Christian History Home > Issue 61 > A History of the Second Coming: From the Editor - Sliver in a Forest
A History of the Second Coming: From the Editor - Sliver in a Forest
Mark Galli | posted 1/01/1999 12:00AM
The kingdom of God is near." These are, according to the Gospel of Mark, the first words from Jesus' mouth as he begins his ministry. His last words to the church, revealed to John in a vision, are no less telling: "Yes, I am coming soon."
If we're wondering why so many Christians obsess about last things, we have Jesus to blame.
And obsessed we've been for 2,000 years. Eschatology (the study of last things) is not so much a slice of church history as it is—much like Jesus' ministry—the theme.
Every era has been alternately haunted and electrified by the thought of Jesus' second coming, and with all manner of consequences, from passive resignation to apocalyptic warfare. But I'll refrain from spoiling the story as told in these pages.
About that story: it is only a sliver from the forest of stories that could be told. We've not only left out key chapters in Western history (for example, the millennial expectations during the English Civil War), but we've completely ignored non-Western millennial ...
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