Inaugurated Eschatology

What is inaugurated eschatology?

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Answer

Inaugurated eschatology is a distinctively Christian teaching, and it's to be compared with futurist eschatology. Let me explain. In theology what we're saying is that the church understood that something is happening now. A portion of the future has now broken over the present, and so therefore, things are realized now in the Christian life that will not be realized at any other time in the past. They haven't been realized. So, let me give you an example. We understand that the Spirit of God now is available inside of the church, the power of God is here inside of this world. There is a concrete and tangible reality of God's presence inside of the church, and the description of that reality is actually something that comes from the future. So, what we mean is that we're not simply as Christians waiting for something to happen in the future, we're actually saying there is something now being birthed inside of the church, and that birthing is a work of God in the Spirit, which has been inaugurated, which has been begun by Jesus himself.

Answer by Dr. Gary M. Burge