Fulfilled Eschatology is about the story of the redemption of the Jewish nation and the "end of the world" prophecies that were accomplished in the first century.

Focusing on Paul's own statement about the Galatian crisis, Yon Kwon demonstrates that the letter is about Paul's pastoral engagement with the backsliding Galatians rather than his theological altercation with his opponents. Paul deals with the crisis in Galatia by reminding the Galatians of the implications of their present deviation for their future - the 'not yet' -, instead of affirming the blessings already realized in Christ by keeping in step with the Spirit - the 'already'.

In the New Testament texts, there is significant tension between Jesus's nonviolent mission and message and the apparent violence attributed to God and God's agents at the anticipated end. David Neville challenges the ready association between New Testament eschatology and retributive vengeance on christological and canonical grounds. He explores the narrative sections of the New Testament--the Gospels, Acts, and Revelation--with a view to developing a peaceable, as opposed to retributive, understanding of New Testament eschatology. Neville shows that for every narrative text in the New Testament that anticipates a vehement eschatology, another promotes a largely peaceable eschatology. This work furthers the growing discussion of violence and the doctrine of the atonement.

A leading evangelical theologian provides a comprehensive examination of the various evangelical views of the millennium (and other eschatological subjects).

The Book of Wisdom's understanding of Israel's history, of contemporary politics and of the immortal fate of the persecuted sage can be understood to be part of one theological system. This system integrates texts and concepts from Jewish Wisdom, the biblical narratives of the patriarchs from Adam to Moses, eschatological hope and apocalyptic language, an understanding of the spirit of God in the enabling of prophets and leaders and, most distinctively, the Stoic concept of pneuma. This last concept unites the biblical resources and allows Wisdom, using eschatological language, to speak of the ordering of the cosmos for the judgement for the wicked and the exaltation of God's people in the present age.Matthew Edwards addresses first the question of the literary unity of Wisdom. This is followed by an examination of the differing uses of the term pneuma within Wisdom, that is as divine agent of salvation, the means of the ordering the cosmos and the substance from which souls are composed. The nature of personal salvation within Wisdom is also considered and shown to be an integral part of the understanding of the cosmos, ordered for judgement and exaltation. Finally, this notion of the ordering of the comos and history for God's people is discussed with its consequences for Jewish life under contemporary Hellenistic and Roman rule.

In this thoroughly revised and updated edition of a classic reference work, topics like Christology, justification, and hermeneutics receive careful treatment by trusted specialists. New topics like politics, patronage, and different cultural perspectives expand the volume's breadth and usefulness for scholars, pastors, and students today.

"How does one explain the New Testament texts that seem to announce the imminent arrival of the long-awaited Day of the Lord? In this study, Dale Allison presents a comprehensive analysis of the first-century beliefs about the period of suffering and tribulation which was to precede the general resurrection of the dead. Although such beliefs were not uncommon, they heave received little attention from New Testament scholars. Dr. Allison argues that they provided the conceptual tools that allowed New Testament writers to make sense of the death and resurrection of Jesus, without abandoning altogether Jesus' own messianic expectations and belief in some imminent radical change. Dr. Allison shows that the realized eschatology of the Gospels is not, as is so often thought, the product of Jesus' own teaching and preaching. Rather, it stems from the reflection of the earliest Christian communities on the death of Jesus, in the light of his belief in a imminent End. Dr. Allison offers a stimulating and detailed account of the teaching of Jesus and of the New Testament records of the passion and resurrection of Jesus. He concludes his study with an important discussion of the way this process of reflection has continued throughout Christian history and indeed how it continues to influence Christian thinking today. "

The dominant contemporary model for ecclesiology (theological views of the church itself) is the ecclesiology of communion. MacDougall argues that communion ecclesiologies are often marked by a problematic theological imagination of the future (eschatology). He argues further that, as a result, our ways of practising and being the church are not as robust as they might otherwise be. Re-imagining the church in the light of God's promised future, then, becomes a critical conceptual and practical task. MacDougall presents a detailed exploration of what communion ecclesiologies are and some of the problems they raise. He offers two case studies of such theologies by examining how distinguished theologians John Zizioulas and John Milbank understand the church and the future, how these combine in their work, and the conceptual and practical implications of their perspectives. He then offers an alternative theological view and demonstrates the effects that such a shift would have. In doing so, MacDougall offers a proposal for recovering the 'more' to communion and to ecclesiology to help us imagine a church that is not beyond the world (as in Zizioulas) or over against the world (as in Milbank), but in and for the world in love and service. This concept is worked out in conversation with systematic theologians such as Jürgen Moltmann, Wolfhart Pannenberg, and Johannes Baptist Metz, and by engaging with a theology of Christian practices currently being developed by practical theologians such as Dorothy C. Bass, Craig Dykstra, and those associated with their ongoing project. The potential for the church to become an agent of discipleship, love, and service can best be realised when the church anticipates God's promised perfection in the full communion between God and humanity, among human beings, within human persons, and between humanity and the rest of creation.

John Polkinghorne, ordained member of the Royal Society, past President of Queen's College Cambridge, Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire, 2002 Templeton Prize winner, theoretical physicist, and theologian writes in breathless style to unfold core Christian doctrine in dialogue with science. His work deftly addresses how one would interpret and commend Christian faith in the contemporary world as he elucidates the key topics in the dialogue of religion with science. Polkinghorne's work addresses the hope Christians have--present and future--in the faithfulness of a loving God who stands alongside them today and for all eternity. Eschatological hope enables and empowers Christian life and emerges in God's resurrection of Jesus from the horrific crucifixion. Polkinghorne ably supports his thesis with a strong argument for the resurrection built on the kenotic acts of God. His thesis sees Christian eschatology as the advent of hope--the heart of faith. In Christian eschatology, as argued by Polkinhorne and supported in the work of Jurgen Moltmann and Nicholas T. Wright, Christ's presence is not some far off event, but present reality.