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In the End, God...a Study of the Christian Doctrine of the Last Things
130p hardback with orange dustjacket, first edition, well preserved
- GenresTheology
129 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1968
52 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
March 20, 2019
This is a very nicely done edition of an important book about Christian Universalism. Robinson does not try to deny that the Bible warns of eternal punishment, nor does he try to deny that the Bible teaches that all people will eventually be saved. To reconcile these apparently contradictory teachings, Robinson emphasizes the existential nature of the former teaching; from the point of view of anyone not yet saved, eternal damnation is always a live possibility, and each person must choose for or against it. But from God's perspective and that of the saints, it is not possible that God's love should fail to win back every person. Jesus meets people on whatever road they travel, creating a crossroads: they must choose whether or not to follow Him. But if they choose not to, He meets them again later on, and He will persist until He has drawn each person back to Himself. This is an important idea worth thinking carefully about.
July 3, 2021
Quarantine-Book #62:
I just finished "In The End God," by John A. T. Robinson. Is it my dark humor that has me ending 2020 with an eschatology?
Robinson, writing in the face of the death of God movement, seeks to answer Bonhoeffer's question "how can we speak about God in a secular age" by beginning at the end: eschatology.
Robertson states that the OG eschaton was only the Parousia and it wasn't until later that this was replaced with what we define as "eschatology": death, judhement, heaven and hell. Paul when stating what the dead-in-Christ were experiencing right then was only in light that the Parousia would happen soon. He throws the blame for this at the church who clothed herself in more of a Greek rather than Hebrew doctrine of God which states a timeless God rather than the Jewish God of and in history. This Greek model of God has all the time in the world for a cosmic, individualistic eschatology (I'll fly away); the Hebrew model of God was in time with His creatures and would come back to reign.
Jesus is the Telos of history. Though to grasp the correct perspective of the already / not yet of our current condition he borrows from Barth and Heim: we have to assume the thunder to interpret the lightning. This explains the futurist eschatology (thunder) that is in scripture.
Working with Myth in comparison between Gn and Rev Robinson shows how Gn (1-3) exposes each man as he is from the perspective of the beginning. All find themselves as their own Adam before long. Likewise Rev shows mankind at the end by describing present realities in the new age.
The resurrection of the body (singular)--in Robinson--stands for how we shall be joined one to another and resurrected at each death (into a great cloud of witnesses?). That's a bit out there, and Robinson as a bit too Bultmannian for me but I'll hang in there.
This was interesting even if too Bultmannian. I'm really glad to have a greater grasp of Inaugurated Eschatology even if I still have some reservations about it as presented by Robinson.
#JATRobinson #JohnATRobinson #JohnRobinson #InTheEndGod #Eschatology #InauguratedEschatology #RealizedEschatology
I just finished "In The End God," by John A. T. Robinson. Is it my dark humor that has me ending 2020 with an eschatology?
Robinson, writing in the face of the death of God movement, seeks to answer Bonhoeffer's question "how can we speak about God in a secular age" by beginning at the end: eschatology.
Robertson states that the OG eschaton was only the Parousia and it wasn't until later that this was replaced with what we define as "eschatology": death, judhement, heaven and hell. Paul when stating what the dead-in-Christ were experiencing right then was only in light that the Parousia would happen soon. He throws the blame for this at the church who clothed herself in more of a Greek rather than Hebrew doctrine of God which states a timeless God rather than the Jewish God of and in history. This Greek model of God has all the time in the world for a cosmic, individualistic eschatology (I'll fly away); the Hebrew model of God was in time with His creatures and would come back to reign.
Jesus is the Telos of history. Though to grasp the correct perspective of the already / not yet of our current condition he borrows from Barth and Heim: we have to assume the thunder to interpret the lightning. This explains the futurist eschatology (thunder) that is in scripture.
Working with Myth in comparison between Gn and Rev Robinson shows how Gn (1-3) exposes each man as he is from the perspective of the beginning. All find themselves as their own Adam before long. Likewise Rev shows mankind at the end by describing present realities in the new age.
The resurrection of the body (singular)--in Robinson--stands for how we shall be joined one to another and resurrected at each death (into a great cloud of witnesses?). That's a bit out there, and Robinson as a bit too Bultmannian for me but I'll hang in there.
This was interesting even if too Bultmannian. I'm really glad to have a greater grasp of Inaugurated Eschatology even if I still have some reservations about it as presented by Robinson.
#JATRobinson #JohnATRobinson #JohnRobinson #InTheEndGod #Eschatology #InauguratedEschatology #RealizedEschatology
September 2, 2015
A very engaging and clearly presented little book on Christian teaching about the last things and how this can have relevance for us today. Robinson argues that theological statements about the final events of history are not educated guesses or some esoteric blueprint, but images in the form of myth that express a Christian hope that is grounded in the present experience of the God made known in Jesus. The events of Christ's life, death and resurrection are already the final events of history, allowing Christians to live in the fullness of life in the present and with hope for the future. Robinson also argues passionately and with sophistication that all will ultimately be saved through God's love.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews