Dale Allison on eschatology
“[T]he eschatological Jesus is theologically troubling; and if the practice of preferring those explanations farthest removed from traditional Christian belief is a failing of some within our profession [of NT scholarship], an equal or greater number within the guild are probably guilty of just the opposite practice, so that the theological wish has all too often become the parent of the alleged historical fact. The truth, however, is like God: we can run from it, but it is always there.”
—Dale C. Allison, “A Plea for Thoroughgoing Eschatology,” Journal of Biblical Literature 113 (1994), p. 668.
I've always liked this verson of Mark 8:27ff.:
Jesus said to them, "Who do you say I am?"
Peter answered, "You are the unique and final manifestation of the eschatological prophet, the ground of being in human form, the symbolic embodiment of the primitive kerygma, the very essence of the mysterium tremendum et fascinans."
And Jesus said, "Wot?"
If you like Allison's article then read his essay on eschatology in Resurrecting Jesus. Pannenberg saved him after going down the path of Ehrmanesque agnosticism!
Great quote from one of my favorite New Testament scholars, Ben. If you get a chance sometime be sure to read his dissertation, "The End of the Ages Has Come."
Great quote from one of my favorite New Testament scholars, Ben. If you get a chance sometime be sure to read his dissertation, "The End of the Ages Has Come."
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