Deification and Eschatology

Abstract In this chapter it is argued that the relationship between deification and eschatology is intrinsic, but, since the 1970s, a split can be discerned. The split is between theologians who believe that the New Jerusalem is a divine gift for which creatures prepare in their daily struggles with the effects of original sin, and theologians who believe that it is only by the construction of the New Jerusalem that social problems, classified as “effects of original sin” can be eradicated. The division is similar to that in the Marxist tradition between feminists who believe that capitalism needs to be destroyed before patriarchy will collapse and feminists who believe that capitalism will only crumble once patriarchy has been undermined. In theological terms, the split between theologians is over soteriology and protology. Soteriology and protology might be described as the “double clasp” that holds the fields of deification and eschatology together.