Eschatology

An illustration of three vials that contain roots of leafy plants: The left has several oval-shaped green leaves, the center has a large singular dark green leaf, and the right has a blue-green circular leaf. Each has a gold halo behind their leaves.

Illustration by Lauren Wright Pittman

BEFORE THE PANDEMIC hit, I could have told you the precise number of my indoor plants: zero. But then lockdown started and, like countless people around the world, I became obsessed with all things leafy and green. Once I learned how to keep a plant alive, I began to nurture cuttings. To see that first fresh leaf grow — an assurance that new roots had taken hold — filled me with a kind of joy heretofore unknown.

I needed to feel like life could not just survive, but flourish and thrive. “Give this at least six weeks before repotting,” I would text a friend from her porch as I dropped off the gift of a budding leafy monstera, “just to let the roots settle.” Then I’d trudge back to the sidewalk to watch my friend open her door, wave to me, and take this small extension of myself into her home. Months later, when we could visit in person, I’d get to see how much these little ones had grown. Great leafy extensions of love.

Most of the gospel readings this month contain horticultural parables — seeds and soil, wheat and weeds, sowers and reapers. Before the COVID-19 years, I had never read these parables through the eyes of someone who had nurtured plants to life. Their images had been abstractions, ideas, metaphors with no roots. But now that those seeds have grown, I see each one anew. Perhaps you do too?

Steven Charleston 7-14-2019

Illustration by James Jirat Patradoon

I HAVE WORKED WITH progressive Christians for a very long time, and I’ve noticed that too much talk about heaven seems to embarrass them.

Many people I’ve encountered have been eager to talk about the gospel of social justice but much less enthusiastic talking about eschatology. They seemed happy, for example, to talk about the feeding of the 5,000, but not so much about the Book of Revelation or the apocalypse.

Brian McLaren 1-23-2019

PEOPLE WHO are sensitive to creation know that creation is in constant flux. Continents drift, climates change, magnetic poles flip-flop, and bogs gradually give way to wet meadows and then various kinds of forests. There’s a natural succession out here under the sun, and I think there’s a kind of natural succession going on theologically for many Christians as well. ...

First, increased concern for the poor and oppressed leads to increased concern for all of creation. The same forces that hurt widows and orphans, minorities and women, children and the elderly also hurt the songbirds and trout, the ferns and old growth forests: greed, impatience, selfishness, arrogance, hurry, anger, competition, irreverence—plus a spirituality that cares for souls but neglects bodies, that prepares for eternity in heaven but abandons history on earth. ...

Tripp Hudgins 6-18-2013
Mumford and Sons in New York on Feb. 6., Marc D Birnbach / Shutterstock.com

Mumford and Sons in New York on Feb. 6., Marc D Birnbach / Shutterstock.com

A couple of weeks ago I posted about Mumford and Sons. I suggested that the Wednesday concert was, for me, a festival of devotion. Friday's concert, however, was something else. It was an eschatological event. Not transcendent, though others have used that word to describe it, but immanent, apocalyptic, eschatological. There we were gathered all in one place, as the Bible story goes, and the place exploded. Cathleen said more than once that the Holy Spirit was present. I love it when shows differ from night to night. I love it when the audience brings something new. I also wonder how such a noticeable distinction at a concert can be a helpful reminder for all of us who plan liturgies.

My wife is an actress. She will do the same show five or six times a week for six to eight weeks. The same play. Every night. But what she will also say is that it is never the same play every night. Actually, she has said that if you do it right it should never be the same piece twice. There is no such thing as a repeat performance if one understands repetition is not exact duplication. 

Similarly, a live concert is not a track on a CD. One does not show up to a concert and press "play." No, it is a singular performative event. Even when, as with Mumford and Sons, the set list is similar and the choreography (yes, even Mumford and Sons have a couple of staged bits) is the same, the concerts still feeldifferent. Why? Well lots of reasons, but mostly because they are different.

Gareth Higgins 2-01-2012

Hugo, Take Shelter, and The Mill and the Cross have little in common on the surface other than their quality; look deeper and you may find love-filled, theologically profound, hopeful invitations to live better.

Ryan Rodrick Beiler 11-09-2009
People who do diversity work run the risk of setting impossible goals for themselves: The Beloved Community. The Kingdom of God.
Efrem Smith 2-04-2009
In this clip, Pastor Efrem talks about how the church has constantly changed throughout history to get closer to God's heart.
Soong-Chan Rah 1-23-2009
Generations are often defined by tragedy and crisis. Cultural milestones are often measured by a traumatic event that is shared by a generation. Remember Pearl Harbor?
Molly Marsh 9-01-2006

The Alpha and Omega

Kathleen Norris 1-01-2002

Apocalypse grabs us by the shoulders and says, 'Look at what matters in life.'

Tom Sine 9-01-2001
And how did he become the 'most influential Christian' in the country?
Wes Howard-Brook 3-01-1999
Reading the book of Revelation without the rapture.
Wes Howard-Brook 1-01-1999

It's all too easy to make fun of the extreme examples of prophecy belief that we encounter on bumper stickers and best-seller lists.

For many of us, "eschatology" is one of those fancy words that theologians toss around.

Yehezkel Landau 6-01-1984

Balancing biblical warnings and promises.

Tom Sine 6-01-1984

Doomsday predictions and the God of history.