In the End, God: A Study of the Christian Doctrine of the Last Things

by John A.T. Robinson

Death, judgement, heaven and hell - these are the 'Four Last Things' traditionally linked together under the heading of 'Eschatology'. In this book, John Robinson examines them all with trenchancy and lucidity, providing a new and vital understanding of how these themes relate to contemporary Christian life. In the End, God identifies a gap that exists in the treatment of eschatology within the Christian faith. As Robinson points out, eschatology had traditionally dealt with the last things in a way that is remote and removed from everyday life and Christianity, and the goal of his book is to make eschatology fully relevant to the modern world. Although it is commonly held that eschatology within modern Christianity is centred on the fact and moment of death, Robinson shows that the true nature of eschatology is something quite different. It is not about the last things after everything else, but rather is about the relation of all things to the 'last things' or, as it were, about the 'lastness' of all things. Revealing the foundation of biblical eschatology to be the experience of God by the community of faith, Robinson calls readers to embrace the eschatological vision of the Bible, but to do so in a way that is alert to its mythic character. In the course of these explorations he also lays bare his own theology of universal salvation. However, contrary to what one may expect, this universalism is one that seeks to take both human freedom and the reality of hell with the utmost seriousness. This special edition of John A.T. Robinson's classic text also includes an extended introductory essay by Professor Trevor Hart of the University of St Andrews, and an exchange between Robinson and Thomas F. Torrance, first published in 1949 in the Scottish Journal of Theology.

Table of Contents

Foreword by Gregory MacDonald
Preface by Robin Parry
"In the End, God ...: The Christian Universalism of J.A.T. Robinson (1919–1983)" by Trevor Hart
Introduction

1. The Modern Mind
2. The Truth of the Ultimate
3. The Ultimacy of Truth
4. Kairos and Chronos
5. The End of the Times
6. The End of Man
7. The Resurrection of the Body
8. The End of the Lord
9. All in All
10. Conclusion

Appendix 1: "Universalism – Is It Heretical?" by J.A.T. Robinson
Appendix 2: "Universalism or Election?" by Thomas F. Torrance
Appendix 3: " A Reply" by J.A.T. Robinson

Bibliography
Scripture Index

Genres: Theology

163 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1968

Reviews

[W Tyler · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a very nicely done edition of an important book about Christian Universalism. Robinson does not try to deny that the Bible warns of eternal punishment, nor does he try to deny that the Bible teaches that all people will eventually be saved. To reconcile these apparently contradictory teachings, Robinson emphasizes the existential nature of the former teaching; from the point of view of anyone not yet saved, eternal damnation is always a live possibility, and each person must choose for or against it. But from God's perspective and that of the saints, it is not possible that God's love should fail to win back every person. Jesus meets people on whatever road they travel, creating a crossroads: they must choose whether or not to follow Him. But if they choose not to, He meets them again later on, and He will persist until He has drawn each person back to Himself. This is an important idea worth thinking carefully about.

[Steve Irby · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quarantine-Book #62:

I just finished "In The End God," by John A. T. Robinson. Is it my dark humor that has me ending 2020 with an eschatology?

Robinson, writing in the face of the death of God movement, seeks to answer Bonhoeffer's question "how can we speak about God in a secular age" by beginning at the end: eschatology.

Robertson states that the OG eschaton was only the Parousia and it wasn't until later that this was replaced with what we define as "eschatology": death, judhement, heaven and hell. Paul when stating what the dead-in-Christ were experiencing right then was only in light that the Parousia would happen soon. He throws the blame for this at the church who clothed herself in more of a Greek rather than Hebrew doctrine of God which states a timeless God rather than the Jewish God of and in history. This Greek model of God has all the time in the world for a cosmic, individualistic eschatology (I'll fly away); the Hebrew model of God was in time with His creatures and would come back to reign.

Jesus is the Telos of history. Though to grasp the correct perspective of the already / not yet of our current condition he borrows from Barth and Heim: we have to assume the thunder to interpret the lightning. This explains the futurist eschatology (thunder) that is in scripture.

Working with Myth in comparison between Gn and Rev Robinson shows how Gn (1-3) exposes each man as he is from the perspective of the beginning. All find themselves as their own Adam before long. Likewise Rev shows mankind at the end by describing present realities in the new age.

The resurrection of the body (singular)--in Robinson--stands for how we shall be joined one to another and resurrected at each death (into a great cloud of witnesses?). That's a bit out there, and Robinson as a bit too Bultmannian for me but I'll hang in there.

This was interesting even if too Bultmannian. I'm really glad to have a greater grasp of Inaugurated Eschatology even if I still have some reservations about it as presented by Robinson.

#JATRobinson #JohnATRobinson #JohnRobinson #InTheEndGod #Eschatology #InauguratedEschatology #RealizedEschatology

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very engaging and clearly presented little book on Christian teaching about the last things and how this can have relevance for us today. Robinson argues that theological statements about the final events of history are not educated guesses or some esoteric blueprint, but images in the form of myth that express a Christian hope that is grounded in the present experience of the God made known in Jesus. The events of Christ's life, death and resurrection are already the final events of history, allowing Christians to live in the fullness of life in the present and with hope for the future. Robinson also argues passionately and with sophistication that all will ultimately be saved through God's love.