The three horizons of New Testament eschatology

It has become a key component of my approach to differentiate between three eschatological horizons: 1) the war against Rome and the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple; 2) the conversion of the nations of the Greek-Roman oikoumenē or world; and 3) the final judgment of all the dead, destruction of all evil, and renewal of heaven and earth. It is important to deal with eschatology at the beginning, not at the end of our reconstruction of New Testament thought. We live now before the final horizon of new creation, but the Bible teaches us to take seriously major historical transitions such as the collapse of western Christendom and the looming climate catastrophe.

In this section: