Description
The reformers’ revival of evangelical theology elicited a re-discovery of the fundamental truths of the Bible, including their view of the fundamental eschatological character of the Gospel. John Calvin, reformer and founding pillar of modern theology, remains an influential and strong source of theological wisdom, as Quistorp demonstrates. Heinrich Quistorp elucidates Calvin’s Doctrine of the Last Things to reveal the reformer’s exploration of Hope, Immortality, Judgement and Consummation in Christ. With a detailed exploration of Calvin’s writings on the present time and its relationship to eternal destiny, Quistorp illuminates this crucial doctrine.
A first-rate reference for those in the reformed tradition and a revealing scholarly study of the range and power of Calvin’s view of the Christian faith, this book is essential for students of the reformation.
About the Author
Heinrich Quistorp (1911-1987) was a German theologian and priest. His work on Calvin’s eschatology earned him a doctorate equivalent at the Martin-Luther-Universität Halle Wittenberg, and led him to fight against Nazi Socialism in the church.
Contents
Foreword by Professor T.F. Torrance
Preface
Introduction: The Attitude of the Reformers Towards Eschatology
1. Hope
1.Hope as the Way and the Goal
2.Hope and the Word
3. Faith and Hope
4. Hope and Fellowship with Christ
5. Hope as a present Possession and Future Inheritance
6. Hope and Patience
7. Hope and Pilgrimage
A.Combat and Victory
(a) The combat as a soldier’s in the cause of Christ
(b) The struggle considered as progress in a race
B. Cross and Crown
(a) The cross as suffering
(b) The cross as mortification
(c) The aspiration towards eternal life
Excursus: The Meaning of meditation vitae future
2. The Immortality of the Soul
1. Death as Separation of the Soul and Body
2. The Being of the Immortal Soul
(a) The independence of the soul
(b) The tow-fold basis of immortality
3.The State of the Soul After Death
(a) Provisional Blessedness
(i) The rest of the Soul
(ii) The waiting of the soul
(b) Provisional damnation
4. The Question of Purgatory
3. The General Resurrection
1. The Visible Presence of Christ
(a) The expectation of the second coming
(b) The signs of the second coming
(c)The event of the Parousia
2. the Resurrection Through Christ
(a) The dual foundation of the resurrection
(b) The mode of the resurrection
(i) Bodily identity
(ii) The newness of the risen body
(iii) The transformation
(c) The universality of the resurrection
3. The Judgment of Christ
(a) The judgment of grace
(b) The judgment of wrath
(c) The question of the millennium
4. The Eternal Consummation in Christ
(a) The deliverance of the kingdom
(b) Eternal Blessedness
(i) The perfecting of believers
(ii) The perfecting of the church
(iii) The perfecting of the world
(c) Eternal damnation
Conclusion: The Significance of the Eschatology of Calvin
Index
Endorsements and Reviews
This volume is extremely valuable to those readers who love Christian doctrine and a thoroughgoing reorientation of theology in the direction of eschatology.
Paul T. Fuhrmann in Interpretation: A Journal of Bible and Theology, Vol 10 (4):1, October, 1956.
