Eschatological Impulses in JubileesHistorically speaking, this term has a surprisingly brief shelf life in our field,
since it was "formed artificially and introduced only in 1804 by the German
dogmatic theologian K. G. Bretschneider."^5 Continental theologians always
considered it connected with the "dogmatic locus De Novissimis, expressing
the concept of the 'last things' (eschata) expected by Christian believers."^6 Its
earliest roots can be found in prerabbinic Jewish usage, e.g., in the book of
Ecclesiasticus (Ben Sira) 48:24, where he says of the prophet Isaiah: "By his
dauntless spirit he saw the future, and comforted the mourners in Zion"
(NRSV). Typical headings defining these "last things" are, according to the
classical dogmatic teachers of Lutheranism, De morte et statu animarum post
mortem, De resurrectione mortuorum, De extremo judicio, De consummatione
coeliJ To begin with, eschatology points us toward the future even as we are
concerned with issues of the present day.
Further refinements follow. Bousset (Die Religion des Judentums im
spiithellenistischen Zeitalter) claimed that Jewish eschatological and messi
anic beliefs differ, since each corresponds to different needs among the Jew
ish people. Messianic hope was purportedly tied to the "hope for restoration
of Israel's glories," whereas eschatology responded to a need "for orientation
in the individual lives of the believers" (particularly among the educated
classes) rather than the "Utopia of the common man."^8 For Bousset, then,
eschatology has a more distinctive character than does messianism, linked as
it often is to nationalistic hopes. For his part, Davenport's monograph
speaks more generally, seeing eschatology as "any view of the future in which
there are events anticipated as having significance for the life of Israel and
the world, events beyond which life will be significantly different."^9
Today there is a movement to approach the issue of definition by de
scribing clusters of elements or motifs typical of eschatological texts. Geza
Xeravits, for example, defines the adjective "eschatological" "as 'related or
pertaining to the eschatological age.' By 'eschatological age' we mean a pre
eminent period of the histoire sainte, when the actual period of history
reaches its climax."^10 He then suggests characteristics that mark off such pe-
- J. Schaper, Eschatology in the Greek Psalter, WUNT 2. Reihe (Tubingen: J. C. B.
Mohr [Paul Siebeck], 1995), 26. - Schaper, Eschatology, 26.
- Schaper, Eschatology, 26.
- Schaper, Eschatology, 27-28.
- Davenport, Eschatology, 8.
- G. Xeravits, King, Priest, Prophet: Positive Eschatological Protagonists oj the
Qumran Library, STDJ 47 (Leiden and Boston: Brill, 2003), 3.