eschatology
/ˌɛskəˈtɒlədʒi
/noun [mass noun]
The part of theology concerned with death, judgement, and the final destiny of the soul and of humankind: Christian hope is concerned with eschatology, or the science of last things...
- This raises issues of prophecy and destiny, taking us into speculative realms that are properly the domain of philosophy and theology, especially that branch of theology known as eschatology, dealing with death and the last things.
- For it is only out of the revelatory claims of Scripture that eschatology arises as a theological topic and as an assumption about reality that requires faith to engage with science to get some sense of the ending.
- The theological mainstream had absorbed eschatology long before the terrorist assaults on the United States on September 11, 2001.
Derivatives
eschatological
/ /ɛskatəˈlɒdʒɪk(ə)l / adjective ...- If we rely strictly on theological resources for the eschatological promise, is there any value then in carrying on a dialogue with science?
- Both passages make allusion to the eschatological kingdom.
- The common life of the family contributes to the unity of humankind as one family, as it grows toward the eschatological unity of the kingdom of God.
eschatologist
- Believing that what we do today will contribute to the shape of the future, and believing that we will act humanely only if we cherish our own humanity, feminist eschatologists challenge us to discover who we are as human beings.
- Surely, the eschatologists argue, this petition stands as conclusive proof that for Matthew and Luke the Lord's Prayer is an eschatological prayer.
Origin
Mid 19th century: from Greek eskhatos 'last' + -logy.