 7 billion
years instead of slowing down under the influence of gravity. One might wonder
how renewed, accelerated spatial expansion occurs in-itself and how that
effects the parameters of Einstein’s General Theory of Relativity.
I believe that historians of
eschatological paradigms of diverse cultures have classified the form of thee
end times. Science has had a big rip-in which the Universe’s space-time is torn
apart by too rapid of expansion. Science has also had a big crunch wherein the
gravity of the Universe slows the expansion and draws it toward contraction and
an end times singularity. There are also cyclical theories of science wherein
space-time field membranes periodically collide, bounce and end and start a new
cycle of expansion and evolution until it wears down its energy in
thermodynamic exhaustion. That would be something like a ball thrown into the
air that goes higher and higher until its energy is spent whereat it falls to
Earth, hits a trampoline with energy in the skin of the trampoline that adds
energy to the returning ball for a bounce of equal height again.
Hindu eschatology has time
periods called kalpas. After the equivalent of 50 billion years have passed
Brahma wraps up the Universe and recycles it. Brahma is the Christian
equivalent of God.
Ragnarok and other Nordic
myths are included in the field of eschatology. Yet as Christians we are
concerned with the eschatological paradigm of the Bible. Scholars of Bible
studies necessarily make a kind of limited systematic theology by deciding what
valid eschatological references in the Bible are and how they should be
correlated with references in other books of the Bible. There are several ways
of interpreting the collected eschatological materials producing different
ideas about when or how the end times scenarios eventuate.
In end-times paradigms the
world may end in flames, or flood, disaster of various kinds with signs and
portents, predicted circumstances and indications that the end times are on the
way. Jesus Christ of course said,
Matthew 24-4 “And
Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you.
5 For
many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many.
6 And
ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these
things must
come to pass, but the end is not yet.
7 For
nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall
be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.
8 All
these are the
beginning of sorrows.
9 Then
shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be
hated of all nations for my name's sake.
10 And
then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one
another.”
The temporal exstasis, the
rate and nature of the passage of time, in eschatological scenarios tends to be
linear with the arrow of time moving forward irreversibly along one dimension
or direction. Some theorists believe that if space-time can be regarded as a
composite of dimension entailing membrances that moving along or through each
other producing the phenomena of time for observers. They may also postulate
that the complexity of matter interactions make reversibility of time
theoretically possible yet practically not so. It goes witout saying that the
entire space-time field would need to reverse rather than just a portion of it,
and that seems unlikely, not that one would ever notice if it did.
At any rate, I mentioned the
foregoing as a lead-in to pointing out that Jesus Christ seems to bring a
different paradigm to space-time eschatology without necessarily advancing
neither a cyclical nor a linear time paradigm for end times. Even though the
New Testament does provide something of more usual end-times information, it
also has a different temporal axis, one based in the kingdom of God that is for-itself outside of space-time existing as
a transcending fact beyond the linear order of causality.
Yet of the causal order the
Lord was not short of knowledge. He mentioned at one time to his contemporaries
prophecies concerning himself and Jerusalem, yet they failed to
understand then. The destruction of Jerusalem would be an apocalyptic event,
yet not that of the entire world, unless of course one interpreted the
resurrection of the Lord as the most important eschatological event-the end of
temporal history as the main place of meaning-with the new emphasis shifting to
the church and the kingdom of God-though the temporal line runs on for a time
or time and a half, a kalpa or a trillion years…like something of a cul de sac.
Matthew 16-1 “The
Pharisees also with the Sadducees came, and tempting desired him that he would
shew them a sign from heaven.
2 He
answered and said unto them, When it is evening, ye say, It
will be fair
weather: for the sky is red.
3 And
in the morning, It
will be foul
weather to day: for the sky is red and lowring. O ye hypocrites,
ye can discern the face of the sky; but can ye not discern the
signs of the times?
4 A
wicked and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign
be given unto it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas. And he left them, and
departed.”
The kingdom of God may have a different physics, a different field, or
even a spiritual foundation with fundamentally new structure of existence. From
what Jesus said here about marriage, it seems that temporal thermodynamics
might be absent from the kingdom of God.
Matthew-29 “Jesus
answered and said unto them, Ye do err, not knowing the scriptures, nor the
power of God.
30 For
in the resurrection they neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are as
the angels of God in heaven.
31 But
as touching the resurrection of the dead, have ye not read that which was
spoken unto you by God, saying,
32 I am
the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? God is not the
God of the dead, but of the living.”
Eschatology has many
Judeao-Christian and even Muslims interpretations. I will briefly consider
elements of some.
