Part of theology concerned with the final events of history, or the ultimate destiny of humanity
Eschatology
(
; from
Ancient Greek
?σχατο?
(
eskhatos
)
'last', and
-logy
) concerns expectations of the end of
present age
,
human history
, or the world itself.
The
end of the world
or
end times
[2]
is predicted by several
world religions
(both
Abrahamic
and non-Abrahamic), which teach that negative world events will reach a climax. Belief that the end of the world is imminent is known as
apocalypticism
, and over time has been held both by members of mainstream religions and by
doomsday cults
. In the context of
mysticism
, the term refers metaphorically to the end of ordinary reality and to reunion with the
divine
. Religions treat eschatology as a future event prophesied in sacred texts or in folklore. While other religions may have concepts of renewal or transformation after significant events, the explicit description of a new earth is primarily found in Christian teachings within the context of eschatology, this description can be found in Chapter 21 of the
Book of Revelation
.
The Abrahamic religions maintain a linear
cosmology
, with end-time scenarios containing themes of
transformation
and
redemption
. In
Judaism
, the term "end of days" makes reference to the
Messianic Age
and includes an in-gathering of the exiled
Jewish diaspora
, the coming of the
Messiah
, the
resurrection of the righteous
, and the
world to come
.
Christianity
depicts the end time as a period of
tribulation
that precedes the
second coming
of
Christ
, who will face the rise of the
Antichrist
along with his power structure and
false prophets
, and usher in the
Kingdom of God
. In later traditions of Islam, separate hadiths detail the
Day of Judgment
is preceded by the appearance of the
Mas?? ad-Dajj?l
, and followed by the descending of
??s?
(Jesus), which shall triumph over the false Messiah or Antichrist; his defeat will lead to a sequence of events that will end with the sun rising from the west and the beginning of the
Qiy?mah
(Judgment Day).
Dharmic religions
tend to have more cyclical worldviews, with end-time eschatologies characterized by
decay
, redemption, and rebirth (though some believe transitions between cycles are relatively uneventful). In
Hinduism
, the end time occurs when
Kalki
, the final incarnation of
Vishnu
, descends atop a
white horse
and brings an end to the current
Kali Yuga
, completing a cycle that starts again with the regeneration of the world. In
Buddhism
, the
Buddha
predicted his teachings would be forgotten after 5,000 years, followed by turmoil. It says a
bodhisattva
named
Maitreya
will appear and rediscover the teachings of the
Buddha Dharma
, and that the ultimate destruction of the world will then come through seven suns.
Since the development of the concept of
deep time
in the 18th century
[3]
the calculation of the
estimated age of planet Earth
, scientific discourse about end times has considered the
ultimate fate of the universe
. Theories have included the
Big Rip
,
Big Crunch
,
Big Bounce
, and
Big Freeze
(
heat death
). Social and scientific commentators also worry about
global catastrophic risks
and
scenarios
that could result in
human extinction
.
Etymology
[
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]
The word "eschatology" arises from the
Ancient Greek
term
?σχατο?
(
eschatos
), meaning "last", it is also known as the doctrine of the last things, and
-logy
, meaning "the study of", and first appeared in English around 1844.
[4]
The
Oxford English Dictionary
defines eschatology as "the part of theology concerned with death, judgment, and the final destiny of the soul and of humankind".
[5]
Linear cosmology
[
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]
Judaism
[
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]
The main tenets of modern Jewish eschatology, in no particular order, include:
[6]
Judaism usually refers to the end times as the "end of days" (
a?arit ha-yamim
, ????? ?????), a phrase that appears several times in the
Tanakh
. The end times are addressed in the
Book of Daniel
and in numerous other prophetic passages in the Hebrew scriptures, and also in the
Talmud
, particularly Tractate
Avodah Zarah
.
The idea of a Messianic Age, an era of global peace and knowledge of the Creator, has a prominent place in Jewish thought, and is incorporated as part of the end of days. A well-known passage from the
Book of Isaiah
describes this future condition of the world: "They shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks; nation will not lift sword against nation and they will no longer study warfare" (2:4).
[6]
Maimonides
(1135?1204) further describes the Messianic Era in the
Mishneh Torah
: "And at that time there will be no hunger or war, no jealousy or rivalry. For the good will be plentiful, and all delicacies available as dust. The entire occupation of the world will be only to know God;
... the people Israel will be of great wisdom; they will perceive the esoteric truths and comprehend their Creator's wisdom as is the capacity of man. As it is written (Isaiah 11:9): 'For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of God, as the waters cover the sea.'"
[8]
Kabbalah
[
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]
In
Kabbalah
, the
Zohar
maintains that the seven days of the week, based on the seven days of creation, correspond to the seven millennia of creation.
[9]
The seventh day of the week, the
Shabbat
day of rest, corresponds to the seventh millennium, the age of universal rest, or the Messianic Era. The seventh millennium begins with the
year 6000
AM
, and is the latest time the Messiah can come. A number of early and late Jewish scholars have written in support of this, including the
Ramban
,
[10]
Isaac Abarbanel
,
[11]
Abraham Ibn Ezra
,
[12]
Rabbeinu
Bachya
,
[13]
the
Vilna Gaon
,
[14]
the
Lubavitcher Rebbe
,
[15]
the
Ramchal
,
[16]
Aryeh Kaplan
[17]
and Rebbetzin
Esther Jungreis
.
[18]
Zoroastrianism
[
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]
Frashokereti is the
Zoroastrian
doctrine of a final renovation of the universe when evil will be destroyed, and everything else will then be in perfect unity with God (
Ahura Mazda
). The doctrinal premises are:
- Good will eventually prevail over evil.
- Creation, initially perfectly good, was subsequently corrupted by evil.
- The world will ultimately be restored to the perfection it had at the time of creation.
- The "salvation for the individual depended on the sum of [that person's] thoughts, words and deeds, and there could be no intervention, whether compassionate or capricious, by any divine being to alter this". Thus each human bears the
responsibility
for the fate of his own soul, and simultaneously shares in the responsibility for the fate of the world.
[19]
Zoroastrian eschatology is considered one of the oldest in recorded history. The birth of its founder,
Zoroaster
, is unknown, with scholarly dates ranging from 500 BCE to 1,500 BCE.
Pliny the Elder
even suggests there were two Zoroasters.
[20]
However, with beliefs paralleling and possibly predating the framework of the major Abrahamic faiths, a fully developed concept of the end of the world was not established in Zoroastrianism until 500 BCE. The
Bahman Yasht
describes:
At the end of thy tenth hundredth winter, the sun is more unseen and more spotted; the year, month, and day are shorter; and the earth is more barren; and the crop will not yield the seed. And men become more deceitful and more given to vile practices. They will have no gratitude. Honorable wealth will proceed to those of perverted faith. And a dark cloud makes the whole sky night, and it will rain more noxious creatures than water.
A battle between the righteous and wicked will be followed by the
Frashokereti
. On earth, the
Saoshyant
will arrive as the final savior of mankind, and bring about the
resurrection of the dead
. The
yazata
s
Airyaman
and
Atar
will melt the metal in the hills and mountains, which will flow as lava across the earth and all mankind, both the living and resurrected, will be required to wade through it.
Ashavan
will pass through the molten river as if it were warm milk, but the sinful will burn. It will then flow down to hell, where it will annihilate
Angra Mainyu
and the last vestiges of wickedness.
The righteous will partake of the
parahaoma
, which will confer immortality upon them. Humanity will become like the
Amesha Spentas
, living without food, hunger, thirst, weapons or injury. Bodies will become so light as to cast no shadow. All humanity will speak a single language, and belong to a single nation with no borders. All will share a single purpose and goal, joining with
Ahura Mazda
for a perpetual and divine exaltation.
