| DOCTRINES AND DOGMAS |
|
| 3 MAJOR THEMES AND
MOTIFS |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Eschatology (the doctrine of last
things) is originally a Western term, referring to Jewish and Christian beliefs
about the end of history (or of the world in its present state), the
resurrection of the dead, the Last
Judgment, and related matters. The term has been extended by historians
of religions to cover similar themes and concepts in the religions of
nonliterate peoples, ancient Mediterranean and Middle Eastern cultures, and
Eastern civilizations. |
|
|
Eschatological ideas and beliefs played
a central role in the development of Judaism; the Kingship of God, "the end
of days," "the world to come," the Messiah and the messianic era,
the Day of Judgment, and the images of a perfected future were basic concerns in
biblical (Old Testament) and rabbinic Judaism. |
|
|
|
|
|
In New
Testament Christianity,
history is viewed throughout in eschatological terms: the future of God has
already begun with the appearance of Christ; the end of history is near; the end
time is therefore filled with danger and salvation, faith and unfaith, Christ
and Antichrist, and will be consummated through the resurrection of the dead,
the judgment of the world, and its salvation through a new creation.
Christianity, with this biblical heritage, has influenced many religions,
revolutions, and civilizations through its orientation toward hope in the
future. Biblical eschatological archetypes can be found in the various secular
liberation movements leading up to the present day. (see also attitude) |
|
|
In the general history of religions, the
term eschatology refers to conceptions of
the beyond that express the destiny of man after his death (immortality of
the soul, rebirth, resurrection, migration of the soul). These eschatological
concepts stand in a mutual relationship with the experiences of men in the
present world, the turning points of life, and the understanding of death. They
often pose a contrast to the present experience of suffering within nature and
society, within this whole "perverted world." Eschatological themes
thrive particularly in crisis situations, whether they serve as consolations for
those who hope for a better world or as the motives for revolutionary
transformation of the world. (see also afterlife) |
|
|
A distinction has often been made
between individual (personal) eschatology and collective (social) eschatology.
The eschatological expectations of either type, however, are as extensive as the
respective believer's interest and involvement in life and his suffering from
its miseries. These expectations can embrace individual souls; they can just as
easily embrace a people or group, humanity, or the whole cosmos. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Because biblical eschatology is grounded
in what are interpreted as uniquely occurring historical events (such as the
Exodus of the Hebrews from Egypt in the 13th century BC), certain difficulties
occur when the biblical concept of eschatology is translated into the
eschatological framework of other religions. In other religions (especially
Eastern religions and the religions of nonliterate peoples), cosmic
representations of the eternal struggle between cosmos and chaos prevail.
Therefore, a distinction must clearly be made between mythical eschatologies and historical
eschatologies. The term mythical refers to the concept of the
philosophically conceived truth of the human condition in relation to the realm
of the sacred and the profane as defined in nontemporal terms and stories. The
term historical, on the other hand, refers to the concept of the philosophically
conceived truth of the human condition in relation to the realm of the sacred
and the profane as defined in temporal terms and stories. (see also myth,
history, philosophy of, sacred
and profane) |
|
|
Mythical eschatologies emphasize the
reproduction of the origin of the world at the end of the world. The end time
repeats the primordial time; out of chaos (disorder) there arises anew the
cosmos (order). At the origin there stands the cosmogony (creation of order) and
the laws that govern the world and the pure order of things. Time
is experienced as decay, degeneration, and guilt. Salvation,
therefore, is found in a return of the origin or a return to the origin. All
historical events are interpreted as representations of an eternal struggle in
which the world order is defended against chaos. This struggle occurs as myth in
the world of the gods and as history in the world of men. History thus becomes a
cultic drama in which priests and kings play out the ritual
roles foreordained to them. (see also cyclicism,
chaos and order) |
|
|
The religious symbolism of mythical
eschatology can be defined in terms of the "myth of the eternal
return." This concept contains not only a cyclical view of history but also
a cultic view of the annihilation of the horrors of history itself. In the
ever-recurring cultic festivals, the lost time of history is regenerated and
eternity is represented. Through the ritualistic repetition of all events in the
creation of the cosmos, the impression of transience is proved to be a mere
semblance. Everything basically remains in its place. In the framework of the
myth of the eternal return, hope
is inherent in memory. This basic structure is not limited to the great cultic
religions; many messianic and revolutionary movements (such as the nativistic
religious movements in Africa and Oceania, and sectarian movements in pre-1917
Russia) also exemplify it. Within a history that is generally regarded as evil,
the saving future is depicted as a return to the primordial origin. In the terms
of mythical eschatology, the meaning of history is found in a celebration of the
eternity of the cosmos and the repeatability of the origin of the world. |
|
|
Historical eschatology, on the contrary,
is not grounded in a mythical primal happening but in historically datable
events that are perceived as root experiences (past events that are narrative
and paradigmatic in the present) and are regarded as fundamental for the
progress of history. Biblical and biblically influenced eschatologies are
grounded in such a view of historical experiences and are directed toward the
historical future inaugurated by them. In this view, such experiences are never
universal but always particular; they are not grounded in natural happenings but
in historical election. Such events and experiences are not repeatable in cultic
forms and rituals but are remembered through the telling of history and the
relating of tradition. They do
not abolish history; they rather inaugurate a new process (or new age) of
history. They are events in which a novum (new
or extraordinary thing) is perceived, that have a greater future than a
beginning. Hope is thus grounded in historical remembrance but goes beyond what
is remembered historically. |
|
|
Because history is viewed as
unrepeatable, the future of history is final. History is understood in this
context not as the arena of the horrors of chaos but as the field of danger and
salvation. The meaning of history is thus not found in its cultic abolishment
(as in the case of mythical eschatologies) through the presence of eternity but
in its future goal and its fulfillment. The divine or sacred is not experienced
in the eternally recurring orders of nature and of the cosmos through
ritualistic reenactments. Rather, God's freedom, faithfulness, and promises of
the future are known and comprehended in the contingent and irreversible events
of history. If here the future is greater than the beginning, hope at the end is
more extensive than at the beginning. |
|
|
Historical eschatologies are found in
the faith of Israel and Judaism,
which is grounded in the Exodus
event (the liberation of the Hebrews from Egypt in the 13th century BC) and
which in the course of its historical experiences is more and more directed
towards the expected revelation of the glory of God in all lands. Historical
eschatologies are also found in the Christian faith, which is grounded in the
history of Jesus and in the root experience of his resurrection from the dead.
