or primarily in the emergence of new collectivities—new ways of relating human to human, human to nature, and human to cosmos? Currently one finds numerous and strong Christian communities throughout countries of the North Atlantic that give primacy to the proclamation of human renewal through individual spiritual experience and growth. On the other hand, within these same countries and throughout third-world regions of the Southern Hemisphere, experiences of ethnic strife, political repression and oppression, and loss of the environmental world have granted to many a new sense of urgency in proclaiming a telos (goal or end) for humans in the world that is communal, celebrating the differences between particular groups but seeking new connections and alliances that are restorative for all.
Second, the more communal symbols prompt renewed inquiry in Christian anthropology on another tension, one long intrinsic to the Christian tradition. Will the reconstitution of humans in the world, hence the fulfillment of their createdness, be articulated theologically as renewal of this earth and this cosmos or as emergence of some new “transcendent” order articulated as replacement for this earth and cosmos? Amid twenty-first century despair and resignation—in the face of threats to ecostructure, from nuclear holocaust, and from intransigent economic and political structures—the tendency is strong among many Christian thinkers to turn away from this order of things and to articulate a kind of hope that does not restore creation, but looks for a complete rupture (dramatized for some by a “rapture” of Christians from this troubled world) and toward completely new order.
In tension with this vision are other Christian thinkers who recall that biblical visions of a “new heaven” are regularly related to, or are affirmed alongside, the vision of a “new earth.” On this view, there cannot be and must not be any resignation to the loss of created earth, but there must be instead an experience of renewal that sets humans laboring with all of creation for the construction of the new earth which is the new heaven. From the vantage point of such a Christian anthropology, not only is the survival of humans in the world at stake, but also the fulfillment and thriving of humankind and all of creation.
MARK LEWIS TAYLOR
Bibliography
José Comblin, Retrieving the Human: A Christian Anthropology.
Edward Farley, Good and Evil.
Catherine Keller, From a Broken Web: Separation, Sexism, and Self.
James Nelson, Embodiment.
Wolfhart Pannenberg, Anthropology in Theological Perspective.
Cross-Reference: Alienation, Black Theology, Christology, Creation, Embodiment, Eschatology, Feminist Theology, Freedom, Institutionalized Violence, Kingdom of God, Liberation Theology–Latin American, Sin, Society, Soteriology
APOCALYPTIC THEOLOGY
Eschatology treats Christian ideas about the future of humanity. Early Christians considered two types of eschatology. One, prophetic eschatology, emphasized the work of God through the faithful under the banners of peace and justice to transform societies and nations. A second, apocalyptic eschatology, focused on the action of God apart from human efforts to evoke a spiritual transformation beyond this world.
Early Christianity was strongly apocalyptic; in particular, Paul emphasized the intervention of God in human history, especially at its end. As history moved forward, and the divine transformation of life did not occur, the church moved toward a more prophetic eschatology.
Recent cultural crises, however, have nurtured a renewal of apocalyptic theologies, especially among Protestant evangelical and fundamentalist theologians in the Americas and the United Kingdom. Elements of apocalyptic theology are also present in many popular notions of the end of history.
In many respects all Christian theology is generally “apocalyptic” in the sense that the fulfillment of history depends upon the actions of God. Contemporary apocalyptic theology, however, expresses belief that signs point to a series of events that will bring history to a dramatic climax in which God triumphs over evil (Satan, death, and sin) to usher in a millennium of peace.
Apocalyptic theology affirms the essential principles of the theology of history promoted by Charles Nelson Darby and Lewis Sperry Chafer. Its basic tenets are included in the notes of the Scofield Reference Bible and the Ryrie Study Bible. Its intellectual centers abide at Dallas Theology Seminary and Liberty University (Lynchburg, Virginia). Popular versions of apocalyptic theology appear in Hal Lindsay’s The Late Great Planet Earth (25 million copies sold) and the “Left Behind” series of novels by Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins (sales of 50 million copies).
Key assumptions of apocalyptic theology in the twenty-first century include at least the following: (1) global history has been scripted into seven periods; (2) the current period, the seventh and final one, will soon draw to a close; (3) seminal biblical texts (especially Ezekiel 38–39, Zechariah 9–14, Daniel, I Thess. 4:13-18 and 5:1-11, and Revelation) foretell specific historical events that immediately precede “The End”; and (4) certain signs (intensification of natural catastrophes, social disruptions, political and economical alliances, and the reestablishment of the state of Israel) portend “The End.”
Apocalyptic theologians are hopelessly pessimistic about the human present but are vibrantly optimistic about the complete victory of the sovereign God who will suddenly intervene in human history and who will triumph over the forces of evil.
Once ignored as a fringe theology, apocalyptic theology has become one of the mainstreams of popular Anglo-American eschatological thought since the 1970s. This fact has had important political, social, and ecclesiastical implications. (1) Apocalyptic theologians believe that the Bible predicted that Israel would once again become a sovereign state and that events in Israel would present “signs” of “The End.” This “Christian Zionism” has resulted in fervent political support on religious grounds for the state of Israel. (2) Coupled with a view that a “Christian America” has a potentially positive role in God’s end-time activities, apocalyptic theologians have often supported political activity (e.g., the Moral Majority, religious right) that is “pro Christian.” Some support a “christianized” America (a theocratic notion associated with the “dominion theology” of Rousas John Rushdoony). Other proponents of apocalyptic theology remain passive with regard to political activity. (3) Apocalyptic theology believes that events leading to “The End” will be attended by armed violence. As a result, apocalyptic theology has not been vocal in Christian peace movements. (4) Neither has apocalyptic theology been supportive of Christian advocacy for environmental issues. If “The End” is at hand, the conservation of nature hardly seems relevant.
DONALD W. MUSSER
Bibliography
National Liberty Journal, Jerry Falwell, editor.
Donald Wagner, “Evangelicals and Israel: Theological Roots of a Political Alliance,” The Christian Century (November 4, 1998): 1020-26.
“The Bible and the Apocalypse,” Time (July 2, 2002): 40-53.
Cross-Reference: Dispensationalism, Eschatology, Evangelicalism, Fundamentalism, Peace, Violence.
APOLOGETICS
From time to time a representative of a given religion is invited (and occasionally