[21]
[19]
Gnosticism
[
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]
The
Gnostic
codex
On the Origin of the World
(possibly dating from near the end of the third century AD) states that during what is called the consummation of the age, the Sun and Moon will become dark as the stars change their ordinary course. Kings will make war with each other, and thunder will cause the world to be shaken. The corrupt
Archons
will mourn. The sea will be troubled by fighting of the kings who became drunk from the
flaming sword
. Finally, great thunder will come from
Sophia
, the woman in the
firmament
above the forces of
Chaos
. She will cast the corrupt gods into the
abyss
where they will fight each other until only their chief
Yaldabaoth
remains and destroys himself. Next the heavens of the Archons will collapse on each other before the Earth sinks into the abyss. Light will cover the darkness and eliminate it then form into something greater than anything that ever existed before. The source of the darkness will dissolve, and the deficiency will be taken from its root. Those who were not perfected in the
unconceived one
will receive glories in their realms and kingdoms of the immortals, but those who were will enter a kingless realm. All will be judged according to their deeds and
gnosis
.
[22]
Christianity
[
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]
Christian eschatology is the study concerned with the ultimate destiny of the individual
soul
and of the entire created order, based primarily upon
biblical
texts within the
Old
and
New Testaments
.
Christian eschatological research looks to study and discuss matters such as the nature of the
divine
and the divine nature of
Jesus Christ
, death and the
afterlife
,
Heaven
and
Hell
, the
Second Coming of Jesus
, the
resurrection of the dead
, the
rapture
, the
Tribulation
,
millennialism
, the end of the world, the
Last Judgment
, and the New Heaven and
New Earth
in the
world to come
.
Eschatological passages occur in many places in the Bible, in both the
Old
and the
New Testaments
. In the Old Testament, apocalyptic eschatology can be found notably in
Isaiah
24?27, Isaiah 56?66,
Joel
,
Zechariah
9?14 as well as in the closing chapters of
Daniel
, and in
Ezekiel
.
[23]
In the New Testament, applicable passages include
Matthew 24
,
Mark 13
, the
parable
of "
The Sheep and the Goats
" and the
Book of Revelation
?Revelation often occupies a central place in Christian eschatology.
The Second Coming of Christ is the central event in Christian eschatology within the broader context of the fullness of the
Kingdom of God
. Most Christians believe that death and
suffering
will continue to exist until Christ's return. There are, however, various views concerning the order and significance of other eschatological events.
The Book of Revelation stands at the core of much of Christian eschatology. The study of Revelation is usually divided into four interpretative methodologies or
hermeneutics
:
- The
Futurist
approach treats the Book of Revelation mostly as unfulfilled prophecy taking place in some yet undetermined future.
- The
Preterist
approach interprets Revelation chiefly as having had prophetic fulfillment in the past, principally in the events of the first century CE.
- The
Historicist
approach places Revelation within the context of history, identifying figures and passages in Revelation with major historical people and events. This view was commonly held by the
early Christian church
, then among the predecessors to
Protestantism
, such as
John Wycliffe
,
[24]
[
need quotation to verify
]
Joachim of Fiore
[25]
and later by the majority of
Protestant Reformers
, such as
Martin Luther
,
[26]
[27]
John Calvin
,
[28]
and
John Wesley
.
[29]
Further supporters of this view included
Isaac Newton
[30]
(1642?1727), among others.
[31]
[32]
- The
Idealist
approach sees the events of Revelation as neither past nor future actualities, but as purely symbolic accounts, dealing with the ongoing struggle and ultimate triumph of
good over evil
.
Date
[
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]
First-century Christians
believed Jesus would return during their lifetime. When the converts of Paul in
Thessalonica
were persecuted by the
Roman Empire
, they believed the end of days to be imminent.
[33]
Most of the scholars participating in the
third quest
hold that Jesus was an eschatological prophet who believed the "
Kingdom of God
" was coming within his own lifetime or within the lifetime of his contemporaries.
[34]
[35]
[36]
This view, generally known as "consistent eschatology," was influential during the early to the mid?twentieth century and continues to be influential today in proposed portraits of the
Historical Jesus
. However,
C. H. Dodd
and others have insisted on a "realized eschatology" that says Jesus' own ministry fulfilled prophetic hopes. Many conservative scholars have adopted the paradoxical position the
Kingdom of God
passages describes a kingdom that is both "present" and "still to come" claiming Pauline eschatology as support.
[37]
: 208?209
R. T. France
and
N. T. Wright
among others have taken Jesus' apocalyptic statements of an imminent end, historically, as referring to the fall of Jerusalem and the destruction of the Temple in 70 AD.
[38]
[39]
[40]
[41]
: 143?152
A number of interpretations of the term "Kingdom of God" have thus appeared in its eschatological context, e.g.,
apocalyptic
,
realized
or
Inaugurated
eschatologies, yet no consensus has emerged among scholars.
[42]
[43]
While some who believe in the literal interpretation of the Bible insist the prediction of dates or times is futile, others believe Jesus foretold signs of the end of days. The precise time, however, will come like a "thief in the night" (
1 Thess. 5:2
). They may also refer to
Matthew 24:36
in which Jesus is quoted as saying:
"But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only."
Great Tribulation
[
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]
In the New Testament, Jesus refers to this period preceding the end times as the "Great Tribulation" (
Matthew 24:21
), "Affliction" (
Mark 13:19
), and "days of vengeance" (
Luke 21:22
).
The Book of Matthew describes the devastation:
When ye therefore shall see the
abomination of desolation
, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand). Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains. Let him which is on the housetop not come down.
...Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes, and woe unto them that are with child.
...For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened.
The resulting chaos will affect pregnancies, newborns, and a scourge will spread throughout the flesh, save for the elect. The vivid imagery of this section is repeated closely in
Mark 13:14?20
.
The Gospel of Luke describes a complete unraveling of the social fabric, with widespread calamity and war:
Then he said to them, "Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be great earthquakes, and in various places famines and pestilences. And there will be terrors and great signs from heaven. But before all this they will lay their hands on you and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors for my name's sake. This will be your opportunity to bear witness. Settle it therefore in your minds not to meditate beforehand how to answer, for I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which none of your adversaries will be able to withstand or contradict. You will be delivered up even by parents and brothers and relatives and friends, and some of you they will put to death. You will be hated by all for my name's sake. But not a hair of your head will perish. By your endurance you will gain your lives.
"But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that its desolation has come near. Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains, and let those who are inside the city depart, and let not those who are out in the country enter it, for these are days of vengeance, to fulfill all that is written. Alas for women who are pregnant and for those who are nursing infants in those days! For there will be great distress upon the earth and wrath against this people. They will fall by the edge of the sword and be led captive among all nations, and Jerusalem will be trampled underfoot by the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.
"And there will be signs in sun and moon and stars, and on the earth distress of nations in perplexity because of the roaring of the sea and the waves, people fainting with fear and with foreboding of what is coming on the world. For the powers of the heavens will be shaken. And then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. Now when these things begin to take place, straighten up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near."
And he told them a parable: "Look at the fig tree, and all the trees. As soon as they come out in leaf, you see for yourselves and know that the summer is already near. So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that the kingdom of God is near. Truly, I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all has taken place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away."
In the Book of Revelation, the "great tribulation" (Rev. 7:14b) refers to a time of affliction upon God's people.
Catholicism
[
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]
The
Profession of Faith
addresses Catholic beliefs concerning the last days.
[44]
Catholicism adheres to the
amillennial
school of thought, promoted by
Augustine of Hippo
in his work
The City of God
.
Protestantism
[
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]
Contemporary use of the term
End Times
has evolved from literal belief in Christian millennialism. In this tradition,
Biblical
apocalypse
is believed to be imminent, with various current events as
omens
of impending
Armageddon
. These beliefs have been put forward by the Adventist movement (
Millerites
),
Jehovah's Witnesses
, and
dispensational premillennialists
. In 1918 a group of eight, well-known preachers produced the
London Manifesto
, warning of an imminent second coming of Christ shortly after the 1917 liberation of Jerusalem by the British.
Millennialists and Amillennialists
[
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]
Protestants are divided between Millennialists and Amillennialists. Millennialists concentrate on the issue of whether the true believers will see the
Great Tribulation
or be removed from it by what is referred to as a Pre-Tribulation
rapture
.
