Eschatology, the religious doctrine about 'last things', is the hope of believing people that in the end the incompleteness of their present expereince of God will be resolved - that loose ends will be tied up and wrongs made right. Rooted in a firm faith in Jesus crucified and risen, Christian eschatological hope has proved remarkably resilient, expecting the Lord to return very soon, and wavering little when the wait has been prolonged. This comprehensive survey, based on Christian texts in the Greek, Latin, Syriac, Coptic, and Armenian traditions, from the second century through Gregory the Great and John of Damascus, is already well known to biblical scholars, church historians, theologians, and other students of the history of Christian thought. Appearing for the first time in an affordable, paperback edition, The Hope of the Early Church is now available to students and contemporary believers, who aim to nourish their own faith by acquainting them with the faith of their forebearers in Christ. |