The hope of Christian faith is aimed at the Kingdom of Christ and the Kingdom
of God, through which history is ended as well as fulfilled. In both
cases the unique occurrence of a historical foundation event serves as a basis
for the final goal of the long-awaited and hoped for future. A historically
experienced novum opens up hope in a
new creation that will be more than the reproduction of the primordial
condition. |
|
|
|
|
|
In the sphere of historical eschatology,
distinctions should be made between the hopes of messianism, millennialism, and
apocalypticism. Messianic hopes are directed toward a king of the end time who
will lead the people of God, now suffering and oppressed, into a better
historical future. In political and nativistic messianism, visions of the
vengeance and of the equalizing justice on the side of the oppressed are aimed
at political and religious leaders. Always at work in these instances are inner
and often local historical expectations of a certain fulfillment of history
before the end of history. Apocalypticism should thus be distinguished from this
point of view. Apocalypticism upholds the view that God will intervene in
history on the side of a faithful minority and that the intervention will be
accompanied by sudden, cataclysmic events. According to this view, "this
world" cannot bear the "justice of God." Therefore, against what
is perceived as the perverted world, the followers of apocalyptic views hope for
the creation of a new world on the basis of God's righteousness. If this hope is
universal, it is, nevertheless, not generally represented by a people but rather
by individual holy men or, perhaps, by an ascetic community. Millenarian hope is
directed toward the 1,000-year Kingdom of Christ and of his own people, in which
the ones who are suffering now will rule over their enemies. |
|
|
|
|
|
The term messiah,
derived from the Hebrew word mashiah
("anointed"), has been applied to a variety of redeemer figures, and
many movements with a markedly eschatological or utopian-revolutionary character
of message have been termed messianic. Though messianic movements have occurred
throughout the world, they seem to be especially characteristic of the Jewish
and Christian traditions. Hence, not only the word messiah but also other terms
relating to the messianic type of phenomena are derived from biblical religion
and from the history of Jewish and Christian beliefs--e.g.,
"prophetic," "millenarian," and "chiliastic"
movements--the last two terms referring to a 1,000-year reign of Christ and his
saints before the final end of history. Moreover, the scientific study of
messianic beliefs and movements--originating, as it did, in the Western
theological and academic tradition--was directed mainly to phenomena occurring
either in Christian history or in cultures exposed to Western colonial,
missionary, and modernizing influences. These Western origins of messianic terms
and concepts give discussions of the subject an almost unavoidable
Judeo-Christian slant. Hence, many present-day sociologists and anthropologists
have attempted to develop a more neutral terminology--e.g., nativistic movements, religious movements of liberty and
salvation, renewal movements, revitalization movements, crisis cults--but many
of these terms emphasize incidental and adventitious aspects of the phenomenon
and miss its essential features. |
|
|
|
|
|
The term apocalypticism is generally
restricted to eschatological views and movements in the West that focus on
cryptic revelations about a sudden, dramatic, and cataclysmic intervention of
God in history, the judgment of all men, the salvation of the faithful elect,
and the eventual rule of the elect with God in a renewed heaven and earth.
Western apocalypticism is based upon the archetypal apocalyptic work in the
Judeo-Christian tradition, the Book
of Daniel. Daniel is the only apocalyptic book to be admitted to the Old
Testament canon, just as the Book of Revelation is the only apocalypse
included in the canon of the New Testament. There are many noncanonical
apocalyptic works from both Jewish and Christian authors, among them the three
books of Enoch, the Second Book of Esdras, the Ascension
of Isaiah, and the Apocalypse of
Peter. All of the apocalyptic works written during the first efflorescence
of millennialism, including the Book of Revelation, owe much of their shape and
style to Daniel. This Old Testament book stands in the succession of the Jewish
prophets and was apparently influenced by Iranian religious thought, such as the
Zoroastrian concepts of the Last Judgment, the battle between good
and evil involving both men and angels, and a punishment of fire for
evildoers. (see also Iranian religion, Zoroastrianism) |
|
|
|
|
|
Millennialism (from the Latin word for
1,000) is a philosophy of history viewed from a Christian theological standpoint
and a religious movement now associated with such modern Protestant sects as the
Adventists, Jehovah's Witnesses, and certain segments of many Protestant
denominations. There have been many millennial groups and individuals throughout
church history. The term is derived from the imagery of the New Testament Book
of Revelation (Rev. 20), in which the writer describes a vision of Satan
being bound and thrown into a bottomless pit and of Christian martyrs being
raised from the dead and reigning with Christ for 1,000 years. This 1,000-year
period, known as the millennium, is viewed as a time during which man's
yearnings for peace, freedom from evil, and the rule of righteousness upon earth
are finally realized through the power of God. (see also Protestantism) |
|
|
As a branch of eschatology,
millennialism is concerned with the earthly prospects of the human community.
Not limiting itself to the prospects of the individual in this world and the
next, millennialism attempts to answer in vivid imagery such questions as: What
will be the final end of this world? Will mankind ever fulfill the agelong dream
of dwelling in an earthly paradise or will all men be destroyed in a cataclysm
of fire brought on by their own folly or God's judgment? |
|
|
Millennialism is thus the cosmology
(study of order) of eschatology, its chronology one of future events, comparable
to the historical record of the past. |
|
|
Millennialism is found within both
Christian and other traditions. During the 20th century, anthropologists,
historians, and sociologists explored the millennialist aspects of non-Western
cultures, finding many striking similarities to the millennialism within the
Judeo-Christian tradition. The millennial treatises produced by Jewish and
Christian believers in the latter part of the Greco-Roman civilization--the
Hellenistic period--particularly the books of Daniel and Revelation, provided
the building materials from which the successive millennial structures were
erected. In constant repetition the motifs, the leading characters, the symbols,
and the chronologies of these works have arisen in the teaching of some prophet
of the end of the world, each time taking on new significance from associations
with contemporaneous events. (see also Judaism) |
|
|
|
|
|
Eschatological language ordinarily uses
two elements of style in conjunction with each other: the negation of the
negative and the analogy of
the future. Objective statements about the future that is not yet present are
not possible in history. Such statements are possible only in the form of the
negation of the negative in this life and this world. An example of this style
may be found in Revelation 21:4: "And death shall be no more, neither shall
there be mourning nor crying nor pain any more." Thus, the positive aspects
of the eschatological future are circumscribed by the negative aspects of the
present. If this future is to be meaningfully related to this life, however,
this life, despite all its negativity, must also be presently capable of
pointing toward or of foreshadowing the future life. Eschatological imagery and
language, therefore, constantly use comparisons or analogies from everyday life
(such as the several "the Kingdom of God is like . . ." analogies in
the New Testament) and employ the hopes and anticipations of people and events
from history in analogical ways. (see also prophet) |
|
|
A problem of eschatological language
exists because of the necessary connection between negation and analogy. If
negation is predominant, the tendency is towards apocalyptical and metaphysical
dualism and towards mysticism. If analogy or foreshadowing of the future
dominates eschatological language, the tendency is toward a one-sided belief in
progress. In both cases the novum of
eschatology becomes inexpressible. A hermeneutic
(methodological interpretive principle) of eschatological traditions must verify
the negation of the negative in face of the presently experienced negative and
simultaneously seek the traces of the coming positive in the ambiguous history
of liberations. There are always negative and positive signs of the future in
history. "Where danger is, the saving also flourishes" (Hölderlin),
but "where the saving draws near, danger also grows" (E. Bloch).
