Eschatological Identity Paper

BLOCK 3
An eschatological identity was dominant during the early period of the Church. Could you describe, both historically and anthropologically, other periods in the history of the Church and of humanity when a sense of eschatology has played an important role?

Introduction: Writing about such a wide topic is impossible given the little space allowed and the material provided for reflection. So sorry for being a bit long! However, I wish to start this block by defining the meaning of eschatological identity. By eschatological identity I understand it to be the church’s orientation towards the realization of God’s kingdom of justice, peace, unity and love, ushered in by Jesus Christ but yet to be fully accomplished . Eschatology, …show more content…
In his book, (The Philosophy of Economy, 1912), Bulgakov argues that even though our labor is toilsome, the economic process is meaningful because it participates in the Divine Wisdom. Moreover, our struggles in nature also involve (besides pain and difficulties) joy and beauty, if we, as followers of Christ, realize that human beings possess a “hidden potential for perfection [and so must] work to resurrect nature, to endow it once again with the life and meaning it had in Eden.”[1] For Bulgakov, the most mundane human activities have value and are redeemable “by the Christian message of the fall and resurrection of man and, with man, nature. We have a common task and it is universal resurrection out of fall, bringing resurrection-life into everything” (p. …show more content…
It is interesting to note here that most, if not all, schisms and divisions have taken place for historical reasons. This is certainly the case with the Great Schism between East and West. If history divides, eschatology can also divide as Christians are seen to disagree on the very meaning of the Kingdom of God. But eschatology can also unite. Unity in the Church can and should be assessed on the basis of a common eschatological vision. Thus, the ecumenical process is reversed: we should not begin from the present difficulties and difference but strive towards communion with each other. The reality of our common hope is for a Church that will be reunited although it is presently scattered—precisely as the Eucharistic bread was united from the ‘four winds,’ as the Didache reminds us, into the kingdom of God. The truth is that a Church without an ecumenical commitment is a Church with a falsified Eucharist, that is, not a Church at all. Finally, eschatology offers an epistemological lesson in humility with regard to our theological claims about God and ourselves. ‘If what one “is” is determined not by one’s past, but by what one will be in the end, human judgment is irrelevant, since it can only be based on the past. An eschatological ontology would foster genuine ecumenism as it would lead to a non-judgmental attitude towards one’s fellow men eliminating hostile stereotypes and false

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