Spring 2019/Pasadena
TH817/517
Kärkkäinen
TH817/517: ESCHATOLOGY: AN INTERDISCIPLINARY INVESTIGATION (6/4 Units: 393/180 hours). Veli-Matti Kärkkäinen.
DESCRIPTION: This doctoral seminar, open to a limited number of advanced master’s level students, will discuss eschatology, the doctrine of "last things," in an interdisciplinary matrix of theology, sciences, and religious studies (particularly Islam). The domain of contemporary eschatology includes the "end" and destiny of personal and communal life as well as of our planet and the whole cosmos. Topics include scientific predictions of the near- and far-future ofhuman life, our planet, and cosmos; the Christian and Islamic theology of death and resurrection of the body; millennial views; the judgment and hell; the nature of heaven, the new heaven and new earth; and the implications to current life of eschatological hope.
LEARNING OUTCOMES: Having successfully completed this seminar, students will have demonstrated their ability (1) to articulate key developments and topics in contemporary interdisciplinary eschatology and reflect on the significance of the doctrine of the "last things" Christian faith and church life; (2) to analyze critically main contributions and challenges of this doctrine in light of tradition, contemporary theology, and interdisciplinary insights; (3) to display the ability to express their own understanding of the main themes and topics of eschatology; and (4) to engage in constructive theology in light of the main questions of the course.
COURSE FORMAT: This class meets once per week for three-hour sessions for a total of 30 hours of classroom instruction for lecture and discussion plus 10 hours of directed learning activities for a total of 40 instructional hours.
REQUIRED READING: Selections from the Following Works: 817: 2500 pp./517: 1590 pp.
(+++ = Available as an e-book from the Fuller Library)
“Essays on Eschatology." Canvas Course Reader
Gillman, Neil. The Death of Death: Resurrection and Immortality in Jewish Thought. Jewish Lights, 1997. ISBN: 978-1580230810. Pub. Price: $19.99, 336pp. OR Jane Idleman Smith and Yvonne Yazbeck Haddad, The Islamic Understanding of Death and Resurrection. State University of New York Press, 1981. +++ ISBN: 978-0195156492. Pub. Price: $56.00. 288pp. OR Zeri Saritoprak, Islam’s Jesus. University Press of Florida, 2014+++ ISBN: 978-0813049403. Pub. Price: $19.99. 214 pp.
Hell under Fire: Modern Scholarship Reinvents Eternal Punishment, ed. ChristopherW. Morgan and RobertA. Peterson. Zondervan, 2004. +++ ISBN: 978-0310240419. Pub. Price: $19.99. 256pp. OR JerryL. Walls, Hell: The Logic of Damnation. University of Notre Dame Press, 1992. +++ ISBN: 978-0268081539. Pub. Price: $31.00. 182pp. OR Robin A. Parry and Christopher H. Partridge, eds., Universal Salvation? The Current Debate. Eerdmans, 2003. ISBN: 978-0802827647. Pub. Price: $26.10. 319pp.
Hick, John. Death and Eternal Life: With a New Preface by the Author. Westminster John Knox, 1994. +++ ISBN: 978-0664255091. Pub. Price: $45.00. 496pp.
Keller, Catherine. Apocalypse Now and Then: A Feminist Guide to the End of the World. Beacon, 1996. ISBN: 978-0800637361. Pub. Price: $26.00. $386pp.
Kärkkäinen, V.-M. Hope and Community. A Constructive Christian Theology for the Pluralistic World, vol. 5: Part 1: Eschatology. Eerdmans, 2015. ISBN: 978-0802868572. Pub. Price $50.00.
Moltmann, J. The Coming of God: Christian Eschatology, trans. Margaret Kohl. Fortress, 1996. ISBN: 978-0800636661. Pub. Price: $29.00. 412pp.
Pannenberg, W. Systematic Theology. Vol. 3: ch. 15 on Eschatology. Eerdmans, 1997. +++ ISBN: 978-0802864567, Pub. Price $61.50.
Resurrection: Theological and Scientific Assessments, ed. T.Peters, R.J. Russell, and M.Welker. Eerdmans, 2002. ISBN: 978-0802805195. Pub. Price: $32.90. 344pp. OR Personal Identity and Resurrection: How Do We Survive Our Death? Ed. Georg Gasser. Ashgate, 2010. +++ ISBN: 978-1409404934. Pub. Price: $128.00. 294pp.
The End of the World and the Ends of God: Science and Theology on Eschatology, eds. John Polkinghorne and Michael Welker. Trinity, 2000. ISBN: 978-1563383120. Pub. Price: $55.00. 320pp. OR The Far-Future Universe: Eschatology from a Cosmic Perspective, ed. GeorgeF.R. Ellis. Templeton Foundation, 2002. ISBN: 978-1890151904. Pub. Price: $39.95. 408pp.
Wilkinson, David. Christian Eschatology and the Physical Universe. T&T Clark, 2010). +++ ISBN: 978-0567045461. Pub. Price: $43.95. 256pp.
ASSIGNMENTS & ASSESSMENT:
PREREQUISITES: Master’s level students need written permission from the professor.