Eschatology understands history as a growing crisis: the good provokes the evil,
and the growing danger makes the action of redemption necessary. Authentic
eschatology is neither world denying nor faith in progress but rather it can be
seen as anticipation of freedom in the midst of slavery and of salvation in the
midst of lostness and alienation. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Eschatological motives must be
understood in their religious and cultural contexts. According to the
eschatological views of the people of the Andaman Islands, at the command of the
god Puluga an earthquake will destroy the earth and the bridge of heaven; the
souls and spirits of the dead will arise and be reunited. Then men will lead
happy lives in power, without sickness, death, and marriage. Even the animals
will appear again in their present form. The impatient spirits of the underworld
are already now shaking the roots of the palm tree, which supports the earth, in
order to bring about the end of this present world and the resurrection more
quickly. The Semang pygmies in
Malacca hold a somewhat different eschatological view: (see also Andamanese) |
|
|
In the beginning of the ages there was
still absolutely nothing. Then Ja Pudeu [the highest being] blew with her mouth
causing storms to rage over the earth. This was the means by which stars, water,
trees, and everything came into being. At the end of the ages when all men shall
have died, she will destroy everything with the same storms; a great flood will
complete the destruction and the bones of men will swim together. Finally, the
bones will rise. |
|
|
The Australian
aborigines claim that the end of the world will come when the moral world
order legislated by the gods is no longer upright. |
|
|
The Gabonese Pygmies
in West Equatorial Africa believe that once Kmvum (the original man) lived with
them faithfully. Then their guilt brought on the day of separation. He will come
again, however, and bring back with him joy, abundance, and happiness. Among the
Altaic Tatars of Central Asia
there is an eschatological belief that Tengere Kaira Khan (the
"graceful emperor of heaven"), who once lived on earth with men, will
return at the end of the world in order to judge men according to their works.
At his departure from earth he sent a mediator who remains faithful to him. At
the end of the world the mediator will be victorious over evil. The Salish
Indian tribes of the Pacific Northwest of North America believe that the creator
god, before he vanished from the earth, promised the "elder" or
"chief" his return at the end. When earth (a female figure) has become
old, the coyote will return as the first sign of the world's end. This will be
followed by the "chief" himself returning to earth. "After this
there will no longer be a land of the spirits. All men will live together, the
earth will receive her natural form and will live as a mother among her
children. Then all things will be made right and happiness will reign." |
|
|
Such mythical themes arranged around the
origin-fall-return motif are experiencing a revival as primitive peoples suffer
cultural shock in their encounters with Western civilization and Christianity.
Many messianic movements of nonliterate cultures--even when antiwhite and
anticolonialist--exhibit markedly Christian features both in the details of
their symbolism as well as in their overall messianic ideology. Some messianic
movements (e.g., that of Simon
Kimbangy in the former Belgian Congo from 1921, or that of Isaiah Shembe from
1911, among the South African Bantu, as also several movements in Brazil), in
fact, appeared outwardly as Christian revivalist sects with an eschatological
character. The movement of Simon Kimbangy has been admitted to the World Council
of Churches as a member. (see also acculturation,
primitive religion) |
|
|
A variety of names has been applied to
these movements that emphasize various messianic characteristics.
"Nativistic" movements expect salvation from a revival of native
values and customs and a rejection of everything alien; e.g., many of the North American Indian movements from the 17th
century on, including the Pueblo Indian Revolt led by Popé in 1680; the
anonymous Delaware prophet (1762) and Pontiac; the religious revival and revolt
led by Tenskwatawa and Tecumseh in 1807; the Ghost Dance outbreaks of 1870 and
subsequent years among Southwestern and Plains Indians. The messianic movements
in Melanesia focussing on the arrival--in ships or airplanes--of
"cargo" (i.e., the coveted
wealth and riches that symbolize power, well-being, and salvation) are referred
to as cargo cults. Some
anthropologists speak of "revitalization movements," whereas others
emphasize the connection between acculturation and messianic movements. Since it
is not acculturation as such that produces messianism but the crises and
dislocations caused by certain forms of culture contact, many scholars prefer
the more neutral and objective term "crisis cults." Since many
movements are started or propagated by the activity and preaching of
prophet-like leaders, they are also spoken of as "prophetic
movements." |
|
|
There is a tendency among modern
anthropologists to consider primitive messianisms as forms of protonationalism
in non-European and premodern societies. Though Christian influence and
Christian symbols often play a major role in the crystallization of messianic
ideologies, they are by no means their only source. The ideological starting
point of a messianic movement can be supplied by native traditions and
mythologies, by Christian ideas, or by motives that are born under the pressure
of circumstance. |
|
|
|
|
|
Buddhism
has four "noble truths"--the fact of human suffering, the
understanding of the origin of suffering, the removal of the causes of
suffering, and the path to the transcendence of suffering--and is partly
therefore a religion of redemption. According to the Buddhist world view there
is a macrocosm composed of innumerable worlds. In recompense for good and evil
deeds, creatures are reborn in an unceasing process in the region that they
deserve. Beyond all worlds is found Nirvana
("bliss" or enlightenment), "the indescribable goal," whose
attainment means redemption from the cycles of existence. Each one of the
innumerable worlds passes through periods of destruction and recreation. There
is no soul migration because there is no soul substance. Rather, each new
existence is defined by karmanthe deeds of the earlier existence. Only insofar as this is true can one
speak of continuity in the reincarnations. (see also samsara) |
|
|
If anything at all in Buddhism can be
considered as eschatological it is the yearning for an ultimate redemption from
the cycle of rebirth and the final abolishment of the suffering bound up with
it. In the religious community founded by the Buddha this yearning finds its
peculiar way, the "eightfold path," on whose highest step occurs
illumination or enlightenment. This illumination or "life beyond grief and
woe" (Nirvana) is a condition of eternal peace that cannot be
conceived or described in ordinary terms. Rather, it comprehends even the worlds
and their cycles themselves: "I do not know the end of suffering if we have
not reached the end of the world" (Gautama, the Buddha). |
|
|
According to Theravada
Buddhism, the individual believer must strive after redemption for himself
through the exertion of his powers of being. At the centre of Mahayana
Buddhism, on the contrary, stands the concept of the redemption of all living
creatures which will occur through the sympathetic assistance of a redeemer
figure. |
|
|
In Hinduism
the world of Brahman (the
Universal Soul) is created by demiurges
(creator beings) in egg-form and contains numerous zones and levels around the
golden world mountain Meru. It
passes through a series of temporal cycles, and every temporal cycle ends with
the destruction of the world followed by a new creation under a new demiurge.
