ETERNAL79thoroughly eschatological. This is evident
from the pregnant line Christians repeat
when they celebrate the Eucharist: “Christ
has died; Christ is risen; Christ will come
again.” The resurrection of Christ is itself
an eschatological event that portends his
coming again and the final judgment.
The resurrection also points out one
of the main tensions and matters of
debate, namely, the relationship between
“realized eschatology” and “futurist escha-
tology.” The former focuses on life with
God in the here and now, and the trans-
formation the gospel has already accom-
plished. The latter, by contrast, anticipates
things yet to come. A fully adequate
eschatology includes both elements, rec-
ognizing that eschatology has been inau-
gurated, but not consummated. As it is
often put, there is an “already” as well as a
“not yet” dimension to eschatology. God’s
Kingdom is indeed present, but it is not
yet here in its fullness. Christians still
pray for the day when God’s will is fully
done on earth as it is in heaven.
Interest in eschatology was at a low
point in the nineteenth and early twenti-
eth centuries when belief in human pro-
gress was at its height, and many believed
utopia could be brought to earth by
education and technology. The later
twentieth century and early twenty-first
century, by contrast, witnessed an explo-
sion of renewed interest in the field. No
doubt a major factor in this development
was the emergence in popular culture
of fundamentalist eschatology through
several best selling books. These books
not only promulgated the theory of the
“rapture” of the church, followed by the
great tribulation, and then the millennial
reign of Christ, but also correlated these
predictions with certain political events,
particularly involving Israel and the
Middle East.
Another fascinating development in
contemporary eschatology is the conver-
sation between theologians and cosmo-
logists, particularly as these relate to
scientific predictions of how the world
will end. Scientific accounts of the end of
the world point to ultimate cosmological
futility with all life being destroyed either
in a universe that grows ever colder as it
continues to expand, or in a dramatic
implosion that will turn the universe into
a melting pot. These discussions under-
line the reality that any meaningful escha-
tology requires a God beyond the natural
order, who has the power to raise the dead
and make all things new.ESSENCE. The term is often used to
describe the core concept of a being.
Thus, for classical theists, the essence of
God is existence. On this view, the very
core concept of God is of a being who
exists and (for most Muslim philosophers
and for Christian philosophers who fol-
low Anselm) exists necessarily.ETERNAL. A term used to describe
something that is either everlasting
(without beginning or end temporally)
or timeless (nontemporal).