Eschatology The Controlling Thematic In Theology -- By: Charles M. Horne

Journal: Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society
Volume: JETS 13:1 (Winter 1970)
Article: Eschatology The Controlling Thematic In Theology
Author: Charles M. Horne


Eschatology
The Controlling Thematic In Theology

Charles M. Horne*

The Importance Of The Eschatological Motif

A Statement of Its Importance

Harvey Cox states that “in an age of reborn eschatological thinking … Hope rather than belief may become the category through which we think as men of faith.”1 God is not to be thought of as One over us or within us but as before us. Christ is more important as the “coming one” than as the “historical Jesus” or the “Man for Others.”

Vernard Eller states,

Without eschatological perspective the only meaning the drama of history can be made to render is that of a happening, namely, the momentary satisfaction that comes in the course of doing the doing.

…That which man needs and needs unconditionally, if he is to have any chance of fulfilling his role in the drama which is history, is a script, or an eschatological perspective (which, in the final analysis, is what a script is).2

Jürgen Moltmann states,

From first to last, and not merely in the epilogue, Christianity is eschatology, is hope, forward looking and forward moving, and therefore also revolutionizing and transforming the present. The eschatological is not one element of Christianity, but it is the medium of Christian faith as such, the key in which everything in it is set, the glow that suffuses everything here in the dawn of an expected new day.3

Now although we may not agree with the specific eschatology of Moltmann it does seem that we must agree with the formal statement he makes concerning its importance.

Evidences of Its Importance

As we look for evidences of the importance of this revival of Hope we ask two questions.

1. Does the current theological emphasis on eschatology evidence

*Assistant Professor of Theology, Wheaton Graduate School.

a fadism? In some measure such is undoubtedly the case. (Note, the December 26, 1969 issue of Time.) With some it simply comes as the sharpest possible alternative to the ‘Death of God’ affair. Cox states,

It is… evident that the theology of hope stands in sharp contrast to radical theology. Although radical theology glorifies the present, there is in theology of hope no reverence for present experience. Quite the contrary. The issue is, as Moltmann insists, ‘Does the present define the future through extrapolation or does the...

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