Eschatology and Christian Evangelism

Eschatology has long been a feature in Christian evangelism which is driven in part by a conviction that one must embrace salvation through recognition of the salvation offered only through acceptance of Jesus Christ in order to withstand the pain and suffering that will accompany the end of days which is presented as imminent (Schwartz, 2000). Eschatological thinking is ancient. Hans Schwartz (2000) notes that throughout Christian and non-Christian writing in the ancient world, there is a strong connection between the dangers and traumas of a present age and the likelihood of an approaching apocalypse. In the Gospels of the life of Christ, it is asserted that we live "in an interim period between self-disclosure and the universal transformation of the world (Schwartz, 2000, p. 7)." This perspective permeates much of the evangelical message and will be the focus of this analysis which will argue that the apocalyptic or eschatological emphasis may not be as viable today in evangelical missionary activity as it has been in the past.

William Bell (2006) states that the end of time which is foreshadowed in many different texts in the Bible may not necessarily refer to an imminent threat but merely represents a recognition that the world will experience last days and that to be prepared for these last days one must accept the evangelical preaching of the life of Christ. Bell (2006) suggests further that the mission of the first Apostles and their successors was to prea

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