Lutherhostel 2012
March 18 - 23
"Ecology, Eschatology, and Our Future: Are We Living at the End of the World?", 
Dr. Barbara Rossing
The common impression that Christianity is about “going to heaven when you die” is actually more neo-Platonist than Christian. The New Testament presents a range of Christian reflections on the future. In a time of climate change and ecological crisis, how can we draw on these different eschatological perspectives to help foster a sense of hope for our world today?
1. “World Without End or End of Empire?” American culture has embraced a vision of “growth without end,” a lifestyle based on unlimited cheap energy. How might we draw on Revelation and the Bible’s apocalyptic visions when our way of life based on endless growth may be coming to an end?
2. “New Creation: Pauline Perspectives on the Future.” In Romans 8 the Apostle Paul lays out a vision of hope, in which not just humans but the whole creation groans, awaiting redemption. How can the expectation of new creation shape our hope for the future of the earth?
3. “Eternal Life is Now: The Gospel of John's Community of Abundant Life” The Gospel of John presents an eschatology very different from Revelation or Paul, centered in a kind of sacramental experience in the present. How can such a vision be a resource for churches as counter-cultural communities today? 4. “Hastening the Day When the Earth Will Burn?” 2 Peter 3 and the Future of Creation. Within the range of New Testament eschatologies, perhaps the most problematic is the view of 2 Peter that the earth and atmosphere must be burned up by fire. How can we read such texts in terms of the care of creation rather than creation’s destruction?
5. “Feasting in Paradise: Eschatology of Food and Eating Mercifully.” In the Gospel of Luke Jesus shares a vision of dining with the prophets. The most commonly told Gospel story is Jesus’ feeding of thousands. How can these visions of a paradise banquet shape the way we eat today?
Barbara Rossing teaches New Testament at the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago where she also directs the seminary’s Environmental Ministry Emphasis. She is the author of The Rapture Exposed: The Message of Hope in the Book of Revelation and is now writing on apocalypse, global climate change and the healing of the world. Her sessions this week will explore ecology, eschatology and how the church can draw on the Bible for a vision for sustainable community.