Amillennialists believe the end times encompass the time from Christ's ascension to the last day, and maintain that the mention of the "thousand years" in the
Book of Revelation
is meant to be taken
metaphorically
(i.e., not literally), a view which continues to cause divisions within
Protestant Christianity
.
There is a range of eschatological belief in Protestant Christianity. Christian
premillennialists
who believe the end times are occurring now, are usually specific about timelines that climax in the end of the world. For some, Israel, the
European Union
, or the United Nations are seen as major players whose roles were foretold in scripture. Within
dispensational premillennialist
writing, there is the belief that Christians will be summoned to
Heaven
by Christ at the
rapture
, occurring before a Great Tribulation prophesied in Matthew 24?25; Mark 13 and Luke 21. The Tribulation is described in the Book of Revelation.
"End times" may also refer to the passing of an age or long period in the relationship between man and God.
[45]
Adherents to this view cite the
Second Epistle to Timothy
and draw analogies to the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries.
Post-Exilic Hebrew books of
prophecy
such as
Daniel
and
Ezekiel
are given new interpretations in this Christian tradition, while
apocalyptic forecasts
appear in the Judeo-Christian
Sibylline Oracles
which include the Book of Revelation ascribed to John, the
apocryphal
Apocalypse of Peter
, and the
Second Book of Esdras
.
Adventists and Millerites
[
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]
Religious movements which expect that the
second coming of Christ
will be a cataclysmic event are generally called
adventism
. These have arisen throughout the Christian era, but were particularly common after the
Protestant Reformation
.
Emanuel Swedenborg
considered the second coming to be symbolic, and to have occurred in 1757. Along with others, he developed a religious system around the second coming of Christ, disclosed by new prophecy or special revelation not described in the Bible. The
Millerites
are diverse religious groups which similarly rely upon a special gift of interpretation for predicting the second coming.
The difference between the 19th-century Millerite and adventist movements and contemporary prophecy is that
William Miller
and his followers, based on biblical interpretation, predicted the time of the Second Coming to have occurred in 1844. Contemporary writing of end time has suggested the timetable will be triggered by future wars and
moral catastrophe
, and that this time of tribulation is close at hand.
Seventh-day Adventists believe biblical prophecy to foretell an end time scenario in which the United States works in conjunction with the Catholic Church to mandate worship on a day other than the true Sabbath, Saturday, as prescribed in the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:8?11). This will bring about a situation where one must choose for or against the Bible as the will of God.
[46]
Preterists
[
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]
Another view of the
end times
is
preterism
. It distinguishes
the time of the end
from
the end of time
. Preterists believe the term
last days
(or
Time of the End
) refers to, neither the last days of the Earth, nor the last days of humankind, but the end of the
Old Covenant
between
God
and
Israel
; which, according to preterism, took place when the
Temple
in
Jerusalem
was destroyed in 70
CE
.
Preterists believe that
prophecies
?such as the
Second Coming
, the desecration of the Jewish Temple, the destruction of Jerusalem, the rise of the
Antichrist
, the
Great Tribulation
, the advent of
The Day of the Lord
, and a
Final Judgment
?had been fulfilled when the Romans
sacked Jerusalem
and completely destroyed its Temple.
Proponents of
full preterism
do not believe in a coming
resurrection of the dead
. They place this event (as well as the Second Coming) in the year 70. Advocates of
partial preterism
do believe in a coming resurrection. Full preterists contend that partial preterists are merely
futurists
, since they believe the Second Coming, the Resurrection, the
Rapture
, and the Judgment are yet to come.
Many preterists believe first-century
Christians
experienced the Rapture to rejoin the
Christ
.
According with Preterism's
interpretation
of end times, many "time passages" in the
New Testament
foretell a
Second Coming
of Christ, with last days to take place within the lifetimes of his disciples:
Matt.
10:23, Matt. 16:28, Matt. 24:34, Matt. 26:64,
Rom.
13:11?12,
1 Cor.
7:29?31, 1 Cor. 10:11,
Phil.
4:5,
James
5:8?9,
1 Pet.
4:7,
1 Jn.
2:18.
Dispensationalists
[
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]
Dispensationalism is an
evangelical
futurist
Biblical interpretation that foresees a series of
dispensations
, or periods, in which God relates to human beings under different
Biblical covenants
. The belief system is primarily rooted in the writings of
John Nelson Darby
and is
premillennial
in content. The
reestablishment of Israel
in 1948 provided a major impetus to the dispensationalist belief system. The wars of Israel after 1948 with its Arab neighbors provided further support, according to
John F. Walvoord
.
[47]
After the
Six-Day War
in 1967, and the
Yom Kippur War
in 1973, it seemed plausible to many
Fundamentalist Christians
in the 1970s that Middle East turmoil may well be leading up to the fulfillment of various Bible prophecies and to the Battle of Armageddon.
Members of the dispensationalist movement such as
Hal Lindsey
,
J. Dwight Pentecost
,
John Walvoord
, all of whom have
Dallas Theological Seminary
backgrounds, and some other writers, claimed further that the
European Economic Community
, which preceded the
European Union
, would become a
United States of Europe
, which would in turn become a Revived Roman Empire ruled by the
Antichrist
. The Revived Roman Empire also figured into the
New Testament
writers' vision of the future. The fact that in the early 1970s, there were (erroneously thought to be) seven nations in the European Economic Community was held to be significant; this aligned the Community with a seven-headed beast mentioned in Revelation. This specific prophecy has required revision, but the idea of a Revived Roman Empire remains.
Dispensationalism, in contrast to the Millerite Adventist movement, had its beginning in the 19th century, when
John Nelson Darby
, founder of the
Plymouth Brethren
religious denomination
, incorporated into his system of Biblical interpretation a system of organizing Biblical time into a number of discrete
dispensations
, each of which marks a separate
covenant
with God. Darby's beliefs were widely publicized in
Cyrus I. Scofield
's
Scofield Reference Bible
, an annotated Bible that became popular in the United States.
Since the majority of the Biblical prophets were writing at a time when the
Temple in Jerusalem
was still functioning, they wrote as if it would still be standing during the prophesied events. According to preterism, this was a fulfillment of the prophecies. However, according to
Futurists
, their destruction in AD 70 put the prophetic timetable on hold. Many such believers therefore anticipated the return of Jews to Israel and the
reconstruction of the Temple
before the Second Coming could occur.
[48]
[49]
Post-tribulation pre-millennialism
[
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]
A view of the Second Coming of Christ as held by post-tribulational pre-millennialists holds that the Church of Christ will have to undergo great persecution by being present during the great tribulation.
Specific prophetic movements
[
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]
In 1843,
William Miller
made the first of several predictions that the world would end in only a few months. As his predictions did not come true (referred to as the
Great Disappointment
),
followers of Miller
went on to found separate groups, the most successful of which is the
Seventh-day Adventist Church
.
Members of the
Baha?i Faith
believe Miller's interpretation of signs and dates of the coming of Jesus were, for the most part, correct.
[50]
They believe the fulfillment of biblical prophecies of the coming of Christ came through a forerunner of their own religion, the
Bab
. According to the Bab's words, 4 April 1844 was "the first day that the Spirit descended" into his heart.
[51]
His subsequent declaration to
Mulla Husayn-i Bushru'i
that he was the "Promised One"?an event now commemorated by Baha?is as a
major holy day
?took place on 23 May 1844. It was in October of that year that the Bab embarked on a
pilgrimage to Mecca
, where he openly declared his claims to the
Sharif of Mecca
.
[52]
[53]
The first news coverage of these events in the West was in 1845 by
The Times
,
[54]
followed by others in 1850 in the United States.
[55]
The first Baha?i to come to America was in 1892.
[52]
Several Baha?i books and pamphlets make mention of the Millerites, the prophecies used by Miller and the Great Disappointment, most notably
William Sears
's
Thief in the Night
.
[56]
[57]
[58]
Restorationism (Christian primitivism)
[
edit
]
End times theology is also significant to
restorationist
Christian religions, which consider themselves distinct from both Catholicism and Protestantism.