RELATIONSHIP TO CURRICULUM: Option to meet the TH4 requirement in the 120 MDiv program.
FINAL EXAMINATION: None.
ADDENDUM:
FURTHER RESOURCES TO BE CONSULTED FOR CLASS PRESENTATIONS AND RESEARCH ESSAY
For students with a limited knowledge of Eschatology, the following primers are recommended:
McDowell, J.C. & Kirkland, S.A., Eschatology. Guides to Theology. Eerdmans, 2018.
Schwarz, H. Eschatology. Eerdmans, 2000. ISBN: 978-0802864581. Pub. Price: $24.00. 165pp.
Bauckham, Richard and TrevorA. Hart. Hope against Hope: Christian Eschatology at the Turn of the Millennium. Eerdmans, 1999.
Bell, Rob. Love Wins: A Book about Heaven, Hell, and the Fate of Every Person Who Ever Lived. HarperOne, 2012.
Bloesch, Donald G. The Last Things: Resurrection, Judgment, Glory. InterVarsity Press, 2004.
Boisvert, Kate Grayson. Religion and the Physical Sciences. Greenwood, 2008.
Joseph A. Bracken, SJ, ed. World without End: Christian Eschatology from a Process Perspective. Eerdmans, 2005.
Christian Millennialism: From the Early Church to Waco, ed. Stephen Hunt. Indiana University Press, 2001.
Cook, David, Studies in Muslim Apocalyptic. Syracuse University Press, 2005.
Daley, BrianE., The Hope of the Early Church: A Handbook of Patristic Eschatology, rev. ed. Hendrickson, 2003.
Davies, PaulC. The Last Three Minutes: Conjectures about the Ultimate Fate of the Universe. Basic Books, 1994.
Death and Immortality in the Religions of the World, ed. Paul Badham and Linda Badham. Paragon House, 1987.
Four Views on Hell, ed. William Crockett. Zondervan, 1997.
Grenz, StanleyJ., The Millennial Maze. InterVarsity Press, 1994.
Finger, Thomas N. Christian Theology: An Eschatological Approach. Herald Press, 1985.
Hoekema, Anthony A., The Bible and the Future. Eerdmans, 1979.
Horvath, Tibor, SJ, Eternity and Eternal Life: Speculative Theology and Science in Discourse. Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 1993.
Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Hope, ed. Jaklin Eliott. Nova Science, 2005.
Johnson, Elizabeth. Friends of God and Prophets: A Feminist Theological Reading of the Communion of Saints. Continuum, 1998.
McCall, Theodore David. The Greenie’s Guide to the End of the World. ATF Theology, 2011.
McDonald, Gregory [RobinA. Parry]. The Evangelical Universalist, 2nd ed. Cascade, 2012.
McDannell, Colleen and Bernhard Lang. Heaven: A History. Vintage Books, 1990.
McGinn, Bernard. Antichrist: Two Thousand Years of the Human Fascination with Evil. Columbia University Press, 2000.
Middleton, J. Richard. New Heaven and New Earth: Reclaiming Biblical Eschatology. Baker, 2014.
Moltmann, J. Theology of Hope: On the Ground and the Implications of a Christian Eschatology. SCM, 1967 [1964].
Nickelsburg, GeorgeW.E. Resurrection, Immortality, and Eternal Life in Intertestamental Judaism. Harvard University Press, 1972.
Pannenberg, Wolfhart. Theology and the Kingdom of God, trans. Richard John Neuhaus. Westminster, 1969.
Peters, Ted. Anticipating Omega: Science, Faith, and Our Ultimate Future. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2006.
Physics and Cosmology: Scientific Perspectives on the Problem of Natural Evil, ed. Murphy, Nancey, Robert John Russell, William R. Stoeger, SJ. Vol. 1. Vatican City and Berkeley, CA: Vatican Observatory and Center for Theological and the Natural Sciences, 2007.
Russell, Jeffrey Burton. A History of Heaven. Princeton University Press, 1997.
Russell, RobertJ. Time in Eternity: Pannenberg, Physics, and Eschatology in Creative Mutual Interaction. University of Notre Dame Press, 2012.
Suchocki, Marjorie Hewitt. The End of Evil: Process Eschatology in Historical Context. State University of New York Press, 1988.
Polkinghorne, John. The God of Hope and the End of the World. Yale University Press, 2002.
Talbott, Thomas. The Inescapable Love of God. Cascade, 2014 [1999].
The Oxford Handbook of Eschatology, ed. JerryL. Walls. Oxford University Press, 2009. Online edition.
The Oxford Handbook of Millennialism, ed. Catherine Wessinger. Oxford University Press, 2011. Online edition
Thiselton, AnthonyC. Life after Death: A New Approach to the Last Things. Eerdmans, 2012.
Walls, JerryL. Heaven: The Logic of Eternal Joy. Oxford University Press, 2002.
Wright, N.T. Surprised by Hope: Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection, and the Mission of the Church. HarperOne, 2008.
ADDENDUM: Canvas Course Reader
Alfeyev Hilarion (Hieromonk), “Eschatology,” in The Cambridge Companion to Orthodox Christian Theology, ed. MaryB. Cunningham and Elizabeth Theokritoff .Cambridge University Press, 2008), 107-20.
