The religious interbuzz has comment all over the place on Harold Camping and the failure of the world to come to an end last Saturday. Gary Laderman has an interesting piece at Religion Dispatches, likewise Kenny Smith at religionnerd.
The former makes the point that pretty much all religions have some kind of end time scenario, although I'm not too sure that question would really apply all that much in hinduism or buddhism. A focus on an end is going to be more present in cultures who see history as being on a trajectory rather than as being on a cycle.
Many Christians believe we are living in the last days. Recent polls show a sizeable minority believe that the world will end in their lifetimes. This has been true all along--Luther thought he was living in the last days as did Paul--and, in a sense, this belief has been true all along.
Hebrews 1 does say, after all: "In many and various way, God spoke to the people of old by the prophets, but now in these last days, God has spoken to us by a Son." "These last days" have been the past 2000 years, up to, and including, the present moment--and all future moments.
We run amok if we get involved in the details. Almost all Biblical comment on the subject is metaphor--words in search of words to describe the indescribable. The real truth of the matter--the theological core, the gospel nugget--is that all of time and history is subsumed within Christ.
This is Cosmic Christ territory--Christ the "pantocrator," whose figure adorns the dome of Greek Orthodox cathedrals, symbolizing Christ's rule of the cosmos. Colossians 1:
He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation...in him all things in heaven and on earth were created...all things have been created through him and for him...he himself is before all things, and in him all things hold together.
Cosmic Christ theology has been around a long time, although it hasn't always been called that. Paul could be counted in its camp, as well as the author of the fourth gospel and Revelation. In fact, a great deal of the early theology dealt with cosmic themes.
When you literalize it, though, everything turns kind of sour. The Book of Revelation is actually a wonderful poem on the, indeed, the cosmic nature of Christ's victory. When you start fussing about how many horns the demons have, or the precise timetable of this or that, then, as we used to say on the farm, "Mister, you're driving your ducks to a mighty poor pond."
Jesus may well have thought he was living in the last days.
But what do you tell the person who comes to you and asks, "Never mind the pantocrator and whatnot, is there going to be a Day of Judgment, or isn't there?"
Are you watching "The Borgias" BTW? I'm enjoying it. A useful reminder of what Luther was on about.
Posted by: Hypatia | May 24, 2011 at 06:20 PM
I like it very much, thank you.
Posted by: cheap custom jerseys | May 24, 2011 at 07:31 PM
Oh, I'm not so sure Jesus thought he was living in the last days. I think his intention was for a "beloved community"--the kingdom of God "on earth as it is in heaven."
Of course there's a day of judgment. It's called death. Everybody gets one. I define "original sin" as living "under the conditions of existence." The "payment" for this "sin" is death.
It's possible that there's also another judgment--a kind of cosmic accounting. Images for this vary throughout the Bible--refining fire, separation of sheep from goats, etc--the idea seeming to be that something about us needs to be made different, "purified" even, before we can enter into heaven.
Posted by: John Petty | May 25, 2011 at 09:06 AM