ESCHATOLOGY (the "doctrine of last things") is a theo logical term derived from the New Testament phrases "the last day"
EQXQTn hµEpcC John vi. 39) "the last times" (E* EQX(5.rwv Troy Xpovwv I. Peter i. 20), "the last state" (Ta
Matt. xii. 45) a conception taken over from ancient prophecy (Is. ii. 2; Mal. iv. I) . It was the common belief in the apostolic age that the second advent of Christ was near, and would give the divine completion to the world's history. The use of the term, however, has been extended so as to include all that is taught in the Scrip tures about the future life of the individual as well as the final destiny of the world.
There is a bewildering variety in the views of the future life and world held by different peoples. The future life may be conceived as simply a continuation of the present life in its essential features, although under conditions more or less favourable. It may also be thought of as retributive, as a reversal of present conditions so that the miserable are com forted, and the prosperous laid low, or as a reward or punishment for good or evil desert here. Personal identity may be absorbed, as in the transmigration of souls, or it may even be denied, while the good or bad result of one life is held to determine the weal or woe of another. The scene of the future life may be thought of on earth, in some distant part of it, or above the earth, in the sky, sun, moon or stars, or beneath the earth. The abodes of bliss and the places of torment may be distinguished, or one last dwelling-place may be affirmed for all the dead. Sometimes the good find their abiding home with the gods; sometimes a number of heavens of varying degrees of blessedness is recognized (see F. B. Jevons, An Introduction to the History of Religion, chs. xxi. and xxii., 1902 ; and J. A. MacCulloch's Comparative The ology, xiv., 1902).
The Indian and the Persian contributions to eschatology deserve special mention. (I) A characteristic feature of Indian thought is the transmigration of the soul from one mode of life to another, the physical condi tions of each being determined by the moral and religious char acter of the preceding. But deliverance from this cycle of exist ences, which is conceived as misery, is promised by means of speculation and asceticism. Denying the continuance of the soul, Buddhism affirmed a continuity of moral consequences (Karma), each successive life being determined by the total moral result of the preceding life. Its doctrine of salvation was a guide to, if not absolute non-existence, yet cessation of all consciousness of ex istence (Nirvana). Later Buddhism has, however, a doctrine of many heavens and hells. (2) In Zoroastrianism not only was con tinuance of life recognized, but a strict retribution was taught. Heaven and hell were very clearly distinguished, and each soul according to its works passed to the one or to the other. But this faith did not concern itself only with the future lot of the individual soul. It was also interested in the close of the world's history, and taught a decisive, final victory of Ormuzd over Ahri man, of the forces of good over the forces of evil. It is not at all improbable that Jewish eschatology in its later developments was powerfully influenced by the Persian faith.
In the Old Testament we can trace the gradual development of an ever more definite doctrine of "the final condition of man and the world." This is regarded as the last stage in a moral process, a redemptive purpose of God. The eschatology of the Old Testament is thus closely connected with, but not limited by, Messianic hope, as there are eschatological teachings that are not Messianic. As the Old Testament revela tion is concerned primarily with the elect nation, and only sec ondarily (in the later writings) with the individual persons corn posing it, the destiny of the nation stands in the foreground. The details of the development of the doctrine must be passed over, and its issue only be indicated. The contributions of the Old Testament to Christian eschatology embrace these features : "(I ) the manifestation or advent of God; (2) the universal judgment ; (3) behind the judgment the coming of the perfect kingdom of the Lord, when all Israel shall be saved and when the nations shall be partakers of their salvation; and (4) the finality and eternity of this condition, that which constitutes the blessedness of the saved people being the Presence of God in the midst of them—this last point corresponding to the Christian idea of heaven" (A. B. Davidson, in Hastings's Bible Dictionary, i. p. 738). This hope is for the people on this earth though trans figured.
To the individual it would seem at first only old age is prom ised (Is. lxv. 2o; Zech. viii. 4), but the abolition of death itself is also declared (Is. xxv. 8) . The resurrection which appears at first as a revival of the dead nation (Hos. vi. 2; Ez. xxxvii. 12-14), is afterwards promised for the pious individuals (Is. xxvi. 19), so that they too may share in the national restoration. Only in Daniel xii. 2 is taught a resurrection of the wicked "to shame and everlasting contempt" as well as of the righteous to "everlasting life." It was only at the Exile, when the nation ceased to be, that the worth of the individual came to be recognized, and the hopes given to the nation were claimed for the individual. Scholars, however, are not agreed how far any hope of individual immor tality is found in the Old Testament. While some hold, others deny that the doctrine can be found in Ps. xvi. 9–I I ; and Ps. xvii. 15; but some such anticipation is more generally recognized in Job xix. 25-27; Ps. xlix. 14. 15 and Ps. lxxiii. 17-28. This belief in individual immortality is expressed poetically and ob scurely; it is later than the eschatology of the people. It assumes the moral distinction of the righteous and the ungodly, and seeks a solution for the problem of the lack of harmony of present char acter and condition. Its deepest motive, however, is religious. The soul, once in fellowship with God, cannot even by death be sep arated from God. The individual hoped that he would live to share the nation's good, and thus the two streams of Old Testa ment eschatology at last flow together.
