Perspectives in Pentecostal Eschatologies

World Without End

Althouse, Waddell

• Publisher: Pickwick Publications
• Year: 2010
• ISBN:
  9781630879693
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Religion

During the mid-twentieth century Pentecostal theology was co-opted by fundamentalism and its dispensational brand of millennial eschatology. Fundamentalist dispensationalism not only reinterpreted the original Pentecostal vision of the latter-rain outpouring of the Spirit in the last days but undercut its raison d'être as a people empowered by the Spirit of Pentecost to participate in the kingdom of God. Yet eschatology is much broader than twentieth-century dispensationalism, and Pentecostal eschatology is diverse, reflecting the diversity of Pentecostal and Charismatic spiritualities. There is no one Pentecostal eschatology but many Pentecostal eschatologies. This collection of essays from established scholars and rising stars offers fresh perspectives in eschatology for the Pentecostal and Charismatic movements. The fresh readings of eschatology in this volume are valuable because they demonstrate that Pentecostals no longer need to look to others to interpret their theology for them but can stand as scholars and thinkers in their own right.

part one

Eschatology in Biblical Perspectives

1

Early Jewish Eschatology

William Raccah

Introduction

Eschatology is that branch of theology concerned with last things, such as, death, resurrection, judgment, the messiah, and immortality. Derived from the Greek eschatos, the term “eschatology” means “furthest” or “last” and the Oxford English Dictionary defines it as “the science of the four last things: death, judgment, heaven and hell.” Paradoxically, although it is concerned with “last things,” as with the termination of this world and this life, the religious meaning of the term emphasizes at the same time the ideas of a new life and a new world. The old world—this present world—will give way to the ushering in of the new world of eternity.1

Eschatology is essentially a religious symbol.2 Dealing as it does with the symbols of the religious experience, it is not conducive to philosophical conceptual analysis. Nor can it be reduced to scientific knowledge, for scientific knowledge is conceptual and factual. Transcending both philosophy and science, eschatology relates to a cosmic reality based upon revelations apprehended and accepted by the individual, which we call symbols. Occasionally, of course, eschatology may touch upon certain problems frequently treated within philosophical investigation, such as the demonstration of the immortality of the soul or the attempt to discover the laws of history, but the symbols are the symbols of religious experience with the premise that truths are accepted as revealed. Thus, the main method of eschatology is essentially the explication and interpretation of such truths and symbols, and many of the conclusions concerning the basic symbols of either Judaism or Christianity, being quite speculative, frequently admit of more diversity of opinion than agreement.3

As a religious symbol, eschatology is concerned with the interpretation of history as meaningful, purposeful, and ethical. This interpretation of history contrasts sharply with the views of many historians and philosophers. So, while the historian is not concerned with the end of history nor strives to transcend history and relate it to some higher cosmic reality, and the philosophers are agreed that the study of history does not yield demonstrative knowledge and that to determine its purposes is a hazardous undertaking, these considerations have not prevented many philosophers from speculating about the nature and course of human history.4 Indeed, like the writer of Ecclesiastes, the philosopher of history may be satisfied to affirm, “there is nothing new under the sun” (Eccl 1:10, NIV).

History, most religions claim, moves in cycles of time throughout eternity rather than in a linear time that culminates in some specific goal. This cyclical view, or the myth of the eternal recurrence, holds that history is endlessly repetitive, directionless, and devoid of end or purpose. However, that history is meaningful, that it has a purpose and a goal, and that it holds out hope is nowhere better exemplified than in the whole Jewish-Christian tradition. Both Judaism and Christianity are unique in their conception of history. Following certain interpretations found in the Jewish writings of the intertestamental period and the first few centuries of the CE, early Christian writers and those who followed throughout the centuries have affirmed that hope lies in God and in the conviction that God’s purposes are realized in history. This is why the people of Israel, and Christians later, place their hopes in the expectation of a great good, the coming of the messianic kingdom.5 In a kingdom where ultimate happiness and salvation will be achieved.

