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The article examines the motif of animal peace in the texts Isaiah 11:6-9 and Isaiah 65:25. It is determined that the two texts are literarily dependent on each other and that the motif is connected to various notions of leadership. The redactional approach is used to examine the development of the motif in the book of Isaiah and to gain a better understanding of the development and mutual influence of concepts of rule. It is also noted that certain verses were likely added later. Overall, the motif of animal peace is used to depict comprehensive peace and a new social order. [Extracted from the article]

Do "majestic Christologies" violate the principle of non-competitive relationship? Majestic Christologies are diverse according to conceptual delineation, but share the common affirmation that Jesus' humanity participates in the divine majesty in a transformative manner. This notion seems to transgress the principle of non-competitive relationship by behaving as if the fullness of Christ's deity requires a displacement or transmogrification of his creatureliness. This paper argues that majestic Christology does not necessarily contradict the non-competitive principle by emphasizing the elasticity of theological anthropology from an eschatological point of view. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There has been an anthropocentric tendency in the doctrines of creation and redemption, especially, within the Western tradition of Christianity. In my view, contemporary theories of evolutionary and developmental biology help theology to understand how God's creation unfolds. Meanwhile, a Trinitarian framework of creation provides meaning and purpose to the victims in evolutionary history. Furthermore, it contributes to overcoming the anthropocentric tendency in understanding the doctrine of redemption through the lens of the cosmic dimensions of Jesus' cross and resurrection. Therefore, in this article, I argue that a Trinitarian framework of creatio ex nihilo can provide meaning and purpose to evolutionary history ridden by death, pain, and suffering, while evolutionary and developmental biology provides theology with a detailed explanation of biological evolution as God's purposeful creation of the diversity of life in different levels of complexity. In the suggested Trinitarian vision of creatio ex nihilo, God creatively, compassionately, and redemptively works through biological evolution in general and particular modes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the Qurʾānic references to al-muhājirūn as an expression of a world renouncing current in the early Qurʾānic movement. Throughout the Qurʾān the muhājirūn are idealized for their willingness to leave their homes, wealth, and families behind in order to emigrate in the path of God. Traditionally, these emigrants have been interpreted through the lens of later Muslim exegesis as referring to the early believers who accompanied Muhammad on his emigration from Mecca to Medina in 622. In general, however, there is little evidence to suggest that the Qurʾān is referring to a specific historical emigration event. Based on the theoretical framework of Peter Sloterdijk and Mary Douglas, this article argues that the Qurʾānic employment of the root h-j-r basically centers on an ascetic distancing from worldly attachments, and that this uprooting into a new mobility denotes a central aspect of the piety of the early Qurʾānic movement. Résumé: Cet article examine les références coraniques aux muhājirūn en tant qu'expression d'un courant de renoncement au monde dans le premier mouvement coranique. Tout au long du Qurʾān, les muhājirūn sont idéalisés pour leur volonté de laisser derrière eux leurs maisons, leurs richesses et leurs familles afin d'émigrer dans la voie de Dieu. Traditionnellement, ces émigrants ont été perçus à travers le prisme de l'exégèse musulmane ultérieure comme faisant référence aux premiers croyants qui ont accompagné Mahomet lors de son émigration de La Mecque à Médine en 622. En général, cependant, il y a peu de preuves pour suggérer que le Qurʾān fait référence à un événement historique spécifique d'émigration. En se basant sur le cadre théorique de Peter Sloterdijk et Mary Douglas, cet article soutient que l'emploi de la racine h-j-r dans le Qurʾān est essentiellement centré sur un éloignement ascétique des attachements mondains, et que ce déracinement vers une nouvelle mobilité dénote un aspect central de la piété du premier mouvement Qurʾān. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Eschatologische Vorstellungen, wie sie seit jeher Bestandteil christlicher Glaubenswelten waren, sind in der Moderne in eine tiefe Krise geraten. Im Zuge des Wandels des Welt- und Geschichtsbildes haben die klassischen Bilder von Weltende und Gericht, Himmel und Hölle radikal an Plausibilität verloren. Mehr noch: Auch die großen Gestalten der Theologiegeschichte des 20. Jahrhunderts waren weitgehend darum bemüht, Eschatologie weniger als materialdogmatische Lehre von den „letzten Dingen" zu verstehen, denn als prinzipielle Dimension theologischer Reflexion zu begreifen. Vor diesem Hintergrund geht es dem Beitrag um eine Wiedergewinnung der materialdogmatischen Eschatologie. Im Anschluss an methodische Überlegungen Friedrich Schleiermachers steht dabei der Status eschatologischer Aussagen zur Debatte. In dreifacher Hinsicht (hermeneutisch, kritisch, theo-logisch) lässt sich Eschatologie als Arbeit an einem theologischen Wirklichkeitsbegriff begreifen: Sie dient erstens einer kritischen Hermeneutik eschatologischer Imaginationen, sie bemüht sich zweitens um eine Labilisierung fixierter Wirklichkeitsinterpretationen, und sie bestimmt drittens den christlichen Gottesgedanken angesichts schlechthinniger Hinfälligkeit und radikaler Vergänglichkeit aller erfahrbaren Realität fort. »Tod«, »Ewigkeit« und »Auferstehung« markieren diejenigen basalen Symbolgehalte christlicher Eschatologie, deren lebensdienliche Funktion sich in den religiösen Praxisvollzügen bewähren muss, indem durch sie Trost, Hoffnung und Gottvertrauen noch an den Gräbern möglich werden kann. Summary: Living in the "immanent frame" (Ch. Taylor) of modernity includes among other things the closing of eschatological thinking. "This world is all we have." As a consequence of the "loss of heaven", already Friedrich Schleiermacher has tried to critically reconstruct the eschatological symbols of Christian doctrine in his Glaubenslehre. By following his critical hermeneutics of eschatology the article reflects on three basic tasks for any contemporary dogmatic eschatology: hermeneutical, critical, and theo-logical. In consequence, eschatological thinking should not abandon concrete images of eternal life, but has to reflect them critically. Whereas naïve eschatological realism tends to exuberant imagination, eschatological reductionism, often in favor of a strictly present eschatology and of existentialism, rejects the necessary labilisation of any closed concept of reality. Therefore, only a theo-logical reconstruction of eschatological key-issues (in the strict sense) can balance the tasks of both, the critique of human phantasms and of the "closed immanent frame" of reality. In sum, eschatology represent consequent theo-logy insofar as the divine reality ("God") is understood and reconstructed again as the radically creative and ultimate source at the very end of individual and cosmic life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Habermas fragt vor dem Hintergrund geschwächter Kräfte der sozialen Integration in kritischem Bezug auf Carl Schmitt nach dem vernünftigen Sinn der alteuropäischen Kategorie des Politischen. Schmitt versteht seinen Begriff des Politischen im Sinne des jus reformandi, mit dem sich die Reformatoren für das Politische in seiner klassischen Gestalt und für religiösen Zwang entscheiden. Habermas erhofft sich einen komplementären Lernprozess von religiösen und säkularen Bürgern und vom eschatologischen Denken einer unter demokratischen Bedingungen erneuerten Politischen Theologie, dass es gegenüber einem idealisierenden, normativen Denken ‚Zeitempfindlichkeit' einklagt. Sein Ansatz bei der in Geschichte und Sprache inkarnierten Vernunft ist einer am Ereignis des Wortes Gottes und der Kommunikation des Evangeliums orientierten Theologie eng verbunden und hilft deren Bedeutung für das Politische zu klären. Summary: Against the background of weakened forces of social integration, Habermas asks in critical relation to Carl Schmitt about the rational meaning of the old European category of the political. Schmitt understands his concept of the political in the sense of the jus reformandi, with which the reformers decide for the political in its classical form and for religious coercion. Habermas hopes for a complementary learning process of religious and secular citizens and the eschatological thinking of a political theology re-newed under democratical conditions, that this thinking is asking for 'time-sensitivity' over against an idealizing, normative thinking. His approach to reason incarnated in history and language is closely linked to a theology oriented to the event of the Word of God and the communication of the Gospel and helps to clarify its meaning for the political. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, I attempt to solve a problem in Wolfhart Pannenberg's eschatology, which is best understood as a retroactive ontology. Pannenberg argues that the future exerts a retroactive causal and determinative power over the present, though he also claims that said future does not yet concretely exist. The problem can be posed thus: How does a non-concrete future hold retroactive power over the concrete present? I argue that the doctrines of middle knowledge and supercomprehension formulated by the Spanish Jesuit theologian Luis de Molina, provide an adequate solution to this problem while still preserving both the retroactive power of the nonconcrete future as well as genuine human libertarian free choice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Der Aufsatz bietet eine wissenschaftsbiographische Gesamtinterpretation von Otto Kaisers Schriften zum Alten Testament. Als ein roter Faden seines exegetischen Werks erweist sich das Thema Zeit in ihren unterschiedlichen Dimensionen und Relationen von Urzeit und Endzeit, Geschichte und Gegenwart, Endlichkeit und Ewigkeit. This article offers an overarching interpretation of Otto Kaiser's writings on the Old Testament from an intellectual-biographical perspective. The theme of time in its diverse dimensions and the relations of Urzeit and Endzeit, past and present, finiteness and eternity proves to be a unifying thread throughout his exegetical work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This essay deals with the fundamental problem in which the doctrine of providence, that is God's acting in nature, history and individual life, is still stuck: the dilemma of theism or deism, God's superiority or powerlessness. I introduce an eschatological perspective to find alternative approaches to power. I name six concrete modes of action, four of them drawn from different authors and theories such as Romano Guardini, Open Theism and Christian Link. Two more are developed out of the latter. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