It is in the apocryphal and apocalyptic literature of Judaism that the fullest development of eschatology can be traced. Four words may serve to express the difference of the doctrine of these writings and the teaching of the Old Testament. Eschatology was universalized (God was rec ognized as the creator and moral governor of all the world), individualized (God's judgment was directed, not to nations in a future age, but to individuals in a future life), transcendentalized (the future age was more and more contrasted with the present, and the transition from the one to the other was not expected as the result of historical movements, but of miraculous divine acts), and dogmatized (the attempt was made to systematize in some measure the vague and varied prophetic anticipations). The de tails of this doctrinal movement may be studied in R. H. Charles, A Critical History of the Doctrine of the Future Life in Israel, in Judaism, and in Christianity,
New Testament.—The eschatology of the New Testament at taches itself not only to that of the Old Testament but also to that of contemporary Judaism, but it avoids the extravagances of the latter. Not at all systematic, it is occasional, practical, poetical, and dominantly evangelical, laying stress on the hope of the right eous rather than the doom of the wicked. The teaching of Jesus centres, according to the Synoptists, in the great idea of the "Kingdom of God," which is already present in the teacher Him self, but also future as regards its completion. In some para bles a gradual realization of the kingdom is indicated (Matt. xiii.) ; in other utterances its consummation is connected with Christ's own return, His Parousia (Matt. xxiv. 3, 37, 39) the time of which, however, is unknown even to Himself (Mark xiii. 32). In this eschatological discourse (Matt. xxiv., xxv.) He speaks of the destruction of Jerusalem and of the end of the world as near, and seemingly as one. This is in accordance with the character istic of prophecy, which sees in "timeless sequence" events which are historically separated from one another. While the Return is represented in the Synoptists as an external event, it is con ceived in the fourth gospel as an internal experience in the opera tion of the Spirit on the believer (John xiv. 16-21) ; nevertheless here also the Parou:aa in the Synoptic sense is looked for (John xxi. 22; cf. Y John ii. 28) . The object of the Second Coming is the execution of judgment by Christ (Matt. xxv. 31), both individual (xxii. 1-14) and universal (xiii. 36-42) . This judgment presupposes the resurrection, belief in which was re jected by the Sadducees, but accepted by the Pharisees and the majority of the Jewish people, and confirmed by Christ according to the Fourth Gospel not only as an individual spiritual renova tion (John v. 25, 26), but as a universal physical resuscitation (28 and 29), but whether Jesus Himself taught a resurrection of the wicked is doubtful. There is, however, a future punishment for the wicked in Gehenna (Matt. V. 29, 30; X. 28). On the Intermediate State Jesus does not speak clearly. But He uses the current terms Hades (Matt. xi. 23; xvi. 18; Luke xvi. 23), Para dise (Luke xxiii. 43) and Gehenna (Matt. xviii. 9) in the accepted meaning without any definite dogmatic import. When He speaks of death as "sleep" (Luke viii. 52; John xi. I 1) it is to give men gentler and sweeter thoughts of it, not to inculcate the doctrine of an intermediate state as an unconscious condition. There are words which suggest rather the hope of an immediate entrance of the just into the Father's house and glory (John xiv. 2, 3, xvii. 24). He spoke frequently and distinctly both of the final reward for the righteous and final penalty for the wicked. Degrees of award are recognized (Luke xii. 47, 48). Two sayings are held to point to a terminable penalty (Matt. v. 25, 26, xii. 31, 32), but the one is so figurative and the other so obscure, that we are not warranted in drawing any such definite conclusion from either of them. The finality of destiny seems to be unmistakably expressed (Matt. vii. 23, X. 33, xiii. 3o, xxv. 46, xxvi. 24; Mark ix.
viii. 36; Luke ix. 26; John iii. 16, viii. 21, 24) . No second oppor tunity for deciding the issue of life or death is expressly recog nized by Jesus even if such an expectation may be a legitimate inference from what He taught about the Father's love for the lost.
