Dimensions of Hope: Exploring Eschatology

This course explores Christian hope in its personal, corporate, and cosmic dimensions through listening to the witness of the Scriptures and the early church, and through critical engagement with contemporary conversations about eschatology and hope. The course begins with an exploration of the biblical roots of Christian hope in the eschatology of the Old Testament and the rise of apocalyptic thought, and through an overview of the eschatology of Jesus and of the early church. This will provide a basis for further exploration of topics such as death and life after death, the resurrection of the body, the question of time and eternity, Millennialism and interpreting the book of Revelation, the parousia and last judgment, heaven, hell, universal salvation, purgatory, the future of the earth, and the contemporary in-breaking of hope in the church and in the world.