Jehovah's Witnesses
[
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]
The eschatology of
Jehovah's Witnesses
is central to their religious beliefs. They believe
Jesus Christ
has been ruling in heaven as king since 1914 (a date they believe was prophesied in the Bible) and that after that time a period of cleansing occurred, resulting in God's selection of the
Bible Students
associated with
Charles Taze Russell
as his people in 1919. They also believe that the destruction of those who reject the Bible's message
[59]
and thus willfully refuse to obey God
[60]
[61]
will shortly take place at
Armageddon
, ensuring that the beginning of the new earthly society will be composed of willing subjects of that kingdom.
The religion's doctrines surrounding 1914 are the legacy of a series of emphatic claims regarding the years 1799,
[62]
1874,
[62]
1878,
[63]
1914,
[64]
1918
[65]
and 1925
[66]
made in the
Watch Tower Society's
publications between 1879 and 1924. Claims about the significance of those years, including the presence of Jesus Christ, the beginning of the "last days", the destruction of worldly governments and the earthly resurrection of Jewish patriarchs, were successively abandoned.
[67]
In 1922 the society's principal magazine,
The Watchtower
, described its chronology as "no stronger than its weakest link", but also claimed the chronological relationships to be "of divine origin and divinely corroborated
... in a class by itself, absolutely and unqualifiedly correct"
[68]
and "indisputable facts",
[62]
and repudiation of Russell's teachings was described as "equivalent to a repudiation of the Lord".
[69]
The Watch Tower Society has acknowledged its early leaders promoted "incomplete, even inaccurate concepts".
[70]
The
Governing Body of Jehovah's Witnesses
says that, unlike
Old Testament
prophets
, its interpretations of the Bible are not
inspired
or
infallible
.
[71]
[72]
[73]
It says that Bible prophecies can be fully understood only after their fulfillment, citing examples of biblical figures who did not understand the meaning of prophecies they received. Watch Tower Society literature often cites Proverbs 4:18, "The path of the righteous ones is like the bright light that is getting lighter and lighter until the day is firmly established" (
NWT
) to support their view that there would be an increase in knowledge during "the time of the end", and that this increase in knowledge needs adjustments. Watch Tower Society publications also say that unfulfilled expectations are partly due to eagerness for
God's Kingdom
and that they do not call
their core beliefs
into question.
[74]
[75]
[76]
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
[
edit
]
Members of
the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
(LDS Church) believe there will be a Second Coming of Jesus to the earth at some time in the future. The LDS Church and its leaders do not make any predictions of the date of the Second Coming.
According to church doctrine, the true
gospel
will be taught in all parts of the world prior to the Second Coming.
[77]
They also believe there will be increasing war, earthquakes, hurricanes, and man-made disasters prior to the Second Coming.
[78]
Disasters of all kind will happen before Christ comes.
[79]
Upon the return of Jesus Christ, all people will be resurrected, the righteous in a first resurrection and the unrighteous in a second, later resurrection. Christ shall reign for a period of 1000 years, after which the Final Judgment will occur.
Realized eschatology
[
edit
]
Realized eschatology
is a Christian eschatological theory that holds that the eschatological passages in the
New Testament
do not refer to the future, but instead refer to the
ministry of Jesus
and his lasting legacy.
[80]
[81]
Islam
[
edit
]
Muslims
believe there are three periods before the
Day of Judgment
with some debate as to whether the periods could overlap.
[83]
[84]
[85]
Sunni
[
edit
]
Sunnis believe the dead will then stand in a grand assembly, awaiting a scroll detailing their righteous deeds, sinful acts and ultimate judgment.
[note 1]
[86]
Muhammad will be the first to be resurrected.
[87]
Punishments will include
adhab
, or severe pain and embarrassment, and
khizy
or shame.
[88]
There will also be a punishment of the grave between death and the resurrection.
[89]
Several Sunni scholars explain some of the signs metaphorically.
The signs of the coming end time are divided into
major and minor signs
:
Following the second period, the third is said to be marked by the ten major signs known as
alamatu's-sa'ah al- kubra
(The major signs of the end).
[note 2]
They are as follows:
- A huge black cloud of smoke (dukhan) will cover the earth.
[note 3]
- Three sinkings of the earth, one in the East.
[note 3]
- One sinking of the earth in the West.
[note 3]
- One sinking of the earth in Arabia.
[note 3]
- The false messiah?anti-Christ,
Masih ad-Dajjal
?shall appear with great powers as a one-eyed man with his right eye blind and deformed like a grape. Although believers will not be deceived, he will claim to be God, to hold the keys to heaven and hell, and will lead many astray.
[90]
In reality, his heaven is hell, and his hell is heaven. The Dajjal will be followed by seventy thousand Jews of Isfahan wearing Persian shawls.
[note 4]
- The
return
of
Isa
(Jesus), from the fourth sky, to kill Dajjal.
[91]
- Ya'jooj
and
Ma'jooj
(
Gog and Magog
), a Japhetic tribe of vicious beings who had been imprisoned by
Dhul-Qarnayn
, will break out. They will ravage the earth, drink all the water of
Lake Tiberias
, and kill all believers in their way. Isa,
Imam Al-Mahdi
, and the believers with them will go to the top of a mountain and pray for the destruction of Gog and Magog. God eventually will send disease and worms to wipe them out.
[note 5]
[92]
- The sun will rise from the West.
[93]
[94]
[95]
- The
Dabbat al-ard
, or
Beast of the Earth
, will come out of the ground to talk to people.
[note 6]
- The second blow of the trumpet will be sounded, the dead will return to life, and a fire will come out of
Yemen
that shall gather all to Mahshar Al Qiy'amah (The Gathering for Judgment).
[96]
Shia
[
edit
]
Many of the signs shown above are shared by both Sunni and Shia beliefs, with some exceptions, e.g.
Imam Al-Mahdi
defeating
Al-Masih ad-Dajjal
.
Concepts and terminology in
Shia eschatology
include
Mi'ad
, the
Occultation
,
Al-Yamani
, and
Sufyani
. In
Twelver Shia
narrations
about the last days, the literature largely revolves around
Muhammad al-Mahdi
, who is considered by many beliefs to be the true twelfth appointed successor to Muhammad. Muhammad al-Mahdi will help mankind against the deception by the
Dajjal
who will try to get people in to a new world religion which is called "the great deception".
[97]
[
need quotation to verify
]
Ahmadiyya
[
edit
]
Ahmadiyya
is considered distinct from mainstream Islam. In its writing, the present age has been witness to the evil of man and wrath of God, with war and natural disaster.
[98]
Ghulam Ahmad
is seen as the
promised Messiah
and the
Mahdi
, fulfilling Islamic and Biblical prophecies, as well as scriptures of other religions such as Hinduism. His teaching will establish spiritual reform and establish an age of peace. This will continue for a thousand years, and will unify mankind under one faith.
[99]
Ahmadis believe that despite harsh and strong opposition and discrimination they will eventually be triumphant and their message vindicated both by Muslims and non-Muslims alike. Ahmadis also incorporate the eschatological views from other religions into their doctrine and believe Mirza Ghulam Ahmed falls into this sequence.
[100]
Baha?i Faith
[
edit
]
In the
Baha?i Faith
, creation has neither a beginning nor an end;
[101]
Baha?is regard the eschatologies of other religions as symbolic. In Baha?i belief, human time is marked by a series of
progressive revelations
in which successive
messengers
or prophets come from God.
[102]
The coming of each of these messengers is seen as the day of judgment to the adherents of the previous religion, who may choose to accept the new messenger and enter the "heaven" of belief, or denounce the new messenger and enter the "hell" of denial. In this view, the terms "heaven" and "hell" become symbolic terms for a person's spiritual progress and their nearness to or distance from God.
[102]
In Baha?i belief,
Baha'u'llah
(1817-1892), the founder of the Baha?i Faith, was the
Second Coming
of Christ and also the fulfilment of previous eschatological expectations of
Islam
and other major religions.