The apostolic eschatology presents resemblance amid difference. Jude (v. 6) as well as 2 Peter (ii. 4), refers to the judgment of the fallen angels. 2 Peter describes the place of their detention as Tartarus, and teaches that Christ's Parousia is to bring the whole present system of things to its conclusion, and the world itself to an end (iii. 1o, 13). No certainty has been reached in the interpretation of the passages in I Peter iii. 18-22 and iv. 6; cf. Acts ii. 31, but they suggest to the Christian mind the expecta tion that the final destiny of no soul can be fixed until in some way or other, in this life or the next, the opportunity of decision for or against Christ has been given. The phrase "the times of restoration of all things" (iii. 21) is too vague in itself, and is too isolated in its context to warrant the dogmatic teaching of uni versalism. While John's Apocalypse is distinctly eschatological, the Epistles and the Gospel often give these conceptions an ethi cal and spiritual import, without, however, excluding the eschato logical. Life is present while eternal (I John v. 12, 13), but it is also future (ii. 25). There is expected a future manifestation of Christ as He is, and what the believer himself will be does not yet appear (iii. 2), The writer speaks of the last hour (ii. 18), the Antichrist that cometh (ii. 22, iv. 3), and the Christian's full reward (2 John v. 8) as well as the Parousia (I John ii. 28). The Apocalypse reproduces much of the current Jewish eschatology. A millennial reign of Christ on earth is interposed between the first resurrection, confined to the saints and especially the martyrs, and the second resurrection for the rest of the dead. A final outburst of Satan's power is followed by his overthrow and the Last Judgment.
Although Paul sometimes describes the Kingdom of God as present (Rom. xiv. 17; I Cor. iv. 20; Col. i. 13) , it is usually rep resented as future. The Parousia, if more prominent in his earlier writings, is not altogether absent from his later, although the expectation of personal survival does seem to grow less confident (cf. 1 Cor. xv. 51 and Phil. i. 2o-24) . The doctrines of the Resurrection, the Last Judgment, the Reward of the Righteous and the Punishment of the Wicked are not less distinctly ex pressed than in the other apostolic writings. Peculiar elements in Paul's eschatology are the doctrines of the Rapture of the Saints (I Thess. iv. 17) and the Man of Sin (2 Thess. ii. 3-6), but these have affinities elsewhere. It is improbable that there is any refer ence to Christ's millennial reign in I Cor. xv. 22-24 or to purga tory in iii. 12-15, or to the descent into Hades in Rom. x. 7 and Eph. iv. 1o. Universal restoration is inferred from I Cor. xv. 24 28; Phil. ii. 10-1I ; Eph. i. 9, 1o; Col. i. 20. These passages inspire a hope, but do not sustain a certainty. Paul's shrinking from the disembodied state and longing to be clothed upon at death in 2 Cor. v. 1-8, cannot be regarded as a proof of an interim body prior to and preparatory for the resurrection body. Paul links the human resurrection with a universal renovation (Rom. viii. 19-23) . His eschatology is not free of obscurities and am biguities; and in the New Testament eschatology generally we are forced to recognize a mixture of inherited Jewish and original Christian elements (see ANTICHRIST).
During the first century of the existence of the Gentile Christian Church, "the hope of the approaching end of the world and the glorious kingdom of Christ" was dominant, although warnings had to be given against doubt and indifference. Redemption was thought of as still future, as the power of the devil had not been broken but rather increased by the First Advent, and the Second Advent was necessary to his complete overthrow. The expecta tions were often grossly materialistic as is evidenced by Papias's quotation as the words of the Lord of a group of sayings from the Apocalypse of Baruch, setting forth the amazing fruitfulness of the earth in the Messianic time.
Gnostics rejected this eschatology as in their view the enlightened spirit already pos sessed immortality. Marcion expected that the Church would be assailed by Antichrist; a visible return of Christ he did not teach, but he recognized that human history would issue in a sep aration of the good from the bad. Montanism sought to form a new Christian commonwealth which, separated from the world, should prepare itself for the descent of the Jerusalem from above, and its establishment in the spot which by the direction of the Spirit had been chosen in Phrygia. While Irenaeus held fast the traditional eschatological beliefs, yet his conception of the Chris tian salvation as a deification of man tended to weaken their hold on Christian thought. The Alogi in the 2nd century rejected the Apocalypse on account of its chiliasm, its teaching of a visible reign of Christ on earth for a thousand years. Montanism also brought these apocalyptic expectations into discredit in orthodox ecclesiastical circles.
Alexandrine theology strengthened this movement against chiliasm. Clement of Alexandria and Origen both developed peculiar views of their own which did not find general acceptance. In the 5th century there were rejected as heretical (I) "the doctrine of universalism, and the possibility of the redemption of the devil; (2) the doctrine of the complete annihilation of evil; (3) the conception of the penalties of hell as tortures of conscience; (4) the spiritualizing version of the resur rection of the body; (5) the idea of the continued creation of new worlds" (A. Harnack, History of Dogma, iii. p. 186) .
