Eschatological terminology
Eschatological language ordinarily uses two elements of style in conjunction: the negation of the negative and the analogy of the future. Objective statements about the future are possible only in the form of the negation of the negative. Revelation 21:4 provides an example of this style: “And death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain any more.” Thus, the positive aspects of the eschatological future are circumscribed by the negative aspects of the present. If the future is to be meaningfully related to this life, however, corporeal existence must also be capable ... (100 of 16,630 words)
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Tympanum illustrating the Last Judgment, 1130–35; church facade at Conques, France.
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St. John the Apostle, on Patmos, writing the book of Revelation, detail of a 14th-century painting; in the Städel Art Institute, Frankfurt am Main, Germany.
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Vishnu with his 10 avatars (incarnations): Fish, Tortoise, Boar, Man-Lion, Dwarf, Rama with the Ax, King Rama, Krishna, Buddha, and Kalki. Painting from Jaipur, India, 19th century; in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London.
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Miroku (Maitreya) in meditation, gilt bronze figure, Japanese, Asuka period, 7th century; in the Cleveland Museum of Art, Ohio, U.S.
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The tomb of al-Mahdī, in Omdurman, Sudan.
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Roman soldiers carrying the menorah from the Temple of Jerusalem, ad 70; detail of a relief on the Arch of Titus, Rome, ad 81.
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“Tree of Jesse,” symbolising Jesus’ descent from the house of David, illuminated page from Rabanus Maurus’s De laudibus sanctae crucis from Anchin, mid-12th century; in the Municipal Library of Douai, France. 29 × 20 cm.
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St. Augustine, fresco by Sandro Botticelli, 1480; in the church of Ognissanti, Florence.
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The Angel with the Millstone, manuscript illumination from the Bamberg Apocalypse, c. 1000–20; in the Bamberg State Library, Germany (MS. Bbil. 140, fol. 46R).
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Karl Marx.