Eschatology

The world religions that are based on the Bible—Judaism, Christianity, and Islam—hold that the world had a definite beginning. Genesis describes that beginning as God bringing order out of chaos. Over time, when the world seemed to be reverting back to chaos, thinkers from these religions have speculated about the end (in Greek, eschaton) of God's creation. Eschatology is, then, a term coined by scholars to refer to speculating about the end of time. Central to all forms of eschatology is dissatisfaction with life in the present world. Eschatology calls for change and an end to the problems faced by the community. This change requires action from believers—whether by altering their own behavior, remaining steadfast in their faith, or working actively to reform their society. In most cases, however, God is taken to be the principal actor and the one who will transform this imperfect world into something better.

Though it is common to think that the eschaton always refers to a cataclysmic destruction of the world, eschatology takes several forms, most of which do not imagine the end this way. Scholars have subdivided eschatology into several subcategories.

Developmentally, the earliest of these is prophetic eschatology. The pre-exilic Hebrew prophets writing in the eighth to seventh century B.C.E.—particularly, Amos, Isaiah, and Zephaniah—criticized the Jews of Israel and Judah for failing to live up to their covenant with Yahweh (God). The people of Israel began celebrating a new holiday: the Day of the Lord, a New Year's festal day anticipating the great Day of Yahweh when the promises of the covenant would be fulfilled and Israel would be crowned with glory. But the prophets said such celebration was hypocritical, for the people were not following the moral and ethical demands of the covenant. So, the Day of Yahweh would be, in reality, a day of judgment, when the enemies of Israel and Judah would triumph and only the truly righteous would be saved from destruction. Soon after, these enemies did triumph, dispersing the northern tribes of Israel (in 721 B.C.E.) and sending the southern tribes of Judah into exile in Babylon (587–538 B.C.E.).

The situation of the Jews in Babylon led to a new form of eschatology, namely, restoration eschatology. Prophets in the time of the exile—particularly Ezekiel and Second Isaiah—wished to offer their people hope for a renewed Israel. They wrote of an end to Yahweh's punishment, an end to Israel's oppression by its enemies, and the beginning of a return to glory. Just as Yahweh once brought destruction in the form of invading armies, now he would bring salvation by gathering the dispersed Israelites like a shepherd rescuing lost sheep (as in Ezekiel) or by restoring the exiles to their land through raising up a righteous foreign ruler (for example, Cyrus, the Persian king who allowed the Judahite exiles to return to their homeland and who Second Isaiah called the Messiah).

Eschatology took another form in Hellenistic times when the conquests of Alexander the Great (356–323 B.C.E.) left many Judeans feeling anxious about their place in the cosmos. Yahweh now seemed more remote, apparently caring little about his people on earth. [Page 152]When a Syrian prince attempted to force Hellenistic (Greek) culture on Jerusalem, apocalyptic eschatology was born—i.e., the belief that Yahweh's intervention in world events would take the form of a cosmic battle of good versus evil leading to the creation of a heaven on earth where the righteous would be rewarded for their steadfast faith. Apocalyptic eschatology can be observed in the canonical book of Daniel and in a variety of noncanonical Jewish literature, including the Enoch texts, Jubilees, and the Dead Sea Scrolls.

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