Man is now living in the dawn of the last, worst Kali yuga(age) of such a cycle. Through migration of the soul, man is drawn into the
circle of the animals and plants. Rank and kind of birth are determined by the
individual karman (acts and their consequences). The karman, which accompanies the soul and even has an effect on the
destruction of the world, determines the following existence. After death, the
soul returns to earth or it goes the "gods' way" (devayana)
of redemption. Redemption occurs when karman
can no longer be produced, or it can happen through a divine act of grace
that blots out the existing karman. Redemption
is popularly viewed as entrance into the highest heaven of the god worshipped,
where the redeemed one awaits a spiritual reflection of earthly joy. In modern
Hinduism the soul that is identical with God is redeemed through a recognition
of the organic wholeness that has vanished from consciousness because of the
soul's imprisonment in matter. Self-recognition (Atman)
then leads to identity with the absolute being (Brahman). Redemption lies in the
accomplishment, or rather recognition, of the Atman-Brahman identity, for it already frees man from the chains of karman
and samsara (cycle of rebirths). |
|
|
Buddhism and Hinduism do not have a
historical eschatology. They rather emphasize an ultimate redemption from the
cycles that have no beginning. Their redeemer figures are impersonal
transparencies of the ultimate-universal. |
|
|
|
|
|
In the religions of the West, there is a
tendency to understand time as
irreversible and therefore the end as occurring once and for all, as ultimate.
The final judgment will be followed by the creation of a new and sacred world
that is eternal. Origins of this kind of eschatological thinking are found in
ancient Egypt in texts such as the "Shipwrecked Sailor" and the
"Conversation between Atum and Osiris." The idea of an eschatological
individual judgment of the dead is developed here in the strongest sense.
Ancient Greek and Roman eschatological views depict a shadow life for the
individual departed soul in Hades. Other than this focus on the individual,
however, the cyclical concepts of periodic world destruction and world renewal
are also found in these religions. (see also sacred and profane, Egyptian
religion) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Islam
is not a messianic religion and has no room for a saviour-messiah. Nevertheless,
there gradually developed--probably under Christian influence--the notion of an
eschatological restorer of the faith, identified as a descendant of the Prophet
or as the returning 'Isa (i.e.,
Jesus). He is usually referred to as the mahdithe "[divinely] guided one." After the appearance of 'Isa,
the last judgment will begin: the good will enter paradise; the evil will fall
into hell. Heaven and hell possess various goals and steps of recompense for
good and evil. The time before the end is viewed pessimistically: God himself
will abandon the godless world. Ka'bah (the great pilgrimage sanctuary of the
Muslim world) will vanish, the copies of the Qur'an will become empty
paper, and its words will disappear from memory. Then the end will draw near. |
|
|
In Sunni (traditional) Islam
the whole subject is one of folklore rather than of dogmatic theology, though
all orthodox Muslims believe in the coming of a final restorer of the faith. In
times of crisis and of political or religious ferment, mahdistic expectations
have increased and have given rise to many self-styled mahdis, the best known of all being Muhammad Ahmad,
the Mahdi of Sudan, who raised a revolt against the Egyptian
administration in 1881 and after several spectacular victories established the
mahdist state that existed until defeated by the English military leader
Kitchener at Omdurman (Sudan) in 1898. In the Islamic Shi'ah
sect (which holds a belief in the transference of spiritual leadership through
the family of 'Ali, Muhammad's cousin and son-in-law), the doctrine of
the mahdi is an essential part of the
creed. Among the Twelvers, the
main Shi'ah group, the expected mahdi
is believed to be the hidden 12th imam,
or religious leader, who will reappear from his place of occultation. The
notion of a mahdi also played a role
in the foundation of new religions or Shi'ah sects--e.g., the belief of the Druzes
that the Egyptian caliph of the Fatimid dynasty al-Hakim
(reigned 996-1021), who is thought to be the last prophet and divine
incarnation, would return at the end of days (1,000 years after his appearance
at the end of the 9th century AD) to establish his rule over the world. Other
Islamic-based messianic figures include the founder of the Indian Ahmadiyah
sect, Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, who
in the late 19th century declared himself to be the Christ and the Mahdi;
and the founder of the religion that subsequently became known as Baha`ism,
the Iranian Mirza 'Ali Mohammad of Shiraz,
who proclaimed himself in 1844 to be the
Bab ("gate") on the 1,000th anniversary of the disappearance of
the 12th imam. |
|
|
Zoroastrianism
is a religion with a thoroughly eschatological orientation: for it world history
is a battlefield on which the forces of light and good fight the powers of
darkness and evil. Though the notion of a personal saviour figure is not
essential to the Zoroastrian system, it did nevertheless arise. The Iranian
prophet Zoroaster's ministry
(6th century BC) is said to have opened the last of the history of the world's
four periods of 3,000 years each. He is followed, at intervals of 1,000 years,
by three "saviours," considered to be posthumous sons of Zoroaster.
The last of these, the soshyans (or saoshyant),
will appear at the end of days, and God will entrust to him the task of the
final rehabilitation of the world and the resurrection of the dead. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The real inception of historical
eschatologies stems from the Old
Testament. Israel's faith in God there is rooted in the historical
experience of the Exodus, and
because of this experience of liberation it contains a hope in the guidance and
the promises of God in history. The basic structure of this faith is found in
the law of promise and fulfillment. The eschatology of the Old Testament is
grounded in the identity of faith in God and hope in the future (Gen. 12:1ff.).
