Eternal Hope

Describing his objective in writing Eternal Hope, Emil Brunner boldly claimed that 'a church that has nothing to teach concerning the future and the life of the world to come is bankrupt'. Half a century later, such a challenge might still be levied. Against this backdrop, Brunner offers a way forward that is conscious never to stray far from scripture, yet nevertheless pastorally sensitive. Indeed, one of the central tenets of his approach is that the Gospel offers no comfort to the individual that is not at the same time a promise for the future of humanity as a whole. He proceeds systematically through the promises and mysteries that the Christian faith holds surrounding death, while holding the hope of eternity as a constant goal. A precursor to his more rigorous Dogmatics, and partly in preparation for the second assembly of the World Council of Churches in 1954, Eternal Hope was also written just a year after the tragic death of Brunner's son. It is therefore no surprise that he combines the vulnerability of his personal encounter with death, and a theological outlook that has universal implications.



by Emil Brunner



1. The Significance of Hope in Human Life 2. Belief in the Progress of Humanity 3. The Ground of the Christian Hope 4. Faith and History 5. The Christian Understanding of Time and Eternity (Appendix: The Biblical Conception of Time and the Kantian Antinomies of Time) 6. The Ecclesia as the Present Reality of the Future and the Transformation of the Idea of Revolution 7. The Christian Hope of Progress and the Utopian Millennium 8. The Negative Promise: Antichrist 9. The Future Advent of Jesus Christ as the Meaning of History 10. The Significance of the Christian Hope of Eternity for Life in the Present 11. The Mystery of Death 12. Death as the Transition to Eternal Life 13. The Problem Set by the Biblical Representation of the End of History (i) Mythological Elements in the New Testament Message (ii) The Changed Picture of the World and its Implications for the Christian Hope (iii) The Significance of the Expectation of the Parousia in the Near Future (iv) The Paradox of the End of History 14. The Parousia, the Coming of the Son of God in Glory 15. The Resurrection 16. The Completion of Humanity in the Kingdom of God 17. The Last Judgement and the Problem of Universal Redemption 18. The End of All Things: The Consummation 19. Postscript Instead of Foreword: The Present Theological Situation Notes