A doctrine of the most perfect identity between the resurrec tion body and the material body soon established itself as alone orthodox. Augustine held fast to eternal punishment, but allowed the possibility of mitigations. Some believers, he taught, may pass through purgatorial fires; and this middle class may be helped by the sacraments and the alms of the living. This doc trine was sanctioned and developed by Gregory the Great. This view was inferred indirectly from Matt. xii. 31, and directly from I Cor. iii. 12-15. Afterwards purgatory took more and more the place of hell, and was subject to the control of the church. As regards the saints, different degrees of blessedness were recog nized; they were supposed to wait in Hades for the return of Christ, but gradually the belief gained ground, especially in re gard to the martyrs, that their souls at once entered Paradise. The primitive Christian eschatology was preserved in the West as it was not in the East, and in times of exceptional distress the expectation of Antichrist emerged again and again. In the middle ages there was an extravagance of speculation on this subject, which may be seen in the last division of Aquinas's Summa Theologiae.
While rejecting purgatory, Protest antism took over this eschatology. Souls passed at once to heaven or to hell; a doctrine even less adequate to the complex quality of human life. Luther himself looked for the passing away of the present evil world. Socinianism taught a new spiritual body, an intermediate state in which the soul is near non-existence, an annihilation of the wicked, as immortality is the gift of God. Swedenborg discards a physical resurrection, as at death the eyes of men are opened to the spiritual world in which we exist now, and they continue to live essentially as they lived here, until by their affinities they are drawn to heaven or hell. The doctrine of eternal punishment has been opposed on many grounds, such as the disproportion between the offence and the penalty, the moral and religious immaturity of the majority of men at death, the diminution of the happiness of heaven involved in the knowl edge of the endless suffering of others (Schleiermacher), the de feat of the divine purpose of righteousness and grace that the continued antagonism of any of God's creatures would imply, the dissatisfaction which God as Father must feel until His whole fam ily is restored. The contention should not be based on the meaning of the word "eternal" but on such broader considerations as have been indicated above. The doctrine of conditional immortality taught by Socinianism was accepted by Archbishop Whately, and has been most persistently advocated by Edward White, who "maintains that immortality is a truth, not of reason, but of revelation, a gift of God" bestowed only on believers in Christ ; but he admits a continued probation after death for such as have not hardened their hearts by a rejection of Christ. This view is from the standpoint of science maintained by J. Y. Simpson in his book, Man and the Attainment of Immortality, 1922. The doc trine of universal restoration was maintained by Thomas Erskine of Linlathen on the ground of the Fatherhood of God, and Arch deacon Wilson anticipates such discipline after death as will re store all souls to God. The attitude of theologians generally re garding individual destiny is well expressed by Dr. James Orr, "The conclusion I arrive at is that we have not the elements of a complete solution, and we ought not to attempt it. What visions beyond there may be, what larger hopes, what ultimate harmonies, if such there are in store, will come in God's good time; is is not for us to anticipate them, or lift the veil where God has left it down" (The Christian View of God and the World,
p. 397).
Although in recent theo logical thought attention has been mainly directed to individual destiny, yet the other elements of Christian eschatology must not be altogether passed over. History has offered the authoritative commentary on the prophecy of the Parousia of Christ. The presence and power of His Spirit, the spread of His Gospel, the progress of His kingdom have been as much a fulfilment of the eschatological teaching of the New Testament as His life and work on earth were a fulfilment of Messianic prophecy, for fulfilment always transcends prophecy. Even if the com mon beliefs of the apostolic age have not modified the evan gelists' reports of Jesus' teaching, it must be remembered that He used the common prophetic phraseology, the literal fulfil ment of which is not to be looked for. Some parables (the leaven, the mustard seed) suggest a gradual progressive realiza tion of His kingdom. The Fourth Gospel interprets both judg ment and resurrection spiritually. Accordingly the general resur rection and the last judgment may be regarded as the temporal and local forms of thought to express the universal permanent truths that life survives death in the completeness of its neces sary organs and essential functions, and that the character of that continued life is determined by personal choice of submission or antagonism to God's purpose of grace in Christ, the perfect real ization of which is the Christian's hope for himself, mankind and the world.
addition to the works referred to above the Bibliography.--In addition to the works referred to above the following will be found useful: S. D. Salmond, The Christian Doctrine of Immortality (4th ed., 19o1) ; L. N. Dahle, Life after Death and the Future of the Kingdom of God (Eng. tr. by J. Beveridge, 1895) ; J. A. Beet, The Last Things (new ed., 1905) ; W. G. T. Shedd, Doctrine of Endless Punishment (New York, 1886) ; F. W. Farrar, The Eternal Hope (1892) ; E. Petavel, The Problem of Immortality (Eng. tr. by F. A. Freer, 1892) ; E. White, Life in Christ (3rd ed., 1878) ; Mac intyre, The Other Side of Death (1922); also the relevant sections in books on biblical and systematic theology. See also IMMORTALITY.
(A. E. G.)