It has its beginning in the promise of a "good and broad land, a land
flowing with milk and honey" (Ex. 3:8). In the Pentateuch
(first five books of the Old Testament) the promise is broadened to the increase
of people and possessions, the blessing of God and the victorious presence of
God (Gen. 49:8-12; Num. 23; Deut. 33:13-17; Num. 23:21). The history of the
occupation of the land of Canaan (Palestine)
and the victory of the Hebrews is to be understood as "realistic
hope." Through the experiences of Israel's own disobedience to the laws and
the will of God and defeats at the hands of its enemies, the concept of the
"day of the Lord," which is to bring salvation and victory, came into
existence. The happiness of the establishment of the Kingdom by David in the
10th century BC led to a hope in the future Messiah (Anointed One) of God from
the house of David (II Sam. 7). (see also covenant, Syrian
and Palestinian religion) |
|
|
In the midst of the political
catastrophes of the 8th century BC, the great prophets took up the concept of
the "day of the Lord" and proclaimed it as a day of judgment (Amos
5:18) over the disobedient people and also over all other peoples. It was
through such a process that the day of the Lord concept became the bearer of
eschatological hopes. Isaiah
also viewed salvation in an eschatological light as happening only after the
universal judgment (Isa. 4:3; 6:13; 11:11; 37:31) and combined it with the
presence of a messianic mediator of salvation (7-12). (see also messiah) |
|
|
In spite of the political destruction of
Israel (8th century BC) and Judah (6th century BC) the prophetic hope kept
Israel alive religiously. This prophetic hope was aimed primarily at a
comprehensive and total new creation, a new heart, a new covenant (Jer. 31;
Ezek. 36; Isa. 41; Isa. 51). Through the vicarious atonement of the servant of
God (either the people of Israel or a messianic figure) this hope was to include
not only Israel but also the Gentile world (Isa. 42:6; 49:6). The future of
Israel is thus bound up with the future of all peoples and of the whole earth. |
|
|
In the incipient apocalyptic views of
the prophet Daniel (2 and 7), hope is transcendent. His apocalyptic
eschatological hope expects the "Kingdom of the Son
of man" following the consummation of evil in the fourth and final
kingdom of the world. Since that time, hope in a Messiah and hope in a Son of
man have been bound to a kind of eschatology that unites the fulfillment of the
history of Israel with the end of world history. (see also Daniel,
The Book of) |
|
|
In the face of a threat to the existence
of the Jewish faith and temple worship, a group of zealots revolted in 168 BC
against the occupation forces of the Seleucid monarch of Syria, Antiochus
IV Epiphanes (c. 215-163/164
BC) and against those of their Jewish countrymen who favoured reducing Judaism
to the level of a hellenized Oriental (Greek and Syrian) cult. The author of
Daniel constructed his work to give aid and comfort to the rebel cause,
particularly to assure them that God was aiding them, that the end of their
struggles was in sight, and that a new golden age was dawning. In a vision
reputed to be seen by King Nebuchadrezzar, he depicted a series of four world
monarchies, represented in one passage by parts of a giant statue and in another
by mythological beasts, each empire embodying evil to a greater extent than the
last. Man's empires will end with the fourth kingdom, which is crushed by a
"stone . . . cut out by no human hand," symbolizing the fact that
neither its destruction nor the ensuing order are natural developments from
forces latent in history. A figure called the Son
of man, however, will institute a fifth, entirely righteous, just, and
eternal kingdom. (see also persecution,
Seleucid kingdom) |
|
|
As in the Jewish prophetic
tradition that preceded it, Daniel made predictions about the future, but,
unlike the predictions of a prophet such as Jeremiah (late 7th to early 6th
century BC), the outcome anticipated by the prophet was not the virtually
inevitable product of antecedent forces but a total reversal of what might seem
to be the likely outcome if God were not to intervene. The reversal of worldly
expectations through a violent supernatural intervention in the course of
history is one of the most characteristic features of apocalypticism and stands
quite in contrast to the older prophetic style. Also essential to Daniel and
subsequent apocalypticism is the immediacy of the message and the imminence of
the deliverance that is promised--the promise of salvation
now. Descriptions of this imminent salvation of cosmic proportions included
vivid representations of historical figures who depicted the growth of evil and
decline of goodness from past time down to the present, when all wickedness came
into terrifying focus. |
|
|
To these significant emphases in
Daniel's apocalypse--the imminent and supernatural intervention of God in man's
history and the reversal of the heretofore irresistible progress of evil and
declension of good--might be added other characteristics that have proved to be
influential. Numerology, mythological
figures, and angelology, which
have continued to play such a large part in millennial movements, were probably
introduced as a result of the influence of Iranian thought. Other
characteristics of Daniel, such as its pseudonymous authorship and the emphasis
upon the esoteric, mysterious quality of the truths discussed, were probably due
to the unique problems faced by the author in presenting these views to a
2nd-century-BC audience. |
|
|
|
|
|
In the period of Seleucid (Syrian Greek
dynasty ruling Palestine c. 200-165
BC) and later Roman and Byzantine (63 BC-AD 638) rule and oppression, the
expectation of a personal messiah acquired increasing prominence and became the
centre of a number of other eschatological concepts held by different groups in
different combinations and with varying emphases. The Qumran sect, a
Jewish monastic group known in modern times for its preservation of the Dead Sea
Scrolls, held a doctrine--found also in later Jewish sects--of a messianic pair:
a priestly messiah of the House of Aaron (the brother of Moses) and a royal
messiah of the House of David. This messianic detail, incidentally, shows that
these "anointed ones" were not thought of as saviours--as in later
Christian thought--but rather as ideal leaders presiding over an ideal,
divinely-willed, and "messianic" socioreligious order. The "son
of David" messianism, with its political implications, was overshadowed by
apocalyptic notions of a more mystical and mythological character. Thus it was
believed that a heavenly being called the "son of man" (the term is
derived from Daniel 7:13) would descend to save his people (e.g.,
as in the apocryphal books of Enoch). The messianic ferment of the period,
attested by contemporary Jewish-Hellenistic literature, is also vividly
reflected in the New Testament. (see also Qumran
community) |
|
|
The destruction of the Temple at
Jerusalem by the Romans (AD 70), exile, persecution, and suffering only
intensified Jewish messianism, which continued to develop theoretically in
theological and semimythological speculations and to express itself practically
in messianic movements. In popular apocalyptic literature another messianic
figure gained some prominence: the warrior-messiah of the House of Joseph (or
Ephraim) who would precede the triumphant messiah of the House of David--but
would himself fall in the battle against Gog
and Magog, two legendary powers under Satan and opposed to the people of God
(Ezek. 38:2; Rev. 20:8). The notion seems to have developed toward the end of
the 2nd century, after the failure of the last revolt against the Romans (AD
132-135), led by Bar Kokhba,
who was hailed as the messiah, but it is connected with a more basic notion of
apocalyptic messianism; that is, the belief that the messianic advent is
preceded by suffering and catastrophe. In some versions of apocalyptic
messianism, the notion of a messianic age merges with that of an end of days and
last judgment: the "new heaven and new earth" are ushered in amid
destruction and catastrophe. |
|
|
|
|
|
Messianic faith tended to develop into
mass enthusiasm, frequently fed by calculations based on the Book
of Daniel and other biblical passages. Almost every generation had its
messianic precursors and pretenders; e.g.,
Abu 'Isa al-Isfahani and his disciple
Yudghan in 8th-century and David Alroy in 12th-century Persia; the propagandists
of the messianic agitation in the Jewries of western Europe in the 11th and 12th
centuries; and--perhaps the most notorious of all--the 17th-century
pseudomessiah Shabbetai Tzevi
(Sabbatai Zevi) of Smyrna. Belief in, and fervent expectation of, the messiah
became firmly established tenets of Judaism and are included among the great
Jewish medieval philosopher Maimonides'
Thirteen Articles of Faith. There was much variety in the elaboration of the
doctrine--from the early apocalyptic visionaries and later Kabbalistic (Jewish
esoteric) mystics at one end of the scale to the rationalist theologians on the
other. The latter (including Maimonides) emphasized the unmiraculous nature of
the messianic age. |
|
|
Modernist movements in Judaism tended to
maintain the traditional faith in an ultimately redeemed world and a messianic
future for mankind, without insisting on a personal messiah figure. Judaism
undoubtedly owes its survival, to a considerable extent, to its steadfast faith
in the messianic promise and future. Jewish messianism, in spite of its
spiritual and mystical connotations, never relinquished its this-worldly
orientation and its understanding of the messianic order in historical, social,
and political terms. Hence, many writers consider the participation of Jews in
so many secular reform, liberation, and revolutionary movements as a secularized
version of traditional Jewish messianism. Similarly, the ideology of Zionism,
as a movement for Jewish national emancipation and liberation, is not devoid of
messianic features. |
|
|
Individual eschatology emerges only on
the periphery of the Old Testament. Amazingly, there were in Israel no known
death cults and no vivid conceptions of life after death. The late expectation
of the resurrection from the dead to judgment (Dan. 12:2) is not a yearning for
salvation but hope in the victorious righteousness of God. Rabbinical messianism
continued this same line of thought. (see also afterlife) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The preaching and ministry of Jesus
of Nazareth and the activities of his followers in the 1st century AD can
be properly understood only in the context of contemporaneous Jewish
eschatological beliefs. Though the precise nature of Jesus' beliefs about
himself and about the nature of the "messianic" task that he
attributed to himself are still a matter of scholarly controversy, there is
little doubt that already at an early date his followers saw in him the promised
"anointed one" (Greek christos, whence
the English Christ) of the Lord, the
son of David. This view is evident in the Gospel accounts that attempt to trace
the ancestry of Jesus back to David, evidently for the purpose of legitimizing
his messianic status. According to Luke 2:11 his messiahship was also proclaimed
by angels at his birth. Jesus himself seems to have rejected the term--possibly
because of its political implications--in favour of other eschatological titles
(e.g., the "Son of Man"),
but the early community of his followers, believing, as they did, in his
Resurrection after the crucifixion, evidently held this term to be expressive
more than any other of the role and function that they attributed to their
master and "Lord" (Greek kyrios).
