Chapter Three. Emerging Christianity And Eschatology

This chapter outlines recurring biblical texts and themes which provided the exegetical basis for earliest Christian expectations about the final age. It analyses eschatological material in separate texts with attention for their historical and social settings. The chapter finally evaluates the picture of pre-70 CE and post-70 CE texts and traditions with their respective elaborations on biblical tradition. The discussion of eschatology starts with the oldest of the Synoptic Gospels, Mark, then turns to the Sayings Source Q shared by Matthew and Luke, and subsequently goes into the evidence of Matthew and Luke with their respective special materials. Emerging Christianity started as a Jewish movement whose proclamation of the gospel of Jesus Christ included many references to Scripture and was prophetically inspired.Keywords: Christianity; eschatology; Gospel of John; Gospel of Luke; Gospel of Mark; Gospel of Matthew; Gospel of Thomas; Sayings source Q