[103]
The inception of the Baha?i Faith coincides with
Great Disappointment
of the Millerite prophecy in 1844.
?Abdu'l-Baha
taught that Armageddon would begin in 1914,
[104]
but without a clear indication of its end date.
[105]
Baha?is believe that the mass martyrdom anticipated during the
End Times
had already passed within the
historical context
of the Baha?i Faith.
[106]
[107]
Baha?is expect their faith to be eventually embraced by the masses of the world, ushering in a
golden age
.
Rastafari
[
edit
]
Rastafari have a unique interpretation of end times, based on the
Old Testament
and the
Book of Revelation
. They believe
Ethiopian
Emperor
Haile Selassie I
to be God
incarnate
, the
King of kings
and
Lord of lords
mentioned in Revelation 5:5. They saw the crowning of Selassie as the
second coming
, and the
Second Italo-Ethiopian War
as fulfillment of Revelation. There is also the expectation that Selassie will return for a day of judgment and bring home the "lost children of Israel", which in Rastafari refers to those taken from Africa through the
slave trade
. There will then be an era of peace and harmony at Mount
Zion
in Africa.
[108]
Cyclic cosmology
[
edit
]
Hinduism
[
edit
]
The
Vaishnavite
tradition links contemporary Hindu eschatology to the figure of
Kalki
, the tenth and last
avatar
of
Vishnu
. Many Hindus believe that before
the age
draws to a close, Kalki will reincarnate as
Shiva
and simultaneously dissolve and regenerate the universe.
Shaivites
hold the view that Shiva is incessantly destroying and creating the world.
[109]
In
Hindu eschatology
, time is cyclic and consists of
kalpas
. Each lasts 4.1?8.2 billion years, which is a period of one full day and night for
Brahma
, who will be alive for 311 trillion, 40 billion years. Within a
kalpa
there are periods of
creation
,
preservation
and
decline
. After this larger cycle, all of creation will contract to a
singularity
[
citation needed
]
and then again will expand from that single point, as the
ages
continue in a religious
fractal
pattern.
[85]
[
need quotation to verify
]
Within the current kalpa, there are four epochs that encompass the cycle. They progress from a beginning of complete purity to a descent into total corruption. The last of the four ages is
Kali Yuga
(which most Hindus believe is the current time), characterized by quarrel, hypocrisy, impiety, violence and decay. The four pillars of dharma will be reduced to one, with truth being all that remains.
[110]
As written in the
Gita
:
[111]
Yad? yad? hi dharmasya gl?nirbhavati Bh?rata
Abhyutth?nam adharmasya tad?tm?nam s?j?myaham
O descendant of Bharata, whenever there is a decline of religion and an increase in irreligion, at that time I manifest My eternally perfect form in this mundane world.
At this time of chaos, the final avatar,
Kalki
, endowed with eight superhuman faculties will appear on a white horse. Kalki will amass an army to "establish righteousness upon the earth" and leave "the minds of the people as pure as crystal."
At the completion of
Kali Yuga
, the next
Yuga Cycle
will begin with a new
Satya Yuga
, in which all will once again be righteous with the reestablishment of dharma. This, in turn, will be followed by epochs of
Treta Yuga
,
Dvapara Yuga
and again another Kali Yuga. This cycle will then repeat until the larger cycle of existence under
Brahma
returns to the
singularity
,
[
citation needed
]
and a new universe is born.
[108]
The cycle of
birth
,
growth
,
decay
, and renewal at the individual level finds its echo in the cosmic order, yet is affected by vagueries of divine intervention in Vaishnavite belief.
Buddhism
[
edit
]
There is no classic account of beginning or end
[112]
in Buddhism; Masao Abe attributes this to the absence of God.
[113]
History is embedded in the continuing process of
samsara
or the "beginningless and endless cycles of birth-death-rebirth".
[114]
Buddhists believe there is an end to things
[115]
but it is not final because they are bound to be born again. However, the writers of
Mahayana
Buddhist scriptures establish a specific end-time account in Buddhist tradition: this describes the return of
Maitreya Buddha
, who would bring about an end to the world.
[116]
This constitutes one of the two major branches of Buddhist eschatology, with the other being the
Sermon of the Seven Suns
. End time in Buddhism could also involve a cultural eschatology covering "final things", which include the idea that
Sakyamuni Buddha
's
dharma
will also come to an end.
[117]
Maitreya
[
edit
]
The Buddha described his teachings disappearing five thousand years from when he preached them,
[118]
corresponding approximately to the year 4300 since he was born in 623 BCE.
[119]
At this time, knowledge of dharma will be lost as well. The last of his relics will be gathered in Bodh Gaya and cremated.
[
citation needed
]
There will be a new era in which the next Buddha Maitreya will appear, but it will be preceded by the degeneration of human society. This will be a period of greed, lust, poverty, ill will, violence, murder, impiety, physical weakness, sexual depravity and societal collapse, and even the Buddha himself will be forgotten.
[85]
This will be followed by the coming of Maitreya when the teachings of
dharma
are forgotten. Maitreya was the first Bodhisattva around whom a cult developed, in approximately the third century CE.
[120]
The earliest known mention of Maitreya occurs in the Cakkavatti, or Sihanada Sutta in
Digha Nikaya
26 of the
Pali Canon
. In it,
Gautama Buddha
predicted his teachings of dharma would be forgotten after 5,000 years.
At that period, brethren, there will arise in the world an Exalted One named Maitreya, Fully Awakened, abounding in wisdom and goodness, happy, with knowledge of the worlds, unsurpassed as a guide to mortals willing to be led, a teacher for gods and men, an Exalted One, a Buddha, even as I am now. He, by himself, will thoroughly know and see, as it were face to face, this universe, with Its worlds of the spirits, Its Brahmas and Its Maras, and Its world of recluses and Brahmins, of princes and peoples, even as I now, by myself, thoroughly know and see them.
?
Digha Nikaya, 26
The text then foretells the birth of Maitreya Buddha in the city of
Ketumat?
in present-day
Benares
, whose king will be the Cakkavatt? Sankha. Sankha will live in the former palace of King Mah?panad?, and will become a renunciate who follows Maitreya.
[121]
[122]
In Mahayana Buddhism, Maitreya will attain
bodhi
in seven days, the minimum period, by virtue of his many lifetimes of preparation. Once Buddha, he will rule over the Ketumati Pure Land, an earthly paradise sometimes associated with the Indian city of
Varanasi
or Benares in present-day
Uttar Pradesh
. In Mahayana Buddhism, the Buddha presides over a land of purity. For example,
Amitabha
presides over Sukhavati, more popularly known as the "Western Paradise".
[123]
A notable teaching he will rediscover is that of the ten non-virtuous deeds?killing, stealing, sexual misconduct, lying, divisive speech, abusive speech, idle speech, covetousness, harmful intent and wrong views. The ten virtuous deeds will replace them with the abandonment of each of these practices.
Edward Conze
in his
Buddhist Scriptures
(1959) gives an account of Maitreya:
The Lord replied, 'Maitreya, the best of men, will then leave the
Tu?ita
heavens and go for his last rebirth. As soon as he is born he will walk seven steps forward, and where he puts down his feet a jewel or a lotus will spring up. He will raise his eyes to the ten directions and will speak these words: "This is my last birth. There will be no rebirth after this one. Never will I come back here, but, all pure, I shall win Nirvana."'
?
Buddhist Scriptures
[124]
Maitreya currently resides in
Tushita
, but will come to
Jambudvipa
when needed most as successor to the historic
??kyamuni Buddha
. Maitreya will achieve complete enlightenment during his lifetime, and following this reawakening he will bring back the timeless teaching of
dharma
to this plane and rediscover
enlightenment
.
[125]
The
Arya Maitreya Mandala
, founded in 1933 by
Lama Anagarika Govinda
, is based on the idea of Maitreya.
Maitreya eschatology forms the central canon of the
White Lotus Society
, a religious and political movement which emerged in
Yuan China
.