In due course the title ("Jesus, the Christ") became synonymous with
the proper name, and the word Christ was used by believers as the name of the
risen Jesus (cf. Gal. 1:6; Heb. 9:11). |
|
|
With the adoption of the Greek word
"Christ" by the church of the Gentiles (non-Jewish believers), the
nationalist and political implications of the term "messiah" vanished
altogether in Christianity, and the "Son of David" and the "Son
of man" motifs, to which subsequently was added that of the "suffering
Servant" (Isa. 52-53), could merge in a politically neutral and religiously
original messianic conception. Subsequently, the doctrine of the messiahship of
Jesus (i.e., Christology) also had to
take into account other features of evolving Christian dogma (the Messiah as the
Son of God; the Trinity, of God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; the
incarnation of the Word), and thus came to assert that Jesus as the Messiah,
Saviour, and Redeemer was essentially divine. In due course the concept of
salvation was radically spiritualized, and the Messiah, through his sacrificial
death, was viewed as having delivered man from his bondage to sin and having
restored him to communion with God. Meanwhile, Christians asserted that the
present world order would provisionally continue until the Second
Coming (the Parousia) of Christ in power and glory to judge the living
and the dead. |
|
|
The early Christians held this Second
Coming to be imminent, but as time went on this particular expectation shifted
to the eschatological horizon. In the centuries immediately following the
writing of Daniel, the apocalyptic world view had significantly influenced
Jewish culture; the audiences whom Jesus addressed were acquainted with it; and
the early Christian Church embraced the apocalyptic world view. The Apostle Paul
frequently expressed apocalyptic expectations (I Thess. 4), and Mark 13, a
passage often called "the little apocalypse," reflects the apocalyptic
expectations of the Roman church at about AD 70. |
|
|
The Christian Church in the 1st century
wrestled with a difficult problem. Jesus had promised the inauguration of a new
age, the Kingdom of God, and yet life proceeded after his death in much the same
way that it had before his birth, with the exception that Christian believers
suffered severe persecution for their faith. The primitive church solved this
problem through the paradox of the Second Coming of Christ: Christ has come and
is coming again. They believed that the new age had dawned but would not be
fully revealed until Christ's Second Coming in glory. |
|
|
Like the Book of Daniel, the Revelation
to John or Revelation was composed during a period of persecution. It was
probably written during the last decade of the 1st century AD, and it reflects
the persecutions beginning under the emperor Nero
(AD 37-68), who seems to be portrayed as the Antichrist--the
beast whose symbolic number is 666 (Rev. 13). After addressing letters to
churches of Asia Minor, the author depicted his vision of a series of
judgments--seven seals opened, seven trumpets blown, seven bowls poured out. The
writer directed his attack against the Roman Empire, referred to cryptically as
Babylon and as the great harlot. Christ was described as the executor of God's
judgment, appearing not as the man Jesus but as an omnipotent king riding upon a
white horse with eyes like a flame of fire and a mouth like a sharp sword
"with which to smite the nations" (Rev. 19). In the Book of Revelation
the assimilation of Jewish apocalypticism to Christianity was completed.
Daniel's Son of man was replaced by Christ; many of the numerological formulas
were repeated; and the dualistic universe of good and evil, Christ and
Antichrist, was provided with a new and unforgettable set of characters. The
essence of the apocalypse in Revelation remained what it had been in Daniel: the
immediate, direct aid of God was to be momentarily expected, accomplishing the
dramatic reversal of history that the believers' present desperate state
demanded. (see also Last Judgment, New
Testament) |
|
|
|
|
|
During the first hundred years of
Christian history, this form of millenarianism, or chiliasm (from the Greek word
for 1,000), was commonly taught and accepted within the church. Persecution of
the church was intermittent, however, and apocalyptic zeal flagged without the
pressure of opposition. Christian missionaries succeeded in converting large
numbers of Roman citizens, and some of the antagonism toward the empire was
dissipated. The appeal of millenarian thought was further limited by its
association with the heresy of Montanism.
