Description: In recent years, studies in the eschatology and ethics of Jesus have provoked an unusual interest among Bible students. When talking about the coming of the kingdom, did Jesus mean that there would be a divine intervention or a catastrophe? If so, were his ethical teachings intended for an emergency situation--interim ethics? This book provides an admirable introduction to eschatology in general. Dr. Wilder argues for an interpretation of the evidence that maintains the full significance of Jesus: that his eschatology, far from being a liability, represents a true disclosure of human destiny, and that there is no contradiction between it and his ethical principles, which are of permanent validity.
Brief description: Amos N. Wilder (1895-1993), New Testament scholar, poet, literary critic, and clergyman, received all earned degrees from Yale. His teaching career included posts at Andover Newton Theological School, Chicago Theological Seminary and the University of Chicago, and Harvard Divinity School. Special honors included the Golden Rose of the New England Poetry Club (1943) and the Bross Prize (1952). Wilder also received the Croix de guerre for service in World War I. He was the brother of playwright and novelist Thornton Wilder.
Review Quotes: ""A man of letters in the best sense of the term, Amos Wilder was an important scholar of the New Testament, a foundational figure in the study of the Bible through the techniques of literary criticism, a poet, and a sensitive critic of Modernist literature. All of his books are valuable for anyone interested in the intellectual history of the twentieth century, and in their own right for their thoughtful analysis of significant religious and literary issues."" --Christopher J. Wheatley, The Catholic University of America