Search Results
Abstract
This contribution draws attention to the concept of time as perceived in the New Testament view of “two ages,” or eons. It shows that different dates are not neutral but are the result of an ideology or time politics. Different forms of time structuring in the sources can thus be read as an expression of a negotiation or a struggle between different worldviews and ideologies. Attention is drawn to the historical Jesus and to the understanding of the concept of the “two ages” and worldview in the message of the historical Jesus. The notion of two ages structurally draws a sharper line between this world, time and history, and the transcendent and future realm, and it has taken a special dynamic in somewhat later Jewish texts that propose a more universal view of history and that may reflect the great catastrophes of the first and second century in the history of the Jewish people that lingered in the future in Jesus’ time.
The internationally focused series Encounters between Judaism and Christianity publishes studies on the processes of formation and differentiation of Jewish and Christian religion past and present. SJC-volumes deal with exegetical-hermeneutical, historical, systematic, cultural-historical and contemporary issues according to the standards of the individual disciplines and from a cross-disciplinary perspective. Particular attention is paid to the areas both of cultural interaction and of friction between Judaism and Christianity. After a long history of ecclesiastical hostility against Jews and after the experiences of the 20th century the scholarly examination of these topics can provide new impulses for improving mutual understanding.