Latin American Perspectives on Eschatology:

From Dispensationalism to Theology of Hope

Alberto F. Roldán

Introduction

The importance of Eschatology within the corpus of Systematic Theology is beyond doubt. The author of Hebrews states that “in these eschatological days God has spoken to us by the Son” (Heb. 1:1), with which Jesus of Nazareth has inaugurated Eschatology. The Nicene Creed affirms that Jesus Christ “will come again with glory to judge the living and the dead; And His kingdom will have no end.”Eschatology as a theological theme was almost absent from the considerations of many systematic theologies. It was due to the influence of authors like Albert Schweitzer, Albrech Ritschl, Johannes Weiss and others, that at the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20thit was reinstalled as a topic of interest and importance.1

Protestant eschatologies –especially evangelical– have developed from the concept of the “Millennium”, from which they diversified into: Historical Premillennialism, Dispensational Premillennialism, Postmillennialism and Amillennialism.2 Although Dispensationalism strongly influenced evangelical churches in the 20th century, since the middle of the century a change of perspective is perceived, partly because of the influence of several theological movements that chronologically are: Church and Society in Latin America (ISAL), the Liberation Theology and the Latin American Theological Fraternity (LATF). The present work is outlined as follows: firstly, the importance of dispensationalism in evangelical churches in the 20th century; secondly,

1For an analysis of the historical route of eschatology in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries see Alberto F. Roldán, Eschatology: An Integral Visión from Latin America (Escatología: Una Visión Integral desde América Latina, Buenos Aires: Ediciones Kairós, 2002, pp. 19-56).2Cf. Ibid., p. 89-114. For a panoramic view of the various views on the millennium seeRobert G. Clouse (editor), The Meaning of the Millennium: Four Views, Illinois: InterVarsity Press, 1977.

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the contributions of ISAL, the Liberation Theology and the LATF. Thirdly, the influence of the eschatology of Jürgen Moltmann on several Latin American Protestant theologians. Fourthly, the postmillenialist perspective in the movements of the charismatic renewal. Fifthly, the eschatology in a sample of evangelical songs.

1. Influence of the dispensationalist eschatology in the 20th century

For much of the 20th century evangelical churches in Latin America were marked by dispensationalism. This theological stream, developed by the English theologian John Nelson Darby, one of the founders of the Plymouth Brethren movement based in a book written by the Jesuit Manuel Lacunza, states that the Bible must be interpreted from different “dispensations” or “economies”, as ways in which God deals with human beings. It distinguishes several dispensations or stages, and separates strongly between the Old Testament and the New Testament. In its classical version the Kingdom that Jesus of Nazareth offered to the Jews was the theocratic-Davidic kingdom which, when rejected, led to the creation of the Church, a reality not foreseen in the Old Testament. But while Darby was the systematizer of dispensationalism, the instrument that popularized it was Scofield's Bible, translated late into Spanish but frequently read by English missionaries and then by pastors and believers who had access to this version in that language.

The initial success of dispensationalism is due to the strong influence exercised by American fundamentalism and the fact that it constitutes a very complete scheme of the future of history and its eschatological culmination. From the 1960s, there were nuances in classical dispensationalism that gradually modified some inflexible positions. The influence of theologians such as Dwigh Pentecost (Things to Come), and Charles Ryrie (Dispensationalism Today), should be mentioned here.

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Subsequently, a review of classical dispensationalism was made in the book by Craig Blaissing and Darrell Bock Progressive Dispensationalism.3

For these young American theologians, trained in traditional dispensationalism, there are some issues that are common to the dispensational tradition, namely:

i. Authority of Scripture

ii. Dispensations

iii. Uniqueness of the Church

iv. Practical Significance of the Universal Church

v. Significance of Biblical Prophecy

vi. Futurist Premillennialism

vii. The Imminent Return of Christ

viii. A National Future for Israel

Then, the authors define what they mean by the term progressive dispensationalism: “Progressive dispensationalism offers a number of modifications to classical and revised dispensationalism which brings dispensationalism to contemporary evangelical biblical interpretation”.4

For Blaising and Bock, the most important aspects of classical dispensationalism are:

i. The Central Dualism. Two different purposes: to heaven and to the earth.

ii. The Dispensations. “Classical dispensationalism saw the dispensations as

different arrangements under which human beings are tested.”5

iii. The Nature of the Church. “The heavenly nature of the Church’s salvation was

interpreted by classical dispensationalists in an individualistic manner. Political

and social issues were earthly matters which did not concern the church.”6

3 Craig A. Blaising-Darrell L. Bock, Progressive Dispensationalism, Grand Rapids: Baker House, 1993.

4Ibid., p. 225Ibid., 246Ibid., p. 26. Original italics.

