"E" is for "Eschatology" (Advent Series) | |
Huh?
Eschatology?
‘I knew you’d go to seminary and come back completely incomprehensible!’
I had a friend who was once told this by a friend of hers, at her church. There are some who think that seminaries destroy the faith. That includes some who are in seminary as students. That includes some who are in seminary as teachers.
Of course, in a real sense, it can be true. What do you put your faith in? Perhaps it warrants being challenged. Perhaps the false god to whom you had attached your faith deserves to be destroyed – it may be strong as Pharoah’s army racing across the desert, but there are greater things yet if you turn your eyes away from that spectacle toward a greater truth.
This is, in many ways, what Eschatology means.
It is significant that the word first occurs apparently in 1844, where it is used in a disparaging sense. This is because the then-traditional account of Jesus’ career and teaching really had no place for eschatology, except as a description of what is yet to happen in the end of human history.
- Westminster Dictionary of Theology
Eschatology is, in simplest definition, the future – the end of humanity, and not just in the sense of ‘the end of the world’, but also, the purpose, the meaning, all wrapped up into one.
What precisely is meant by ‘the kingdom of God?’ Is it here already? Or not yet? Or both? That is the puzzle. The already-but-not-yet nature of life, not only in this regard, but in so many ways. We can see the man in the boy, the woman in the girl, the cat in the kitten – they are there, but not yet. And even when the boy becomes a man, the girl becomes a woman, the kitten becomes a cat, there’s still the boy, the girl, and the kitten! Already, but not yet, and even so, still there.
If I have now thoroughly confused you, good! Many people who came to see John the Baptist at the Jordan were amazed and confused. Things were simple, but not really. All you had to do was believe, but believe what? The truth? But what is truth? Obviously at the start of John’s ministry there was no earthly Jesus he could point to – John could point to one coming, but then, so had prophets for centuries.
And yet, it was already happening. But not yet.
Advent reminds us of the eschatological nature of our existence. For Christians, moving through the liturgical year gives a sense of re-enacting that which has already happened, but continues to happen, and will happen again. Almost like a well-loved video that is played over and over, each time the same, each time new. Already. But not yet.
We can give credit (or blame) to Albert Schweitzer for recapturing the eschatological Jesus, the Jesus concerned with the future as a central facet, the Jesus concerned with the end of history, both as a real temporal procession as well as a purposeful, meaning-filled action.
In any case, we live in a society that looks toward the future. Stock advisories tell us that past performance is no guarantee (or sometimes even an indication) of future events. Nothing is certain, nothing is stable. The only constant is change, many are fond of saying. Already, but not yet.
So, the word for today is Eschatology. It is the future. See you there.
I shall post a brief meditation each day, following an acrostic method (A for the first day, B for the second, and so forth) for each day of Advent. I hope you'll join me as I work through various feelings and thoughts this Advent season.
Last edited by eplovejoy; 12-07-2001 at 06:38 PM.
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Thanks for your consideration!
But, just one more question - what's a PTB?
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