Alam, Mehmood, “Signs of Hour,” July 23, 2014, Darussalam, http://darussalamblog.com/signs-of-hour/
Afsaruddin, Asma, “Death, Resurrection, and Human Destiny in Islamic Tradition,” in Death, Resurrection, and Human Destiny: Christian and Muslim Perspectives, ed. David Marshall and Lucinda Mosher. Georgetown University Press, 2014, 43-60.
Ariel, Yaakov “Radical Millennial Movements in Contemporary Judaism in Israel,” in The Oxford Handbook of Millennialism. Edited by Catherine Wessinger. Oxford University Press, 2011. Online edition, 1–15.
Bauckham, Richard, “Universalism: An Historical Survey,” Themelios 4 (1978): 47-54.
Chittick, WilliamC., “Muslim Eschatology,” in Oxford Handbook of Eschatology. Edited by JerryL. Walls. Oxford University Press, 2009. Online edition, 132–50.
Clayton, Philip C., “Eschatology as Metaphysics under the Guise of Hope,” in World without End: Essays in Honor of Marjorie Suchocki, ed. Joseph Bracken. Eerdmans, 2005, 128-49.
Cohn-Sherbok, Daniel, “Death and Immortality in the Jewish Tradition,” in Death and Immortality in the Religions of the World, ed. Paul Badham and Linda Badham. Paragon House, 1987, 24-36.
David Cook, “Early Islamic and Classical Sunni and Shi’ite Apocalyptic Movements,” in The Oxford Handbook of Millennialism. Edited by Catherine Wessinger. Oxford University Press, 2011. Online edition, 267–83.
Fromherz, Allen, “Judgment, Final,” in The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Islamic World, ed. JohnL. Esposito. Oxford University Press, 2009, http://www.oxfordislamicstudies.com/article/opr/t236/e1107
Hassan, Riffat “Messianism and Islam,” Journal of Ecumenical Studies 22 (Spring 1985): 261–91
Karras, ValerieA., “Eschatology,” in Cambridge Companion to Feminist Theology, ed. Susan Frank Parsons. Cambridge University Press, 2002, 243-60.
Keller, Catherine, “Eschatology, Ecology, and a Green Ecumenacy,” Ecotheology: Journal of Religion, Nature & the Environment 5 (January 1997): 84–99.
Kenney, JeffreyT., “Millennialism and Radical Islamist Movements,” in The Oxford Handbook of Millennialism, Catherine Wessinger. Oxford University Press, 2011. Online edition, 688–716.
McDermott, GeraldR.,“Will All Be Saved?” Themelios 38, no. 2 (2013): 232–43, http://tgc-documents.s3.amazonaws.com/themelios/Themelios38.2.pdf#pag
Morgan, Mardon Lee, “Eschatology for the Oppressed: Millenarianism and Liberation in the Eschatology of Jürgen Moltmann,” Perspectives in Religious Studies 4 (2012): 379–93.
Novak, David,“Jewish Eschatology,” in Oxford Handbook of Eschatology, ed. JerryL. Walls. Oxford University Press, 2009. Online edition, 113-31.
Pannenberg, Wolfhart, “Theological Questions to Scientists,” in Beginning with the End: God, Science, and Wolfhart Pannenberg, ed. Carol Rausch Albright and Joel Haugen. Open Court, 1997, 37-50.
Pinnock, ClarkH., "Annihilationism,” in Oxford Handbook of Eschatology, ed. JerryL. Walls. Oxford University Press, 2009. Online edition, 462-75.
Ruether, Rosemary Radford, “Eschatology in Christian Feminist Theologies,” in Oxford Handbook of Eschatology, ed. JerryL. Walls. Oxford University Press, 2009. Online edition, 382-402.
Russell, Robert J., Cosmology: From Alpha to Omega; The Creative Mutual Interaction of Theology and Science Fortress, 2008, ch 9: "The Transfiguration of the Cosmos: A Fresh Exploration of the Symbol of Cosmic Christ" (pp. 273-97) and "ch. 10: "Resurrection of the body, Eschatology, and Cosmology: Theology and Science In Mutual Creative Interaction" (pp. 298-327).
Sells, MichaelA.,“Armageddon in Christian, Sunni, and Shia Traditions,” in The Oxford Handbook of Religion and Violence, ed. Michael Jerryson, Mark Juergensmeyer, and Margo Kitts.Oxford University Press, 2012, 467–95.
Tanner, Kathryn E., “Eschatology without a Future,” in The End of the World and the Ends of God: Science and Theology on Eschatology, ed. John Polkinghorne and Michael Welker. Trinity, 2000 222-37.
Thomassen, Einar, “Islamic Hell,” Numen: International Review for the History of Religions 56, nos. 2–3 (2009): 401–16.
Ware, Kallistos. “Dare We Hope for the Salvation of All? Origen, St. Gregory of Nyssa and St. Isaac the Syrian,” in The Inner Kingdom, The Collected Works, vol. 1.St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 2001), 193–215.