Eschatology in the Making: Mark, Matthew and the Didache

Paperback / softback

Main Details

Title Eschatology in the Making: Mark, Matthew and the Didache
Authors and Contributors      By (author) Victoria Balabanski
SeriesSociety for New Testament Studies Monograph Series
Physical Properties
Format:Paperback / softback
Pages:260
Dimensions(mm): Height 217,Width 140
Category/GenreChristian theology
ISBN/Barcode 9780521018906
ClassificationsDewey:236.09015
Audience
Professional & Vocational
Illustrations Worked examples or Exercises

Publishing Details

Publisher Cambridge University Press
Imprint Cambridge University Press
Publication Date 22 August 2005
Publication Country United Kingdom

Description

If the expectations of the early church concerning the return of Christ and the end of the world were disappointed, the magnitude of the disappointment and the form in which it was expressed do not seem to fit with the expectations of modern scholars. This study questions both the idea that the delay of Christ's return - the parousia - was the primary factor shaping the development of eschatological expectation in the early church, and the linearity of the models used to understand the development of early Christian eschatology. Vicky Balabanski argues that Matthew's Gospel shows a more imminent expectation than Mark's, and that there were fluctuations in eschatological expectation caused by factors within these early communities and those of the Didache. She traces these fluctuations and offers some new interpretative keys to Mark 13, Matthew 24 and 25 and Didache 16, as well as some vivid and original historical reconstructions.

Reviews

"A nuanced study that deserves furthur discussion." Fred W. Burnett, Religious Studies Review "...we find Balabanski's ultimate objective to be a worthy one..." C.R. Nicholl, The Asbury Theological Journal