In characteristic apocalyptic fashion, Montanus,
the founder of the movement, was fascinated with the idea of dividing past and
future into units of prophetic calculation. In AD 156, according to the
4th-century Christian antiheretical writer Epiphanius, Montanus declared himself
the prophet of a third testament, a new age of the Holy
Spirit. Phrygia in Asia Minor became the centre of this ecstatic and
ascetic movement whose leaders claimed divine inspiration
for their visions and utterances, the main theme of which was the imminent
Second Coming of Christ. This concept of the third age, the new day of the
spirit of God, has been one of the most consistently repeated features of
millenarian history, reappearing, for example, in Joachim
of Fiore's philosophy of history during the 12th century, in views of the
17th-century Quakers, and in the apocalyptic speculations of the Seventh-day
Adventists of the 19th and 20th centuries. When persecution of Christians was
renewed late in the 2nd century, Montanism began to appeal outside Asia Minor
and found converts throughout the Roman Empire, including Tertullian, a North
African lawyer and theologian. The church survived this persecution, however,
and Montanism was stigmatized as a heresy. |
|
|
The influence of Greek thought upon
Christian theology undermined the millenarian world view in another, possibly
more significant, manner. In the theology of the great 3rd-century Alexandrian
Christian thinker Origen, the
focus was not upon the manifestation of the kingdom within this world but within
the soul of the believer, a significant shift of interest away from the
historical toward the metaphysical, or the spiritual. The association of
apocalyptic millenarianism with the Montanist heresy, the growing influence of
Greek thought upon Christian theology, and the conversion of Constantine the
Great and adoption of Christianity as the favoured religion of the empire--all
combined to discredit millenarianism for centuries. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
In the new age of the church
triumphant--i.e., when Christianity
became the accepted religion of the Roman Empire-- Augustine
(354-430), bishop of Hippo, gave definitive expression to the view that was to
dominate Western civilization through the Reformation. In his
City of God, a philosophy
of history, Augustine viewed the world as eternally divided between the City of
the World and the City of God. All men owe allegiance to one or the other of
these cities and will ultimately share the fate of that community. The City of
the World is ruled by Satan, the prince of this world. He and all who pay homage
to his city will suffer eternal punishment. The City of God is represented in
the church, and for the church God has ordained salvation from the persecution
of the City of the World and eternal bliss in the courts of heaven. Much of this
conception is reminiscent of the apocalyptic world view, but the views of
Augustine also contained distinct differences. |
|
|
The dualism represented in
apocalypticism is reflected with equal intensity in Augustine's two cities.
Furthermore, Augustine remained as pessimistic as any millenarian about the
future of the City of the World and the prospect of progress in this world.
After his conversion to Christianity, Augustine, a former bon vivant, consistently favoured a world-denying and ascetic style
of life. In fact, his disillusionment with worldly values was more thorough than
that of the millenarians, for he rejected as carnal any expectations of a
renewed and purified world that the believers could expect to enjoy. In this
respect he differed sharply with the apocalyptic tradition. The millenarian, in
contrast to Augustine, had no quarrel with the world as such except that he had
found it controlled by his enemies. The millenarian believed that when the
imminently expected saviour had defeated these foes, the righteous would share
in an earthly paradise, a land of physical, not spiritual, benefits. (see also asceticism) |
|
|
The literalistic descriptions of the
judgments that were predicted for the wicked and the bliss foretold for the
righteous found in such apocalyptic works as the Book of Revelation were
interpreted allegorically by Augustine. He expected that ultimately the history
of this world would end, but for him the millennium had become a spiritual state
into which the church collectively had entered at Pentecost--the
time of the reception of the Holy Spirit by Christ's disciples soon after his
Resurrection--and which the individual Christian might already enjoy through
mystical communion with God. In contrast to the apocalypticist's focus upon the
contemporary world, Augustine, though just as influenced by his own cultural
milieu, responded with a millennial eschatology that seemed almost oblivious of
time. As far as the struggle with evil in this world is concerned, Augustine
surrendered and abandoned the field. No imminent supernatural intervention in
history was expected, and no dramatic reversal of the tide of battle was
anticipated. Augustine taught what has been referred to as "realized"
eschatology. For him the battle had already been fought on the spiritual ground
that really mattered. God had triumphed. Satan has been reduced to lordship in
this world. In the present age the City of the World and the City of God have
been forced to coexist. Eventually, even that small patrimony that Satan claimed
would be taken from him, and God would become triumphant. (see also Last Judgment, allegory) |
|
|
|
|
|
Augustine's allegorical millennialism
became the official doctrine of the church, and apocalypticism went underground.
During the late Middle Ages
and the Reformation,
millenarian views were frequently voiced, most often by rebels and radicals. The
extreme wing of the Bohemian Hussite movement, known as the Taborites,
sought to establish the Kingdom of God by force of arms. The left-wing
Protestant Anabaptists as well
as the Bohemian and Moravian Brethren were millenarians. The great Peasants'
War in Germany (1524-25), in which the radical reformer Thomas
Müntzer and the radical Zwickau prophets took a leading part, and
the Anabaptist "Kingdom of God" in the German city of Münster
(1534-35)--ruled over by the fanatical John
of Leiden--are examples of millenarian-apocalyptic movements or of social
movements with a messianic dimension. (see also Unitas
Fratrum) |
|
|
In England, the Independents
(those who separated themselves from the Church of England) thought of ushering
in the Kingdom of God, and groups such as the Fifth
Monarchy Men believed that revolution was necessary to prepare the way
for the reign of Christ and his saints. The revolutionary Puritan leader Oliver
Cromwell's (1599-1658) sober common sense and his dissolution of the
so-called Parliament of Saints prevented apocalyptic enthusiasm from dominating
the Commonwealth. The millenarian element also was strong in 17th- and
18th-century German Pietism, and it played a major role in the doctrines of many
sects that arose in the 19th century in the United States and Great Britain (e.g.,
Irvingites, Mormons, Adventists, Jehovah's Witnesses, Christadelphians, and
others). Many of these sects, however, are more correctly described as
entertaining messianic expectations than as actual messianic movements. |
|
|
Apart from these dissidents, the
doctrine of Augustine remained unchallenged until the 17th century. The
Protestant Reformers of the Lutheran, Calvinist, and Anglican traditions were
not apocalypticists but remained firmly attached to the views of Augustine, for
whose theology they felt a particular affinity. Many of the allusions of the
Book of Revelation were viewed in a distinctly Protestant perspective by the
Reformers--the allusions to Rome as the great harlot and as Babylon being
transferred to the Roman church, and the pope being identified as the beast.
Each of the three main Protestant traditions of 16th-century Europe, however,
found support from the secular authorities in Saxony, Switzerland, and England
and remained in the same position vis-à-vis the state as had the medieval
church. The apocalyptics within medieval Christendom, as well as in the
16th-century Reformation, were those who believed that their only help was the
Lord and for whom persecution was a reality and destruction an imminent threat.
(see also papacy) |
|
|
The Augustinian millennial world view,
though it survived the Reformation, did not survive the intellectual revolution
of the 17th century. Behind the development of science lay a profound
reorientation of Western thought that involved, in the first place, the
rehabilitation of nature. A part of Augustine's rejection of the world stemmed
from the frustration felt by his generation in attempting to cope with the
natural and social history of its time. By 1600 Europeans had gained confidence
in their own abilities. Such philosophers as Francis Bacon announced the dawn of
a new day and attacked the Augustinian reluctance to see anything but the work
of the devil in attempts to control or understand natural processes. Secondly,
European intellectuals were becoming far more interested in measurement and
quantification. Allegory fell into disrepute when the medieval interpretation of
the nature of the heavenly bodies was proved to be erroneous by the facts
discovered by the use of the telescope. A new concern with calculation and
literalism spread to biblical scholarship and resulted in the creation of the
third type of millennialism found in the Christian tradition--progressive
millennialism. |
|
|
|
|
|
Joseph Mead (Mede), a 17th-century
Anglican biblical scholar, was the pioneer in the movement. Ignoring the
allegorical interpretation long associated with the book, Mead took a fresh look
at the text of Revelation. He concluded that the Scriptures held the promise of
a literal Kingdom of God. The work of redemption, he concluded, would be
completed within human history on the stage of this world. The Book of
Revelation itself seemed to contain a historical record of the progress of that
Kingdom, and scholars other than Mead soon were speculating where in the
prophetic timetable the modern millennialist might locate himself. Thus far,
progressive millennialism appeared to be identical with the apocalyptic
millenarianism of the early church, but there the similarity ended. The Kingdom
would not be brought into being through any dramatic reversal of the historical
process, nor did the progressive millennialists believe that the Second Advent
of Christ would occur in order to rescue them from destruction. History did not
need reversing for these early Enlightenment
Christians (those who emphasized reason). They thought of the record of the past
as the story of victory over evil and the conquest of Satan.
