What is "eschatology"

Eschatology \Es`cha*tol"o*gy\, n. [Gr. ? the furthest, last + -logy.] The doctrine of the last or final things, as death, judgment, and the events therewith connected.

1834, from Latinized form of Greek eskhatos "last, furthest, uttermost, extreme, most remote" in time, space, degree, from PIE *eghs-ko-, suffixed form of *eghs "out" (see ex-) + -ology. In theology, the study of the four last things (death, judgment, heaven, hell). Related: Eschatological; eschatologically.

n. 1 (context countable English) System of doctrines concerning final matters, such as death. 2 (context uncountable English) The study of the end times — the end of the world, notably in Christian and Islamic theology, the second coming of Christ, the Apocalypse or the Last Judgment.

n. the branch of theology that is concerned with such final things as death and judgment; heaven and hell; the end of the world

Eschatology is a part of theology concerned with the final events of history, or the ultimate destiny of humanity. This concept is commonly referred to as the "end of the world" or " end time".

The word arises from the Greek eschatos meaning "last" and -logy meaning "the study of", first used in English around 1550. The Oxford English Dictionary defines eschatology as "The part of theology concerned with death, judgment, and the final destiny of the soul and of humankind."

In the context of mysticism, the phrase refers metaphorically to the end of ordinary reality and reunion with the Divine. In many religions it is taught as an existing future event prophesied in sacred texts or folklore. More broadly, eschatology may encompass related concepts such as the Messiah or Messianic Age, the end time, and the end of days.

History is often divided into "ages" ( aeons), which are time periods each with certain commonalities. One age comes to an end and a new age or world to come, where different realities are present, begins. When such transitions from one age to another are the subject of eschatological discussion, the phrase, "end of the world", is replaced by "end of the age", "end of an era", or "end of life as we know it". Much apocalyptic fiction does not deal with the "end of time" but rather with the end of a certain period of time, the end of life as it is now, and the beginning of a new period of time. It is usually a crisis that brings an end to current reality and ushers in a new way of living, thinking, or being. This crisis may take the form of the intervention of a deity in history, a war, a change in the environment, or the reaching of a new level of consciousness.

Most modern eschatology and apocalypticism, both religious and secular, involve the violent disruption or destruction of the world; whereas Christian and Jewish eschatologies view the end times as the consummation or perfection of God's creation of the world. For example, according to some ancient Hebrew worldviews, reality unfolds along a linear path (or rather, a spiral path, with cyclical components that nonetheless have a linear trajectory); the world began with God and is ultimately headed toward God’s final goal for creation, the world to come.

Eschatologies vary as to their degree of optimism or pessimism about the future. In some eschatologies, conditions are better for some and worse for others, e.g. "heaven and hell".

Eschatology is a Christian spiritual movement founded by American writer and practitioner William W. Walter after Walter left Mary Baker Eddy's Christian Science church in 1912. He named his organization "The Walter Method of Christian Science"; the term Eschatology as a trade mark for Walter's teaching was not used until the 1920s.

Eschatology is a part of theology and philosophy concerned with the final events when the world ends.

Eschatology can also mean:

• Eschatology (book), a book by Pope Benedict XVI
• Eschatology (religious movement), an early 20th-century religious movement created by William W. Walter