This weekend in Brookside’s class, “Fuel for Faith: An Important Class about Christian Theology,” I’ll be teaching on the category of systematic theology called “eschatology” (i.e., the study of the end times and the renewal of God’s design). Mention a study of the end times to someone, and you’ll usually get some variation on one of two responses. (Allow me some – but maybe not much… – exaggeration as I make a point.)
First, there’s eschatomania. The eschatomaniac is the person who – upon hearing about an end-times discussion – suddenly (and often dramatically) pulls out charts and diagrams (and maybe even the rare flannelgraph, if you’re lucky) to explain their position. For this person, the numerous references to Jesus’ return and the end of the world have become dislocated from their biblical contexts, and have instead become a sort of code to break in-and-of itself. And, often, this person’s study of the end times hasn’t only led to deeper study of select biblical texts and a few charts; rather, eschatomania often leads people to a strong, evangelistic zeal for their position, a closed-mindedness/borderline arrogance toward other orthodox options, and a narrow focus on this category of theology to the neglect of others.
Second, there’s eschatophobia. The eschatophobe is the person who – upon hearing about an end-times discussion – does their best to remove himself from said discussion by a radius of at least 100 yards. Perhaps they’ve had a negative experience in some end-times discussion in the past, are aware of the unfortunate controversy and division that can result from such a discussion, and/or simply don’t know what the Bible has to say about this topic. This person’s fear of anything slightly related to the end times has them avoiding biblical passages that deal with this topic and studies that introduce them to this area of theology in a balanced way – and the result is that an important component of the Christian faith in absent from their lives, minds, and worship.
I wonder, though, if there’s a third way beyond eschatomania and eschatophobia – an approach that takes what the Bible has to say about eschatology seriously, and yet allows that material to cultivate transformation rather than to breed speculation. Enter: transformational eschatology.
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