Eschatology as New Creation

A Reflection on Oliver O’Donovan’s Perspective

Abstract

This essay is a theological reflection on the reception of Oliver O’Donovan’s two main contributions to theology and ethics namely Resurrection and Moral Order and Desire of the Nations, with special interest on his discussion in chapter three on eschatology and history. In this reflection I have explored his thoughts on eschatology and how it relates to creation and history in the modern contexts, and also how his thoughts on Christian and political liberalism converge in order to make a united argument on the creation of a new social order that is rooted in Christian biblical vision and morality. His creative moves have been acknowledged in how he approaches and argues his points on the subject. My own argument is that O’Donovan has opened a new vista of appropriating the idea of eschatology to the redemption of life and the transformation of creation. Furthermore, I have discovered his sustained realism on the influence and role of Christianity in giving birth and rise to the modern civilization and the need to sustain such influence within the idea of just judgment and freedom in dignity. His eschatological vision goes beyond the popular notion of eschatology as the end time, or time of the end; rather, from his ideas we see eschatology as the end of time.