[126]
It later branched into the Chinese underground
criminal organization
known as the
Triads
, which exist today as an international underground criminal network.
[
citation needed
]
Note that no description of Maitreya occurs in any other sutta in the canon, casting doubt as to the authenticity of the scripture. In addition, sermons of the Buddha normally are in response to a question, or in a specific context, but this sutta has a beginning and an ending, and its content is quite different from the others. This has led some to conclude that the whole sutta is
apocryphal
, or tampered with.
[125]
Sermon of the Seven Suns
[
edit
]
In his "Sermon of the Seven Suns" in the
Pali Canon
, the Buddha describes the ultimate fate of the
Earth
in an apocalypse characterized by the consequent appearance of seven
suns
in the sky, each causing progressive ruin until the planet is destroyed:
All things are impermanent, all aspects of existence are unstable and non-eternal. Beings will become so weary and disgusted with the constituent things that they will seek emancipation from them more quickly. There will come a season, O monks when, after hundreds of thousands of years, rains will cease. All seedlings, all vegetation, all plants, grasses and trees will dry up and cease to be.
...There comes another season after a great lapse of time when a second sun will appear. Now all brooks and ponds will dry up, vanish, cease to be.
?
A?guttara-Nik?ya, VII, 6.2 Pali Canon
[85]
The canon goes on to describe the progressive destruction of each sun. The third sun will dry the
Ganges River
and other rivers, whilst the fourth will cause the lakes to evaporate; the fifth will dry the oceans. Later:
Again after a vast period of time a sixth sun will appear, and it will bake the Earth even as a pot is baked by a potter. All the mountains will reek and send up clouds of smoke. After another great interval a seventh sun will appear and the Earth will blaze with fire until it becomes one mass of flame. The mountains will be consumed, a spark will be carried on the wind and go to the worlds of God.
...Thus, monks, all things will burn, perish and exist no more except those who have seen the path.
?
A?guttara-Nik?ya, VII, 6.2 Pali Canon
[85]
The sermon completes with the Earth immersed into an extensive holocaust. The Pali Canon does not indicate when this will happen relative to Maitreya.
[85]
Norse mythology
[
edit
]
Norse mythology
depicts the end of days as
Ragnarok
, an
Old Norse
term translatable as "twilight of the gods". It will be heralded by a devastation known as
Fimbulvetr
which will seize
Midgard
in cold and darkness. The sun and moon will disappear from the sky, and poison will fill the air. The dead will rise from the ground and there will be widespread despair.
Then there will be a battle between?on the one hand?the Gods with the
Æsir
,
Vanir
[127]
and
Einherjar
, led by
Odin
, and?on the other hand?forces of Chaos, including the fire giants and
jotunn
, led by
Loki
. In the fighting Odin will be swallowed whole by his old nemesis
Fenrir
.
[128]
The god
Freyr
fights
Surtr
but loses.
Viðarr
, son of Odin, will then avenge his father by ripping Fenrir's jaws apart and stabbing the wolf in the heart with his spear. The serpent
Jormungandr
will open its gaping maw and be met in combat by
Thor
. Thor, also a son of Odin, will defeat the serpent, only to take nine steps afterwards before collapsing in his own death.
[129]
After this people will flee their homes as the sun blackens and the earth sinks into the sea. The stars will vanish, steam will rise, and flames will touch the heavens. This conflict will result in the deaths of most of the major Gods and forces of Chaos. Finally, Surtr will fling fire across the nine worlds. The ocean will then completely submerge
Midgard
.
[130]
After the
cataclysm
, the world will resurface new and fertile, and the surviving Gods will meet.
Baldr
, another son of Odin, will be reborn in the new world, according to
Voluspa
. The two human survivors,
Lif and Lifþrasir
, will then repopulate this new earth.
[131]
No end times
[
edit
]
Taoism
[
edit
]
The Taoist faith is not concerned with what came before or after life, knowing only their own being in the Tao. The philosophy is that people come and go, just like mountains, trees and stars, but Tao will go on for
time immemorial
.
[
citation needed
]
Analogies in science and philosophy
[
edit
]
Researchers in
futures studies
and
transhumanists
investigate how the accelerating rate of scientific progress may lead to a "
technological singularity
" in the future that would profoundly and unpredictably change the course of human history, and result in
Homo sapiens
no longer being the dominant life form on Earth.
[132]
[133]
[
improper synthesis?
]
Occasionally the term "physical eschatology" is applied to the long-term predictions of astrophysics about the
future of Earth
and
ultimate fate of the universe
.
[134]
[135]
In approximately 6 billion years, the
Sun
will turn into a
red giant
. Life on Earth will become impossible due to a rise in temperature long before the planet is possibly actually swallowed up by the Sun or left charred.
[136]
Later, the Sun will become a
white dwarf
.
See also
[
edit
]
Notes
[
edit
]
- ^
Quran
74:38
- ^
Sahih Muslim, Book 41, Hadith 6931
- ^
a
b
c
d
Sahih Muslim
- ^
Muslim, Book 41, Hadith 7034
- ^
Quran
21:96
- ^
Quran
27:82
References
[
edit
]
- ^
"BBC ? Religions ? Christianity: End Times"
.
BBC Online
. 2011-07-19
. Retrieved
2017-11-10
.
- ^
Redfern, Martin (2003).
The Earth: a very short introduction
. Oxford ; New York: Oxford University Press.
ISBN
978-0-19-280307-8
.
OCLC
49906936
.
- ^
Dictionary ? Definition of Eschatology
.
Webster's Online Dictionary
.
- ^
"Eschatology,
n.
", def. a,
Oxford English Dictionary
. Retrieved 2016-05-18.
- ^
a
b
"Jewish Eschatology"
.
Jewish Encyclopedia
. Retrieved
1 May
2012
.
- ^
Ginzburg, Yits?a? (2007).
Kabbalah and Meditation for the Nations
. GalEinai Publication Society.
ISBN
978-965-7146-12-5
.
- ^
Mishneh Torah, Laws of Kings 12:5
- ^
Zohar, Vayera 119a
- ^
Ramban on Genesis (2:3)
- ^
Abarbanel on Genesis 2
- ^
Ramban quoting Ibn Ezra at Leviticus (25:2)
- ^
Bachya on Genesis 2:3
- ^
Safra D'Tzniusa, Ch. 5
- ^
Sefer HaSichos 5750:254
- ^
Derech Hashem 4:7:2
- ^
Page 318, The Real Messiah
Kaplan, Aryeh (1 August 1991).
The Aryeh Kaplan Anthology: Illuminating Expositions on Jewish Thought and Practice by a Revered Teacher
. Mesorah Publications.
ISBN
9780899068664
. Retrieved
2 September
2015
.
- ^
Fleisher, Malkah (27 October 2008).
"
'It's Erev Shabbos of the World' ? Jewish World ? News"
. Israel National News.
- ^
a
b
Boyce, Mary
(1979).
Zoroastrians: Their Religious Beliefs and Practices
. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul. pp. 27?29.
ISBN
978-0-415-23902-8
.
.
- ^
West, Martin Litchfield
(2013).
Hellenica: Volume III: Philosophy, Music and Metre, Literary Byways, Varia
. OUP Oxford. pp. 89?109.
ISBN
978-0-19-960503-3
.
- ^
Taylor, Richard P. (2000).
Death and Afterlife: A Cultural Encyclopedia
. ABC-CLIO. p. 312.
.
- ^
Marvin Meyer
;
Willis Barnstone
(2009). "On the Origin of the World".
The Gnostic Bible
.
Shambhala
. Retrieved
2022-02-01
.
- ^
Bauckham, R. J. (1996). "Apocalyptic". In D. R. W. Wood, I. H. Marshall, A. R. Millard, J. I. Packer, & D. J. Wiseman (Eds.),
New Bible Dictionary
(3rd ed., p. 53). Leicester, England; Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.
- ^
Tyndale, William,
Parable of the Wicked Mammon
, c. 1526, (facsimile copy of later printing, no ISBN, Benediction Classics, 2008), pp. 4?5.
