http://heissufficient.com/2007/05/21/unfulfilled-prophecy/ Searching for wit and wisdom in a wilderness of words... Wed, 29 Jul 2009 11:51:30 +0000 hourly 1 http://heissufficient.com/2007/05/21/unfulfilled-prophecy/comment-page-1/#comment-51 John Hobbins Wed, 23 May 2007 21:33:28 +0000 http://heissufficient.wordpress.com/2007/05/21/unfulfilled-prophecy/#comment-51 It is interesting to look at the variety of future hopes current among Jews in ancient times. I discuss a few of them in an article, "Resurrection in the Daniel Tradition and Other Writings from Qumran" in The Book of Daniel: Composition and Reception (ed. John J. Collins and Peter Flint; SVTSup 83; Leiden: Brill, 2001) 2:395-420. Resurrection, I think, is a key concept, along with a sense that both a new heaven and a new earth, or a fusion thereof (so Rev 21, where the heavenly Jerusalem descends to earth, which is thereby transformed), are part of the ultimate reality towards which we are heading. Systematic theologians will groan, but I don't think we should expect the various writings in the New Testament to give us a single harmonizable picture. There are several pictures, each of which is pretty much irreducible to the others. Each picture conveys a truth which might be lost if amalgamated with the others in an unsophisticated way. It is interesting to look at the variety of future hopes current among Jews in ancient times. I discuss a few of them in an article, “Resurrection in the Daniel Tradition and Other Writings from Qumran” in The Book of Daniel: Composition and Reception (ed. John J. Collins and Peter Flint; SVTSup 83; Leiden: Brill, 2001) 2:395-420. Resurrection, I think, is a key concept, along with a sense that both a new heaven and a new earth, or a fusion thereof (so Rev 21, where the heavenly Jerusalem descends to earth, which is thereby transformed), are part of the ultimate reality towards which we are heading. Systematic theologians will groan, but I don’t think we should expect the various writings in the New Testament to give us a single harmonizable picture. There are several pictures, each of which is pretty much irreducible to the others. Each picture conveys a truth which might be lost if amalgamated with the others in an unsophisticated way.

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