Christian
eschatology is a large field concerned with learning when the second coming of
Christ and end of the present temporal world order will occur. Some of
the basic fields for interpreting the Revelation and apocalyptic references
comprising eschatological material are Praeterism, Idealism, Historicism and
Futurism. There also are fields of study about a millennium of rule by the Lord
on Earth. One finds a comparable paradigm in the Muslim period ruled by Isa.
The field opinions about a millennium of rule by God/Jesus or Isa his rep are
called premillennialism, post-millennialism and amillennialism.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_eschatology#Amillennialism
There is
yet another context-ism about these time periods. Dispensationalism has the
idea that there are various ages or epochs whereby God relates to humanity
providing a different emphasis. This age of the Gentiles might be regarded as
one such era. I think this idea is one paradigm abstract with some true
elements. Yet one can have a few true fence post located at right places and
still make a fence with the wrong shape. That is there might be more going on
than a simple dispensation paradigm might take notice of.
This point of view is
described by the wikipedia article as being mostly an historical viewpoint. It
seems something like Bultman might have liked. It is the ministry and legacy of
Jesus that was the eschatological event and the corresponding worldly events
have already happened. It differs from futurism and futurist dispensationalism
with those ideas anticipating a coming anti-Christ, Armageddon, rapture and so
forth. Even so it is not so simple. What Jesus said and his ministry wasn’t
entirely or even primarily worldly or grounded in space-time rather than the kingdom of God.
Time is non-linear for the Lord.
Inaugurated Eschatology was
popularized by George Eldon Ladd-a prolific Christian theologian. He has
several books available on-line. It has some elements of futurism while also
has elements that were fulfilled already with the appearance of the Lord. It
seems a reasonable approach.
http://www.amazon.com/Presence-Future-Eschatology-Biblical-Realism/dp/0802815316/ref=la_B001KITWUA_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1410646377&sr=1-3
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inaugurated_eschatology
This web site has
interesting real-time political concepts about end times fragments in the Middle
East. Egypt offered
some Sinai land to the Palestinian authority in the context of making a final
settlement with Israel and
that was rejected. Wars and rumors of wars include ISIS,
the Caliphate and the prospects for partitioning Syria to
give the Sunni of Syria half of that nation so they can extricate themselves
from the civil war that evidently cannot end without further.
Muslim have an
eschatological tradition somewhat similar to Jewish and Christian though with
less content. The Bible was written by many authors under the direction of God
while the Quran was written, it is said, by one man. Hence there isn’t as much
detail or subtle weaving of nuance and scripttural references and allusions
developing over more than a thousand years in the Quran. Even so the end times
are called Qiyamah. That is the Resurrection or the Final Day. Muslims have a
battle of Armageddon too. The point of view of those events differs from
Christian and Jewish paradigms.
Muslims have some paradigms of apocalypse similar to those of John the
author of the Revelation. An anti-Allah appears named Masih ad-Dajjal and the bad folks follow he who claims to be god
though he has just one eye while the good are led by the returning Mahdi (Jews
expect a mahdi to appear to establish the kingdom). The Mahdi and Isa will beat
down Masih ad-Dajjal and establish peace on Earth.
After Isa’s
period of ruling the faithful placidly ends two evil tribes descended from evil
beings will start a battle to wipe out the believers. The Ya'jooj and Ma'jooj tribes start a general decline of morals. I believe these
tribes are also known as Gog and Magog. Instead of a rapture, a pleasant
southern breeze arrives to remove the faithful from the world, and all hell
breaks loose.
An evil
beast will come out of the ground (something like the beast in the pit) and
vanquish the faithful and the Quran will be forgotten. People will fornicate in
the street like donkeys before a black smoke covers the world. The sun rises in
the west and a trumpet sounds and everything is wrapped up. The only things
living are what Allah wills to remain. Another trumpet sounds and everything is
hunkie dorrie-everyone is resurrected and a journey starts. The good go to
Janna and the faithless go to Jannanam (heaven and hell I suppose).
The
paradigm seems to reflect Jewish-Christian-pagan syncretism changing the
orientation to reflect Muhammad’s point of view. Muhammad’s father was
the keeper of the Kabba at Mecca before
he was orphaned. He probably had both testaments of the Bible. By the 7th
century the New Testament had been translated into Gothic for Germans. It was
moving about the old world with priests liberally. With the fall of Jerusalem
and the Roman Empire the attack upon the Eastern Roman Empire at Constantinople
was getting started. Mohammad's warrior religion was the unifying power for
conquest of North Africa, much of Asia and Europe. With the retreat of the
Byzantine Empire and start of the dark ages in Europe the game was on.
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