Thus when looking at the religious concept of eschatology, we find that the meaning of history is revealed in Scripture rather than in the attempted speculations of the philosophers. The meaning of history may be said to be contained in a theology of history, and such a theology of history has certitude and meaningfulness based upon the faith of the individual, which is not found in a philosophy of history.6 Consequently, for Judaism, as for Christianity, the meaning of creation is revealed in its end, and only in its valuation as good is creation made meaningful.

Interestingly, we can observe that what is said at the beginning and the end of the universe is highly symbolic or speculative. There are many symbols in the Jewish-Christian tradition for the meaning of the end of history, symbols that must be held together in a kind of pattern for their total understanding. In addition, these symbols must be placed within an ordered structure, which is history itself.7 Since for the Jews the meaning of history centers upon the covenants God made with Noah and Abraham, which were ratified in the covenant with Moses at Sinai, the Law given to Moses gives meaning to history, for observance of the Law perfects humanity and society. Thus, only at the consummation of history and the realization of the kingdom of God will the Law disappear.

The historical reality, for both Jews and Christians, refers not so much to the relations of nations and of persons as it does to their relationship to God. History, therefore, is not reduced to mere human happenings, a much later Renaissance and Enlightenment development, for this would undermine human personality and significance in the ebb and flow of events. The importance of being a person is to take one’s place, one’s role in the drama of humanity in the presence of God. In that drama, no individual is a mere thing or event. Each individual is a subject of unlimited destiny and great significance, and each individual is challenged to make a decision that will make history as far as that individual is concerned. Another way to express this is to say that the kairos gives meaning to the chronos, for the kairos is the intersection of our time with eternity, making every moment of time (chronos) significant. With the manifestation of God in and through history, every moment of time is charged with significance and value.8

The Messiah and the Messianic Kingdom

When we turn our attention to early Jewish eschatology, it is very important to remind ourselves of a basic premise, often taken for granted, and more often ignored: Jesus, his disciples, the Apostles, the various writers of the New Testament (with the possible exception of Luke), Paul, and the majority of those who composed the very early church were Jews. Not only were they Jews, but they were also full participating members and typical representatives of the Jews who lived in first-century Palestine and the Diaspora. As such, whatever they affirmed, argued about, wrote or pronounced was within a context that defined their identity, of which one part was theological, while another portion concerned itself with eschatological questions. Therefore, while others in this book will address the writings, pronouncements, and interpretations of what we find within the pages of the New Testament, we will focus our attention for the next few pages on eschatological elements found in the period preceding and contemporaneous with the rise and development of the early church.

One of the first things we can observe when looking at the relevant material is that the rabbis of the early period, it seems, show a carelessness and sluggishness in the applicatio...

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Contributors
• Acknowledgments
• Abbreviations
• The Landscape of Pentecostal and Charismatic Eschatology
• Part One: Eschatology in Biblical Perspectives
• Chapter 1: Early Jewish Eschatology
• Chapter 2: Restoring the Kingdom to Israel
• Chapter 3: Seven Dispensations or Two-Age View of History
• Chapter 4: Apocalyptic Sustainability
• Chapter 5: The Mystery of the Great Whore
• Part Two: Theological Engagements on Pentecostal Eschatology
• Chapter 6: Early Pentecostal Eschatology in the Light of The Apostolic Faith, 1906–1908
• Chapter 7: Eschatology, Spirit Baptism, and Inclusiveness
• Chapter 8: Eschatology as Soteriology
• Chapter 9: Pentecostal Eschatology in Context
• Chapter 10: Patience as a Theological Virtue
• Part Three: Theological Engagements and Charismatic Issues
• Chapter 11: Hope for Eternal Life
• Chapter 12: “Discerning the Times”
• Chapter 13: Prosperity Already and Not Yet
• Part Four: Contextual Pentecostal Eschatologies
• Chapter 14: The New Jerusalem versus Social Responsibility
• Chapter 15: “Se fue con el Señor”
• Chapter 16: Constructing an African Pentecostal Eschatology
• Chapter 17: Jesus is Victor
• Bibliography