Former RTS Orlando student, former employee at my current favorite bookstore, and current adjunct professor of theology at the New York City campus of Nyack College, Joseph Torres, discusses what he calls a wider vision of eschatology in his most recent post. In evangelical circles, it is common to link the discussion of eschatology with what events will transpire at the end of history—the rapture, the tribulation, the thousand-year reign, and so on. But, Joseph suggests broadening our discussion:

Protology is the study of “first things,” and explores what I call seedbed for a multiplicity of themes are developed and expanded throughout the rest of the story told in the Bible. Just a few of these would include the seed of the woman, the people of God, human dominion over the earth, sin, judgment, and the Word of God, to name a few. Eschatology, in the expanded definition, is the study of where these developing themes “end up.” What’s the final goal of these themes? That’s what eschatology studies. It’s more than merely about the debates over the timing of the return of Christ (though, of course, it’s not less than these debates).

A helpful corrective, I think. Broadening our perspective in this way, Joseph argues, helps to cultivate a biblically-informed philosophy of history and plays a significant role in shaping our worldview.

What do you think? How will our perspective change if we consider where history is going as opposed to what happens when history ends?