A New Heaven and a New Earth: Reclaiming Biblical Eschatology

Theologian Middleton tackles a huge question: is a glorious afterlife the best hope Christianity can offer, or does the promise of a new, redeemed Earth give humans hope for today? His biblically grounded answer is the latter. To make a convincing argument for what he calls "holistic eschatology," he goes through both testaments of the Bible, deep down to its Greek- and Hebrew-language roots, and also takes on the received wisdom of many a Christian hymn that extols the far-off heavenly shore, provocatively calling the latter "singing lies in church." Most of the book is more carefully footnoted than provocatively put, in keeping with the rules for academic persuasion. But the implications for lived faith are bold, and the air this brings into theological discourse about what God intends for human creation is fresh and bracing. (Dec.)