Second Thoughts about the Second Coming

Understanding the End Times, Our Future, and Christian Hope

Ronald J. Allen, Robert D. Cornwall

• Verlag: Westminster John Knox Press
• Jahr: 2023
• ISBN:
  9781646983063
• Thema: Theology & Religion
• Thema: Religious Eschatology

Various ideas float around about the subject of last things, leading many Christians to conclude that they don't know what to think about the subject. Yet at the core of the Christian doctrine of last things lies two simple and complementary hopes: that God ever and always offers hope for our individual futures and for the future of the whole world.

In this helpful book, Allen and Cornwall explain how we don't have to subscribe to sensationalist theories or sketchy interpretations to believe in Christian hope. They walk the reader through the central biblical teachings on last things and then show the ways the church has interpreted those teachings throughout the centuries. In a respectful way, the authors demonstrate that end-time beliefs centered on the Rapture came into existence only recently, and they then offer several more life-affirming, contemporary interpretations as alternatives.

The book includes a study guide and web-based appendixes designed to help pastors develop both topical and lectionary-based sermon series on Christian hope.

Inhaltsverzeichnis

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• Acknowledgments
• Preface
• Introduction
• Section One: “I Wish We’d All Been Ready”: Voices from the Bible
• Section Two: “But I Thought the Church Had Always Believed . . .”: Voices from the History of the Church
• Section Three: “Are We Going to Be ‘Left Behind’?” The Millennial Voices
• Section Four: “How Do We Make Sense of the Second Coming Today?” Contemporary Voices
• Section Five: “Will the Real Afterlife Please Stand Up?” Voices on the Life after Death
• Concluding Thoughts
• Study Guide
• Glossary
• Notes
• For Further Reading
• Scripture Index