In this volume, Professor Sauter challenges the kind of eschatology he describes as a "theology of history," forcefully represented by Wolfhart Pannenberg and Jürgen Moltmann. He brings this "theology of history" into conversation with: (1) Albert Schweitzer's "Konsequente Eschatologie," that is, eschatology that can only be understood as expectation of imminent events, and (2) "radical eschatology," which deals with the foundation of Christian hope or with why we are allowed to hope in the first place. Drawing upon the reformers' (Luther/Calvin) understanding of the biblical term "promise," he defines the task of eschatology as establishing the relationship between justification and hope as well as the relationship between God's promise and our future.

All Christians are called to "give an account of the hope which is in you" (1 Pet. 3:15). Is this "hope" simply within us or among us? To interpret thoroughly this sentence from all perspectives would be enough of an assignment for eschatology. To lead readers toward this task and to introduce them to eschatology's basic questions and related intellectual experiences of theology is the intention of this book.

Contents

1.The Term "Eschatology" and Its Changing Nature
2.Jesus of Nazareth, "Bearer of Hope"?
3.The Activity of God in Humanity and Its History
4.The God of Hope - The Power (Dynamics?) of the Future
5.One in Hope? Ecumenical Perspectives
6.Hope in the Life of the Churches
7.Basic Questions of Eschatology
Gerhard Sauter if Professor of Systematic Theology and Director of the Ecumenical Institute at the University of Bonn. He has taught in the United States at Duke University and Princeton Theological Seminary and is the author of The Question of Meaning: A Theological and Philosophical Orientation and Eschatological Rationality: Theological Issues in Focus.