Jesus,Apocalyptic,and World Transformation

Abstract

“It is often overlooked how ideologically explosive the notion of the kingdom of God was within Jesus' own social milieu. In first-century Palestine, it did not have the same metaphorical and strictly religious connotation that makes the term so safe within our own theological world. In fact, it evoked the memory and visionary impulse of Yahweh who acts to deliver Yahweh's ‘chosen ones’ from occupation and oppression at the hands of alien nations. Intrinsic to that symbolic universe is the conviction that the chosen suffer and the unjust prosper in the present day only because history stands at the brink of a great reversal.”