The Christian hope

What does it mean to hope for heaven?

Brian Hebblethwaite traces the background to the Christian hope in the faith of Israel, examines its primary basis in the acts of God in the story of Jesus Christ, and follows the history of Christian attitudes to the future of humanity and of creation throughout the Christian centuries. The Christian Hope tells the complex story of the different strands, emphases, and problems that have developed between biblical times and our own in the quest to understand `the four last things--death, judgement, heaven and hell.

Christian theology has witnessed a remarkable recovery of interest in hope and the future as dominant motifs in the period since 1900. The discoveries of modern science have affected Christian hope and Christian understanding of creation and its ultimate destiny. At different stages in the history of the church, very different stresses have been laid on the present or on the future, on hope for the individual or on hope for society, on this-worldly hope or on other-worldly hope. Through a study of the basis of Christian hope and of the history of its interpretation, Hebblethwaite aims to present a balanced view of these different elements in the Christian tradition and a credible eschatology for today.

Since The Christian Hope was first published in 1984, eschatology has remained a central concern of Christian Theology. This updated edition allows a new readership to engage afresh with questions of eschatology in a twenty-first century context. --Book Jacket.

Previous edition: Basingstoke: Marshall Morgan & Scott, 1984.

pt. 1. The hope of Israel and the first Christians. The Old Testament -- The New Testament -- pt. 2. The classical Christian hope. The early church -- The Middle Ages -- The Reformation -- pt. 3. The Christian hope in the modern age. The Enlightenment -- The nineteenth century -- The twentieth century I : the reaction against liberal theology -- The twentieth century II : Roman Catholic theology -- The twentieth century III : later Protestant theology -- A Christian eschatology for the The twenty-first century.