NBIC convergence (Nano, Bio, Info, Cognitive Science) is not merely a reality in the evolution of the technosciences but the object of an eschatological narrative. In transhumanist mythology - which is not a simple fiction but a plausible framework for interpreting reality as given, this convergence becomes the major sign of the imminence of a unique event both in the history of man, as well as the history of life and the universe as a whole. This event, whose most explicit significance designates the moment when machines become more 'complex' and, consequently, more 'intelligent' and thus more 'powerful' than humans, may at once be perceived as negative, an unprecedented catastrophe, or as positive, the moment of a revelation, the occasion for a surpassing that we should anticipate and prepare for now. Thus the concepts of convergence(s) and singularity(/ies) (which the inter-nesting significations take on, from the most exoteric to the most esoteric) emerge as the two central themes of a technoscientific eschatology characterizing transhumanist mythology. Transhumanist eschatology, provided with these two themes of convergence and singularity, is the most radical religious expression of informational ontology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Different religions have strikingly different views of history; but the emergence of modern technology offers promises of salvation that can draw equally on Christian views of time in the US and Hindu views of time in India. For centuries, Christian theologians incorporated technological progress into their linear vision of history, which will end with an eschatological conflict and the rise of the New Jerusalem. In the US today, techno-enthusiasts have adopted the claim that we are fast approaching the end of the world as we know it, though the salvation they expect no longer references Christianity. A ‘Singularity’ will occur, they say, leading to the transformation of biological life into an eternal new world of machine intelligence. In India, however, history is cyclical and the end of the world has long been expected to be a return to the first age. Although presently mired in the misery of the kali yuga, we should anticipate an end to this period and a return to the glorious satya yuga. Based upon popular Indian understandings of science and technology, we should expect that both will be crucial to this process. Interviews and observations made in the US and in India reveal how technological progress is now the critical component in cultural expectations about the end of the world and the emergence of a new world to come. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Whether the past or future can be infinite is an interesting question for theologians working on the relationship between God and Time as well as Eschatology. In a recent exchange, Wes Morriston concluded that if William Lane Craig's familiar line of argument against the possibility of a beginningless series of events worked, it would work just as well against the possibility of an endless series of predetermined events. He argued that neither Craig's claim that an endless series of events is potential infinite nor the claim that future events don't exist is successful in blocking this conclusion. I argue that a proponent of the Kalam Argument does not have to follow Craig's denial of an actual infinite number of propositions, and I show how Morriston's conclusion can be blocked. In particular, I argue that an asymmetric treatment of past and future is justified on a dynamic theory of time, while the distinction between abstract and concrete infinities is helpful for responding to Morriston's counter-argument based on the number of angelic praises yet-to-be-said. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Edward Hicks (1780-1849) painted the motif of the messianic animal peace (Isiah 11,6-8) again and again, mostly in combination with a depiction of William Penn's peace agreement with the indigenous Lenni Lenape. Hick's pictures are painted sermons. They contrast the expulsion of the indigenous people and the divisions among the Quaker community by images of peace, justice and rebirth in the spirit of Christ. The article advocates bilingual lesson modules (in the sense of Content and Language Integrated Learning, CLIL) that both offer an added value concerning content and at the same time promote the pupils' competences in understanding and communicating in English. The example of Penn's peace agreement shows how didactically elaborated English original texts can be productively used in German RE from grade eight onwards. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rabbinic literature and the Qur'an believe in the existence of two worlds : the present world and the future world (Hebrew ʿolam ha-ze/ʿolam ha-ba, Arabic dunyā/āḫira: two linguistically unrelated couple of terms). Scholarship on rabbinic eschatology has always recognized the importance of this topic. By contrast, it has been relatively neglected in the field of Qur'ānic studies and still needs further exploration. We have compared three kinds of texts in the two corpora : those that only mention the present or the future world and those that deal simultaneously with the two worlds. At first sight, the Quran shows more affinities with Jewish apocalypses or Christian (particularly Syriac) literature. However, the comparison also highlights some significant correlations with rabbinic data, as the frequent use of the couple “present world/future world” and several aspects of the doctrine of retribution. Finally, our investigation con firms that Pre-Islamic Arabia was characterized by a high degree of religious diversity and complexity, within Judaism and without. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For much of the 20th century, scholarship on Muhammad and the beginnings of Islam has shown a reluctance to acknowledge the importance of imminent eschatology in earliest Islam. One of the main reasons for this resistance to eschatology would appear to be the undeniable importance of conquest and political expansion in early Islam: if Muhammad and his followers believed that the world would soon come to an end, why then did they seek to conquer and rule over so much of it? Nevertheless, there is no real contradiction between the urgent eschatology revealed by the Qur'än and other early sources on the one hand, and the determination of Muhammad and his followers to expand their religious policy and establish an empire on the other. To the contrary, the political eschatology of the Byzantine Christians during the sixth and early seventh centuries indicates that these two beliefs went hand in hand, offering important contemporary precedent for the imperial eschatology that seems to have fueled the rise of Islam. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Heroes of apocalyptic traditions are generally men, such as messiahs and anti-messiahs, leaders and warriors, participants in the dispute over the power in the Muslim community, and others. Nevertheless, the role of women is not entirely ignored. This article deals with women as transmitters of apocalyptic traditions, women playing a role in those traditions, and feminine images. Women in traditions of the End seem to provide a measuring-rod for different situations in Muslim society during times of foretold tribulations, such as horrors, torture, captivity, or threats of moral decline. The feminine images mainly relate to towns in the Last Day and in the apocalyptic times that will precede it. They reflect the impact of the Judaeo-Christian heritage on Muslim traditions through the adaptation of old texts, themes and images to the needs of the Muslim community and its value system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The dichotomy of the terms »belief in progress« and »cultural pessimism« is often used to represent the views of past, present and future in modern cultures. In this context, it is denominated as sufficient to describe the various treatments and images of history. In this paper it is shown that, for other than the history of religions, this cannot be taken for granted. To illustrate this, the eschatology of ancient Judaism is explored, as it is characterized in its visions of the future by referring back to his own idealized past, and looks forward to the re-emergence in the Kingdom of God. Opposed to this was the official view of the Roman Empire, which saw in the propagated aureum saeculum already the embodiment of the ideal in the present. Besides, the concept of moral and cultural decline of the empire sine fine is tangible for the senatorial elite. It becomes clear that the original terms »belief in progress« and »cultural pessimism« are insufficient to describe these diverse beliefs and the resulting ways of dealing with past, present and future. Based on the examples, the dichotomy is then extended by derivatives of the original terminology. In conclusion, these terms are indeed able to unify studies and simplify comparisons, even if there can be no concept that combines all three aspects - present, past and future. For their portrayal, a selected dichotomy will remain necessary. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Die Studie analysiert den eschatologischen Horizont der Jünger Jesu in einigen Aspekten. Der Autor möchte zeigen, dass zwischen Jesus und seinen Jüngern in privatem Zusammensein auch eine speziellere „eschatologische Kommunikation" über ihr eschatologisches Schicksal stattfinden konnte. Die Jünger haben die Gedanken Jesu vor und nach seinem Tode vermutlich unterschiedlich verstanden. Fraglich bleibt, wie Jesus und seine Jünger die zeitgenösischen jüdischen Vorstellungen von den (vier?) Äonenwechseln beeinflusst haben. Speziell Matthäus zeigt, wie Jesus seinen Jüngern -- und nur ihnen -- als Lohn und Geschenk für ihre Treue ein Zusammensitzen auf den Thronen der Herrlichkeit versprochen hat. Dazu gehört auch das Gericht über Israel. So hat Jesus die Hoffnung der Jünger von der Gegenwart in den Horizont der Eschatologie projiziert. Das Evangelium birgt so Konturen einer spezifischen Jüngereschatologie. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The observation that the exemplary narrative of the rich man and Lazarus (Luke 16.91-31) has a 'sister-story' in the parable of the Lost Son (Luke 15.11-32) takes us to the centre of Luke's theology. In 16.19-31 two motifs collide, which in different ways determine a person's eschatological fate: the repentance of a sinner (16.30) and the compensating balance between the good and the bad that one receives in this life and in the next (16.25). Through the connectedness of the parable-trilogy in Luke 15 and the parable of the rich man and Lazarus both concepts are set in tension with one another. The theological centre of Luke's Gospel lies in the tense inter-relationship between Luke 15 and Luke 16. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This conference explores the main concepts and the gnoseological perspective assumed in the work of history of the ideas and the political thought, of Professor Rodríguez Iturbe. Its main goal is to make, in the first place, a brief presentation of the main subjects and topics developed in this work, along with the different forms of analyses used by the author. The lecture deals then with the different types of writing history, the distinction between "narration" of events and the "participation" of the historian in this narration, the influence of "ideologies" in some authors, the fallacy of the immanentization of eschatology in which some of them incur, and the Gnostic perspective that this type of histories serves as sustenance. In the final part of the writing, the lecture establishes that the work of Prof. Rodríguez Iturbe has a deep therapeutic sense in comparison to "histories" written by authors like the previous ones, because its vocation to Truth has allowed him to carry out a study without any reductionism, and with a clear sense of unification. It ends with a reference to the virtues of the historian, and the meaning in History, immanent and transcendent, which supports the concepts and developments of the work written by Rodríguez Iturbe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]