They rejected the fundamental assumptions of the apocalypticist--i.e., that victory would be snatched from the jaws of defeat only by
a miraculous deliverance. For them it seemed that the progress of history had
been continuously upward, that the Kingdom of God was coming ever closer, and
that it would arrive, not without struggle, but on the basis of the same kind of
effort that had always triumphed in the past. (see also good and evil) |
|
|
In the 18th century the teachings of the
progressive millennialists became dominant in many Protestant churches. The
Anglican polemicist and commentator Daniel Whitby (1638-1726), in his Paraphrase
and Commentary on the New Testament (1703), provided such convincing support
to the position that he has often been credited with creating it. In America
interest in the millennium had not been lacking among Puritan scholars, but it
was the great revivalist Jonathan
Edwards (1703-58) who first adopted progressive millennialism, giving
detailed exposition of his views in his uncompleted History
of the Work of RedemptionEdwards saw significance for millennialism in the discovery and settlement
of the New World, and he anticipated the establishment of Christ's kingdom
sometime near the end of the 20th century. |
|
|
|
|
|
The association of the millennium with
the role of the United States proved to be a volatile 19th-century mixture in
the hands of Protestant ministers, and for much of that period millennialism fed
the fires of nationalism and Manifest
Destiny. In a typical utterance, a leading Presbyterian minister of the
1840s, Samuel H. Cox, told an English audience that, "in America, the state
of society is without parallel in universal history. . . . I really believe that
God has got America within anchorage, and that upon that arena, He intends to
display his prodigies for the millennium." The late 19th-century movement
known as the Social Gospel,
dedicated as it was to establishing the Kingdom of God here and now, manifested
most clearly the continuing influence of progressive millennialism. |
|
|
Because the advocates of optimistic
millennialism were confident of the ultimate triumph of their cause, it must not
be assumed that they took evil lightly. They thought of God's
Kingdom as advancing, as Jonathan Edwards argued, but not without
destruction. Though they were not apocalyptic, their view of history included
the cataclysmic. In the American Civil War, for example, the antislavery writer
Julia Ward Howe, in "The Battle Hymn of the Republic," described God's
truth as "marching on." In Pres. Woodrow Wilson's crusade to make the
world "safe for democracy" by the entry of the United States into
World War I (1914-18), one can see the same idea barely disguised. According to
the progressive millennialists, Christ's Second
Advent would occur at the close of the millennium as its crowning event,
and, as a result, their position has frequently been called postmillennialism. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Western civilization, even in its modern
secularized forms, is heir to a long tradition of Christian patterns of thought
and sensibility. Thus, it is not surprising that many movements of social reform
as well as ideologies regarding an ideal future should bear traces--conscious or
unconscious--of Christian influence. Both the 18th- and 19th-century
Enlightenment and the Romantic versions of the idea of the progress of humanity
to an ideal state of peace and harmony betray their descent from
messianic-millenarian beliefs. The 18th-century German philosopher Immanuel
Kant, when speaking of the ideal state of eternal peace, describes this
concept as a "philosophical chiliasm." The indebtedness of
presocialist, utopian
thinkers--such as the French social reformer Henri de Saint-Simon, the English
reformer Robert Owen, and the French reformer Charles Fourier--to Christian
millenarianism was recognized by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, who, in their Communist
Manifesto (1848), contemptuously referred to the utopias of these writers as
"duodecimo editions of the New Jerusalem." Some early socialist
movements, including Christian socialism, exhibited messianic features. Marxist Communism,
in spite of its explicit atheism and dogmatic materialism, has a markedly
messianic structure and message. (see also Marxism) |
|
|
Some of the analogies between Marxism
and traditional Christian eschatology have been described, in a slightly
ironical vein, by the English philosopher Bertrand
Russell, who contends that Marx adapted the Jewish messianic pattern of
history to socialism in the same way that the philosopher-theologian St.
Augustine (AD 354-430) adapted it to Christianity. According to Russell, the
materialistic dialectic that governs historical development corresponds--in the
Marxist scheme--to the biblical God, the proletariat to the elect, the Communist
Party to the church, the revolution to the Second Coming, and the Communist
commonwealth to the millennium. |
|
|
Whether or not Socialism and Communism,
as well as certain national liberation movements, are described as secularized
messianism, pseudomessianism, "substitute" messianism, and the like,
is partly a matter of semantics, partly an attempt to use evaluative instead of
descriptive language. The differences between secular ideologies and traditional
messianic expectations are obvious. The similarities are founded on actual
historic contacts and derivation (as in the history of reform and revolutionary
movements in the West as well as of liberation movements in countries colonized
by the West), and also on the fact that they are variations of the same social
dynamisms and of a basic myth, expressing in powerful imagery certain elemental
human experiences and aspirations. |
|
|
|
|
|
Since the exegetical (interpretive)
works of Johannes Weiss and Albert Schweitzer around 1900 (school of
"consistent eschatology") and dialectic theology (Karl Barth, Rudolf
Bultmann), eschatology has again become a principal theme of academic Christian
theology. The crises in the Western countries have led to a renewed activization
of eschatological hopes. In church struggles, this was expressed in terms of
distinctions between Christianity as a state religion and congregations with
eschatological orientations. On its margins, Western civilization contains a
series of mystical and apocalyptical "anticultures." Initial attempts
to combine eschatology and philosophy, hope, and social practice, and thus
overcome the difference between the church and the sects, as well as the church
and the modern age, are found in Ernst Bloch's philosophy of hope (Das
Prinzip der Hoffnung, 1959), the writings of P. Teilhard de Chardin, and in
the "theology of hope" (J. Moltmann, W. Pannenberg, H. Cox, L. Dewart,
etc.). Eschatology is one of the main focuses of Christianity. Therefore, its
most important theological decisions about theory and practice must take
eschatological concerns seriously, as seriously as the many and varied
revolutionary groups (both religious and secular) have done in the 20th century.
( J.D.M./R.J.Z.W./
E.R.S./Ed.) |
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
