Christian Eschatology

The Christian eschatology is a component of the theology Christian who studies the beliefs religious purposes on the last.

For Christians of all denominations, for the last watch three kinds of events that seem different to a human eye:

• The death of individuals
• The end of human society or a generation (in other words, the end of a "world")
• The end of the world (the events of the last generation that will live on earth): This is the ultimate goal of the universe, of humanity and the Church.

The word eschatology (Greek: eskhatos "last" logia "speech") refers to the doctrine established by history or research on the concept of destiny of all things.

Three approaches to Christian eschatology

We must distinguish three different approaches to Christian eschatology:

The Catholic eschatology is based on an official theology, the Magisterium Catholic giving authentically Catholic interpretation of Scripture and Tradition of the Saints. It is therefore always linked to a theology of dogmas or another approved by the ordinary Catholic is unified. Particularly notable is the eschatology of Augustine , that of St. Thomas Aquinas , the dogmas of Pope Benedict XII on individual destiny, the definition of the Council of Trent in the purgatory , and the contributions of the Catechism of the Catholic Church (1992) on the final round of the Church.

Orthodox Eschatology is simply approved by the fact that the majority of doctors of Sacred Tradition have supported it. It is made of the authority of the Fathers in their interpretation of Scripture.

Eschatologies Protestant pastor who depend every focus exclusively on the Biblical prophecies. Having no other unifying principle, these theologies are extremely diverse. His millenarian eschatology are mainly (faith in God's coming kingdom on earth for a thousand years of Christ, quoted in the book of the Apocalypse).

Catholic Eschatology

It has the characteristic to rely, from Holy Scripture and Tradition, on dogmatic texts that have been derived mainly from the Middle Ages until today.

The fate of individual

Earthly life is the first step in a purification that will lead man, through the growth of charity, the vision of God.

Pope Benedict XII defines:

"

By this constitution, which shall remain in force forever, and our apostolic authority, we define that according to the general disposition of God, the souls of all the saints who have left this world before the Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ as the holy apostles, martyrs, confessors, virgins and other faithful who died after receiving the baptism of Christ, in whom there was nothing to clean when they are dead or that there will be nothing to purify when they die in the sequel or, if he had or has something to purify, when, after their death, they have completed to do, and that, likewise, the souls of children regenerated by the same baptism of Christ or to be baptized once they have been, should they die before exercising their free will (as all the souls of these children), immediately after death and purification we talked to those in need, even before the resurrection in their bodies and the General Judgement, and that since the Ascension of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ in heaven, have been, are and will be at Heaven, the Kingdom of the heavens and the celestial paradise with Christ, coming into the company of the holy angels.

In addition, we define that according to the general disposition of God, the souls of those who die in mortal sin descend immediately after death in hell, where they are tormented by pains of hell.

"

These dogmas are reliable reference points of Catholic theology. They are not the theology itself, made of flesh and life, describes the journey of the soul to salvation as a covenant of love.

The end of generations

This second part of eschatology clear how God led each generation, through its successes and pride, toward its end and the discovery of his sin. Each generation has its specific and is carried through, through the death of each individual and the Coming of Christ.

The End of the World

Unlike many millenarian eschatologies (condemned by the Catholic dogmas), Catholic eschatology is not expecting a glorious victory of the Church on this earth. Quite the opposite, the Catechism of the Catholic Church (No. 675-677) teaches that towards the end, the Church will be the image of her crucified Lord, weak and despised in the world. This will be the Passion of the Church , the second Passion of Christ, lived in his mystical body , the Church ^{Orthodox Eschatology}

Christ in Glory of Gospel of the sixteenth century monastery Andronikov of Moscow

(Article to be built)

Protestant Eschatology

(Draft)

They are mainly developed around the third theme, that of the end of the world.

The "end times"

While eschatology is formally a division fairly recent and the Judgement of Nations , and in particular the determination of the moment - that many Christians believe close - the return of Christ. These include various controversies regarding the order and meaning of events that will surround the return of Christ.

Some Christians, especially among the Orthodox , believe that these discussions are dangerous and fundamentally flawed ^{Different approaches in the Protestant interpretation of prophecy}

The Last Judgement - Fresco in the Sistine Chapel by Michelangelo.

We can broadly distinguish four different approaches in Christian eschatology. These different perspectives arise from the fact that there are different ways, more or less literal interpretation of the scriptures and especially the Apocalypse.

In particular, those who believe every word of writing was intended by God to be interpreted in its most usual and common will naturally millenarianism, while those who believe that words are symbolic of writing metaphorical or will turn to various other interpretations, depending on the level of symbolism they use.

• The historicist approach develops a system of interpretation which assumes that the prophecies of Daniel and the Apocalypse start time of the author until the Parousia. His method is to take place face to face history and the Bible in a historical continuity. For her writing listing the events that correspond to unique historical facts: God is preparing the ground as inevitable as prophetic noticeable throughout history .

• The approach "preterist" believes that most or all of the prophecies, and particularly that of the Apocalypse have already done. She believes that Revelation predicted the fall of Jerusalem and the destruction of the Temple, which Jesus had said it would signal the "end times". The first and last verses of the Apocalypse were to say that these events occur quickly and that the times were close. For this school, the Apocalypse prophesied the end of the old covenant and the beginning of the new covenant.

• The futuristic approach considers that the events described in the prophecies will take place in the future or beyond history, after the end of time. This interpretation is at the origin of different kinds of millenarianism.

• The idealistic approach is looking for regular patterns or laws in the history of mankind, or in personal life which have religious significance. This approach can be combined with the historical or futuristic approach so that the ground and taken into account is seen as an echo of a real event or archetypal, past or future. Moreover, some interpretations of this approach is purely metaphorical.

The diversity of these approaches can be verified for example when a passage dealing with the kingdom of heaven is interpreted by some churches as:

• the expression of an ideal
• the metaphor of supernatural reality
• the relationship of past events
• or finally as the announcement of a future event.

See also

Related articles

• Christian theology

External documentation

Bibliography:

• Jean Flori , Islam and the end of time, Seuil, Paris, 2007 ( ISBN 9782020592666 )
• Jean Flori , La fin du monde in the Middle Ages, JP Gisserot, Paris, 2008

References

• (In) This article is partially or entirely from the article in English entitled " Christian Eschatology "(see the list of authors )

• Christianity portal

Leave a Reply