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RESEARCH PRODUCT

Eschatology and Time in the Gospel of John

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description

The article discusses the complex issue of time and eschatology in the Fourth Gospel. To get a grip on John’s eschatology it is necessary to take seriously John’s own use of language, and not to let the issue be determined solely by categories or terms (such as ‘eschatology’ and ‘apocalypticism’) introduced by scholars. It is essential to understand John’s eschatology as an aspect of the Gospel’s broader concept of time and the way in which this concept is given linguistic expression. This approach allows more recent, in particular narratological, methods to be applied to determine the Gospel’s concept of time. The article addresses the following topics: present and future eschatology in recent scholarship; the fusion of temporal horizons in the Farewell Discourses; motifs of time and eschatology, such as ‘the hour’, ‘the last day’, and ‘eternal life’; time and narration in John; and implications for John’s theology and ethics.