Journal: Tyndale Bulletin
Volume: TYNBUL 76:1 (NA 2025)
Article: Temple, Cosmology, And Myth In The New Testament
Author: Nicholas J. Moore

TynBull 76:1 (2025) p. 69

Temple, Cosmology, And Myth In The New Testament¹

Nicholas J. Moore

Warden – Cranmer Hall, St John’s College, Durham
Extraordinary Researcher – Unit for Reformational Theology, NWU, S. Africa
[email protected]

Abstract

The idea of a heavenly temple is widespread in the ancient world, including in the New Testament. Yet it has been a neglected theme in New Testament scholarship, certainly by comparison with the related yet less prominent themes of Christ as temple and community as temple. This article first outlines the extent of the theme in the New Testament. It then outlines reasons for this neglect before focusing on one: the mismatch between ancient conceptualisations of the universe and modern scientific cosmology. It explores and critiques a number of attempts to account for this gulf, a debate which continues to be influenced by Bultmann’s category of demythologisation. It finally argues that, even on a ‘mythological’ construal of the New Testament writers’ cosmology, the connection of temple with heaven speaks eloquently of the nature of God’s abode.

1. Introduction1

Where is heaven? And what is heaven like? Is it ‘up there’? And can we go there? Questions like this are simple enough to be posed by young children and yet complex enough to have exercised the greatest minds in the church’s history, without resolution. One widespread association in antiquity was the notion that heaven is, or is like, or contains, a temple, in whole or part.2 This idea is

TynBull 76:1 (2025) p. 70

attested in ancient Near Eastern creation epics, in parts of the Old Testament, in some Second Temple Jewish literature, and can also be found in the New Testament. In this article I will indicate the extent of the heavenly temple idea within the NT, not only in Hebrews and Revelation, where it is most evident, but also in the Gospels and Acts. Despite its wide extent in Scripture, it has been a neglected theme, and I explore one possible reason for this neglect: namely, the gap between ancient conceptualisations of the universe and modern scientific cosmology. There have been a number of attempts to respond to this gap, but the debate continues to be dominated by Rudolf Bultmann’s notion of ‘demythologisation’. I agree with Bultmann that NT writers did in some sense believe that heaven is ‘up there’. But I disagree that demythologisation is either necessary or sufficient, not least because humans have a tendency to remythologise. On that basis, I turn back to the heavenly temple idea to ask how the temple might speak intelligibly and...