- ^
Smith, John Howard (2021-02-05).
A Dream of the Judgment Day: American Millennialism and Apocalypticism, 1620?1890
. Oxford University Press.
ISBN
978-0-19-753375-8
.
- ^
Luther, Martin, "Sermon for the Twenty-Fifth Sunday after Trinity; Matthew 24:15?28",
Church Postil
, 1525
- ^
J. H. Merle D'aubigne's
History of the Reformation of the Sixteen Century
, book vi, chapter xii, p. 215.
- ^
Calvin, John, "Lecture Fifty-Second",
Commentary on Daniel
, Volume
- ^
"Explanatory Notes on the Whole Bible: Matthew: Matthew Chapter 24"
.
www.sacred-texts.com
.
- ^
All Roads Lead to Rome, by Michael de Semlyen. Dorchestor House Publications, p. 205. 1991
- ^
Gregg, Steven (1997).
Revelation: Four Views
. Nashville, Tennessee:
Thomas Nelson Publishing
. p. 34.
ISBN
978-0840721280
.
- ^
Elliott, Edward Bishop
(1862).
Horae Apocalypticae
. Vol. IV (5th ed.). London: Seely, Jackson and Halliday. pp. 562?563.
- ^
See
2 Thessalonians
chapter
2
and
Son of perdition
.
- ^
Theissen, Gerd and Annette Merz. The historical Jesus: a comprehensive guide. Fortress Press. 1998. translated from German (1996 edition). Chapter 1. The quest of the historical Jesus. pp. 1?15.
- ^
Ehrman, Bart
.
Jesus: Apocalyptic Prophet of the New Millennium.
Oxford. 1999. p. 127.
- ^
Meier, John P. (1999).
"The Present State of the 'Third Quest' for the Historical Jesus: Loss and Gain"
.
Biblica
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80
: 482
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Geddert, T. J. (1992). "Apocalyptic Teaching". In Green, Joel B.; McKnight, Scot; Marshall, I. Howard (eds.).
Dictionary of Jesus and the Gospels: A Compendium of Contemporary Biblical Scholarship
. Downers Grove, Illinois: InterVarsity Press.
ISBN
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- ^
R. T. France, The Gospel of Mark, New International Greek Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2002), 541?543
- ^
N. T. Wright, Jesus and the Victory of God (Minneapolis: Fortress, 1996), pp. 329?365
- ^
N.T. Wright Hope Deferred? Against the Dogma of Delay. Early Christianity 2018. Oft-cited are examples in the
Old Testament
where language of cosmic destruction is used for political catastrophes, such as in Ezek. 32:8; Amos 8:9; Zeph. 1:15.
- ^
Hogeterp, Albert L. A. (2009).
Expectations of the End: A Comparative Traditio-Historical Study of Eschatological, Apocalyptic, and Messianic Ideas in the Dead Sea Scrolls and the New Testament
. Boston, Massachusetts: Brill.
ISBN
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.
- ^
Familiar Stranger: An Introduction to Jesus of Nazareth
by Michael James McClymond (2004) pp. 77-79
- ^
Studying the Historical Jesus: Evaluations of the State of Current Research by Bruce Chilton and Craig A. Evans (1998) pp. 255-257
- ^
An explanation of these beliefs appears on the
Holy See's website
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Chang Soppe, Seok Lyun (2014).
God's Mystery That Is Christ
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.
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"How Seventh-day Adventists View Roman Catholicism"
. Archived from
the original
on 6 December 2006
. Retrieved
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2009
.
? Main Statements of Belief from the official Adventist Church website.
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John F. Walvoord
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"Armageddon, Oil and the Middle East Crisis"
.
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"Proclamation of the 3rd International Zionist Congress"
. Christian Action For Israel. 25 February 1996. Archived from
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on 19 July 2012
. Retrieved
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2012
.
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"The Untold Story: The Role of Christian Zionists in the Establishment of Modern-day Israel"
. Rabbi Jamie Cowen. 13 July 2002
. Retrieved
27 November
2012
.
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Momen, Moojan (1992).
"Fundamentalism and Liberalism: towards an understanding of the dichotomy"
.
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Momen, Moojan (2007).
"Messianic Concealment and Theophanic Disclosure"
(PDF)
.
Online Journal of Baha?i Studies
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1
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ISSN
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. Retrieved
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a
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Cameron, Glenn; Momen, Wendi (1996).
A Basic Baha?i Chronology
. Oxford, UK: George Ronald. pp. 15?20, 125.
ISBN
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– via Baha'i Library Online.
- ^
Shoghi Effendi Rabbani.
God Passes By
. p. 9.
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Momen, Moojan (1999).
"Early Western Accounts of the Babi and Baha?i Faiths"
.
Encyclopedia articles
. Baha'i Library Online
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"Early mention of Babis in western newspapers, summer 1850"
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Sears, William
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Thief in the Night
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ISBN
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Bowers, Kenneth E. (2004).
God Speaks Again: An Introduction to the Baha?i Faith
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ISBN
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Motlagh, Hushidar Hugh (1992).
I Shall Come Again
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"The House-to-House Ministry?Why Important Now?".
The Watchtower
. 15 July 2008. pp. 5?6.
- ^
You Can Live Forever in Paradise on Earth
, Watch Tower Bible & Tract Society, 1989, p. 155.
- ^
Revelation?Its Grand Climax at Hand!
, Watch Tower Bible & Tract Society, 1988, p. 6.
- ^
a
b
c
The Watchtower
, 1 March 1922, page 73, "The indisputable facts, therefore, show that the 'time of the end' began in 1799; that the Lord's second presence began in 1874."
- ^
"Our Faith"
(PDF)
.
The Herald of the Morning
. September 1875. p. 52. Archived from
the original
(PDF)
on 2008-05-12.
- ^
The Watchtower
,
July 15, 1894, p. 1677
Archived
April 1, 2019, at the
Wayback Machine
: "We see no reason for changing the figures?nor could we change them if we would. They are, we believe, God's dates, not ours. But bear in mind that the end of 1914 is not the date for the beginning, but for the end of the time of trouble."
- ^
1 September 1916
The Watchtower
, pages
264?265
Archived
2009-07-13 at the
Wayback Machine
- ^
Millions Now Living Will Never Die
, 1920, page 97, "Based upon the argument heretofore set forth, then, that the old order of things, the old world, is ending and is therefore passing away, and that the new order is coming in, and that 1925 shall mark the resurrection of the faithful worthies of old and the beginning of reconstruction, it is reasonable to conclude that millions of people now on the earth will be still on the earth in 1925. Then, based upon the promises set forth in the divine Word, we must reach the positive and indisputable conclusion that millions now living will never die."
- ^
Holden, Andrew (2002).
Jehovah's Witnesses: Portrait of a Contemporary Religious Movement
. Routledge. p.
1
.
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- ^
"The Strong Cable of Chronology",
Watch Tower
, 15 July 1922, page 217, "The chronology of present truth is, to begin with, a string of dates
... Thus far it is a chain, and no stronger than its weakest link. There exist, however, well established relationships among the dates of present-truth chronology. These internal connections of the dates impart a much greater strength than can be found in other [secular, archeological] chronologies. Some of them are of so remarkable a character as clearly to indicate this chronology is not of man, but of God. Being of divine origin and divinely corroborated, present-truth chronology stands in a class by itself, absolutely and unqualifiedly correct."
- ^
The Watchtower
, 1 May 1922, page 132, "To abandon or repudiate the Lord's chosen instrument means to abandon or repudiate the Lord himself, upon the principle that he who rejects the servant sent by the Master thereby rejects the Master.
... Brother Russell was the Lord's servant. Then to repudiate him and his work is equivalent to a repudiation of the Lord, upon the principle heretofore announced."
- ^
Jehovah's Witnesses?Proclaimers of God's Kingdom
(Watch Tower Society, 1993), chapter 10.
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Revelation ? Its Grand Climax
, Watch Tower Bible & Tract Society, 1988, page 9.
