Eschatology is nebulous, because theologians have not sufficiently grappled with the historical validation of eschatological claims. Eschatology remains dehistoricized and largely atemporal. This study will survey attempts in twentieth-century eschatological interpretation for dealing with the problem of “the delay of the parousia,” including the first Quest of the Historical Jesus (Schweitzer), existential theology (Bultmann, Barth), realized eschatology (Dodd), the theology of hope (Pannenberg, Moltmann), the third Quest (N. T. Wright), and evangelical theology. In each of these paradigms, the parousia is either unrealized in history despite the New Testament's temporal parameters or an existential event realized in the moment despite the New Testament's historical parameters. An alternative approach meeting both the historical and temporal parameters is proposed: the Roman destruction of Jerusalem in CE 70.
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