| Synopsis: |
This book will offer an overview of Biblical Eschatology, looking at key themes and motifs in the biblical (and intertestamental) material, and concentrating on the New Testament. The book will begin with a discussion of the key terminology, categories, questions and debates (including 'eschatology' and 'apocalyptic'), and then move to deal with the Old Testament, naturally giving attention to the eschatology of the prophetic literature. A chapter on intertestamental developments, which would discuss apocalyptic literature and themes, would pave the way for the concentration on the New Testament evidence in the chapter that follows, which would deal in turn with the Gospels, Paul, the general epistles and the book of Revelation. The chapter on the Gospels would contain an excursus on the eschatology of the historical Jesus. A final chapter would examine developments beyond the New Testament, including eschatology in historical theology and in recent theology (esp. Moltmann). In the course of the book, Adams will deal with key issues such as the parousia (the eschatological return of Jesus), resurrection and immortality, the future of Israel, the role of heaven in biblical eschatology, the fate of the created cosmos. The aim is not to give Adam's own take on all these issues but to present the issues and debates in a clear way, and to show what is at stake in scholarly disputes (esp. over the millennium), offering his own opinion at various points, but never taking a dogmatic stand. |