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"False Prophets".
Reasoning From the Scriptures
. Watchtower Bible and Tract Society. p.137:Have not Jehovah's Witnesses made errors in their teachings?.
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"To Whom Shall We Go but Jesus Christ?".
Watchtower
. 1 March 1979. p. 23.
the "faithful and discreet slave" has alerted all of God's people to the sign of the times indicating the nearness of God's Kingdom rule. In this regard, however, it must be observed that this "faithful and discreet slave" was never inspired, never perfect. Those writings by certain members of the "slave" class that came to form the Christian part of God's Word were inspired and infallible [the bible], but that is not true of other writings since.
- ^
Why have there been changes over the years in the teachings of Jehovah's Witnesses?,"Jehovah's Witnesses",
Reasoning From the Scriptures
, 1989, Watchtower Bible and Tract Society, page 205
- ^
"Allow No Place for the Devil!",
The Watchtower
, 15 March 1986, page 19
- ^
"Keep in Step With Jehovah's Organization",
Watchtower
, 15 January 2001, page 18.
- ^
Matthew 24:14
KJV
- ^
Doctrine and Covenants 45:26
- ^
doctrine and covenants 45:26
- ^
George Eldon Ladd
; Donald Alfred Hagner (1993).
A Theology of the New Testament
. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing. p. 56.
ISBN
0802806805
.
Archived
from the original on 2019-06-24
. Retrieved
2019-06-03
.
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McKim, Donald K. (2014).
Westminster Dictionary of Theological Terms
(2nd ed.). Louisville, KY: Presbyterian Publishing. p. 106.
ISBN
978-1611643862
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April 3,
2017
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Begley, Wayne E. The Garden of the Taj Mahal: A Case Study of Mughal Architectural Planning and Symbolism, in: Wescoat, James L.; Wolschke-Bulmahn, Joachim (1996).
Mughal Gardens: Sources, Places, Representations, and Prospects
Dumbarton Oaks, Washington D.C.,
ISBN
0884022358
. pp. 229?231.
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Yahya, Harun (1 January 2008).
Clarity Amidst Confusion: Imam Mahdi and the End of Time
. Global Publishing. Kindle Edition. p. 64.
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Richardson, Joel (7 April 2006).
Antichrist: Islam's Awaited Messiah
. Pleasant Word-A Division of WinePress Publishing. p. 284.
ISBN
9781414104409
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a
b
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d
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Hooper, Rev. Richard (20 April 2011).
End of Days: Predictions of the End From Ancient Sources
. Sedona, AZ. p. 156.
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cite book
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Muhammad, S. Umar (1999). "Muslims' Eschatological Discourses on Colonialism in Northern Nigeria".
Journal of the American Academy of Religion
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67
(1). Oxford University Press: 59?84.
doi
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10.1093/jaarel/67.1.59
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Esposito, John (2003). The Oxford Dictionary of Islam. Oxford University Press.
ISBN
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, p.264
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"Reward and Punishment",
Encyclopedia of the Qur'an
(2005)
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Leor Halevi,
https://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/04/opinion/04iht-edhalevi.1.5565834.html
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Christine Huda Dodge (18 April 2009).
The Everything Understanding Islam Book: A complete guide to Muslim beliefs, practices, and culture
. F+W Media. p. 182.
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.
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John L. Esposito (13 July 2011).
What Everyone Needs To Know About Islam
. Oxford University Press, USA. p. 28.
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Javed Ahmad Ghamidi (2009).
Islam: A Concise Introduction
. p. 46.
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???? ????? ?? ??????
[Rising of the sun from the west] (in Arabic).
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Alwi Shihab (2011).
Examining Islam in the West
. Gramedia Pustaka Utama. p. 16.
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9789792267716
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???? ????? ?? ??????
[Rising of the sun from the west] (in Arabic). 26 March 2018.
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Yahya, Harun (1 January 2008).
Clarity Amidst Confusion: Imam Mahdi and the End of Time
. Global Publishing. Kindle Edition. p. 64.
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The Wrath of Yeshua ? Page xxxv, Leo Paul Giampietro ? 2008
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"Prophecies of the Promised Messiah -- www.aaiil.org"
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(PDF)
on 26 May 2011
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2010
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The Review of Religions
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HFaith and Philosophy of Islam ? Page 180, Shamim Akhter ? 2009
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Buck, Christopher (2004).
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Studies in Modern Religions, Religious Movements and the B?b?-Bah?'? Faiths
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Smith, P. (1999).
A Concise Encyclopedia of the Baha'i Faith
. Oxford, UK: Oneworld Publications. pp.
98 & 247?248
.
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Stephen Lambden.
"Catastrophe, Armageddon and Millennium: some aspects of the Babi-Baha'i exegesis of apocalyptic symbolism"
. Bahai-library.com
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Browne, Sylvia; Harrison, Lindsay (2008).
End of Days: Predictions and Prophecies About the End of the World
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BBC.
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bbc.co.ke
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Sri Srimad Bhaktivedanta Narayana Maharaja (2000).
Srimad Bhagavad Gita
. p. 232.
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Lopez, Donald S.
(2001).
The Story of Buddhism
. New York: Harper. p. 33.
Unlike so many other traditions, the Buddhist scriptures contain no classic account of an end time, an apocalypse, an eschaton.
quoted in:
Netland, Harold
;
Yandell, Keith
(2009). "The Dharma or the Gospel?".
Buddhism: A Christian Exploration and Appraisal
. Downers Grove, Illinois: InterVarsity Press. p. 196.
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2019
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Abe, Masao
(1985). "Buddhist Nirvana ? Its Significance in Contemporary Thought and Life". In LaFleur, William R. (ed.).
Zen and Western Thought
. Library of Philosophy and Religion (reprint ed.). Basingstoke: Macmillan. p. 214.
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Since there is no God in Buddhism, there is no creation or last judgment, but rather Emptiness. Thus, for Buddhism, history has neither beginning nor end.
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Netland, Harold; Yandell, Keith (2009).
Buddhism: A Christian Exploration and Appraisal
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Vetter, Tilmann (1988),
The Ideas and Meditative Practices of Early Buddhism
, Brill.
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Johnston (F.S.S.), James (1889).
Report of the Centenary Conference on the Protestant Missions of the World: Held in Exeter Hall (June 9th-19th), London, 1888
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?irkovi?, Milan M. "Resource letter: PEs-1: physical eschatology." American Journal of Physics 71.2 (2003): 122?133.
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Zeilik, M.A.; Gregory, S.A. (1998).
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Further reading
[
edit
]
- Carroll, John T. (2000).
"Eschatology"
. In Freedman, David Noel; Myers, Allen C. (eds.).
Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible
. Eerdmans.
ISBN
978-9053565032
.
- Craig C. Hill,
In God's Time: The Bible and the Future
, Grand Rapids: Eerdmans 2002.
ISBN
0-8028-6090-7
.
- Dave Hunt
,
A Cup of Trembling
, Harvest House Publishers, Eugene, (Oregon) 1995
ISBN
1-56507-334-7
.
- Jonathan Menn,
Biblical Eschatology
, Eugene, Oregon, Wipf & Stock 2013.
ISBN
978-1-62032-579-7
.
- Joseph Ratzinger
.,
Eschatology: Death and Eternal Life
, Washington D.C.:
Catholic University of America Press
1985.
ISBN
978-0-8132-1516-7
.
- Robert Sungenis, Scott Temple, David Allen Lewis,
Shock Wave 2000!
subtitled
The
Harold Camping
1994 Debacle
, New Leaf Press, Inc. 2004,
ISBN
0-89221-269-1
.
- Stephen Travis,
Christ Will Come Again: Hope for the Second Coming of Jesus
, Toronto: Clements Publishing 2004.
ISBN
1-894667-33-6
.
- Jerry L. Walls (ed.),
The Oxford Handbook of Eschatology
, New York: Oxford University Press 2008.
ISBN
978-0-19-973588-4
.
External links
[
edit
]
Wikimedia Commons has media related to
End Times
.