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iv. Biblical interpretation. Classical dispensationalist interpreted the Scripture in

according to their central dualism: Israel and Church, Present/future,

Heaven/Earth. “As for the meaning of ‘literal’ interpretation, classical

dispensationalists sometimes spoke of grammatical and historical

interpretation.”7

v. The Biblical Covenants. Covenant with Abraham, Covenant with Moses. New

covenant.

vi. The Kingdom of God and the Kingdom of Heaven.

The kingdom of god is one of the most important themes in the Bible and as important concern for dispensational interpretation. The most well known classical dispensational view of the kingdom is that of C. I. Scofield. His view depends on a substantive distinction between the terms kingdom of God and kingdom of heaven. He believed that the term kingdom of God found in all four Gospels, referred to the moral rule of God in the hearts of those subject to Him. It is everlasting in extent. The kingdom of heaven, found in the New Testament only in Matthew, was thought to be the fulfillment of the covenant made to David, in which God promised to establish the kingdom of His Son.8

Which are the characteristics of a progressive dispensationalism?9

i. Holistic Redemption in Progressive Revelation.Progressive dispensationalism agrees with revised (and classical) dispensationalists that God’s work with Israel and Gentile nations in the past dispensation look forward to the redemption of humanity and its political and cultural aspects. Consequently, there is a place for Israel and for other nations in the eternal plan of God.10

ii. The Dispensations. “Progressive dispensationalists understand the dispensations not simple as different arrangements between God and humankind, but as successive arrangements in the progressive revelation and accomplishment of redemption.”11

iii. The nature of the Church. “The church is precisely redeemed humanity itself (both Jews and Gentiles) as it exists in this dispensation prior to the coming of Christ.”12

7Ibid., p. 278Ibid., p. 30. Original italics.9Blassing and Bock consider that the changes introduced in the classic dispensationalism by “revised dispensationalism” (for example, Charles Ryrie) was a prior step to the progressive dispensationalism, especially in relation to the dualism between the heavenly and earthly people. Representatives of Revised Dispensationalism are: Charles C. Ryrie, Dispensationalism Today, Chicago: Moody, 1965; Dwigth Pentecost, This to Come: A Study of Biblical Eschatology, Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1958 and John Walvoord, Major Bible Prophecies, Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1991.10Progressive Dispensationalism, p. 47.11Ibid., p. 48. Original italics.12Ibid., p. 49. Original italics.

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iv. Biblical Interpretation. “…progressive dispensationalism is not an abandonment of ‘literal’ interpretation for ‘spiritual’ interpretation. Progressive dispensationalism is a development of ‘literal’ interpretation into a more consistent historical-literal interpretation.”13

v. The Biblical Covenants. “The fact that new covenant blessing are being given to Gentiles as well as Jews today is consistent with the Abrahamic promise to bless not only the Jews but also the Gentiles.”14

vi. The Kingdom of God. Progressive dispensationalists put primary emphasis on the eternal kingdom for understanding all previous forms of the kingdom including the Millennium. They make no substantive distinction between the terms kingdom of heaven and kingdom of God. And they see Christ’ present relationship to the church today as a form of eschatological kingdom which affirms and guarantees the future revelation of the kingdom of all its fullness.15

In synthesis: Progressive dispensationalism has its distinctive aspect in the “conception

of the progressive accomplishment and revelation of a holistic and unified redemption.”16

2. Progressive declination of dispensationalism

The decline of dispensationalism in the mid-20th century was due in part to the popular influence of books such as Hal Lindsey's The Late Great Planet Earth which, drafted in the midst of the Cold War, posited the USSR as the great antichrist, who had to be defeated. The collapse of real Socialism and the disappearance of the Soviet Union outdated this postulate. Lindsey’s work is a model of “science-fiction” eschatology. From a firm

conviction of the “secret rapture” of the Church and a series of worldly facts –as the

European Economic Community and the Soviet Union– that represented a peril, Lindsey

identified persons and movements as sings of a near end of the world.

3. Changes in the Latin American Eschatology

13Ibid., p. 52.14Ibid., p. 5315Ibid., p. 54.16Ibid., p. 56.

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There are three movements that are doing important changes in the development of the

Eschatology in Latin America: Iglesia y Sociedad en América Latina (ISAL, Church and

Society in Latin America) that lasted from 1961 to 1971. It was the first Latin American

Protestant movement devoted to the social and political realities. Theologians like José Míguez Bonino, Richard Shaull and Rubem Alves, among others, considered Eschatology as an important subject. In a text written in 1964, entitled “Theological Foundations of Social Responsibility of the Church”, Míguez Bonino exposes the theme by focusing on the Kingdom of God and the lordship of Jesus Christ. About this last reality he says that both, in Luther and in Calvin, Jesus Christ is Lord, although for the German reformer there are two kingdoms. And he adds: “Divine sovereignty in the totality of human reality, individually and socially, is also Calvin's point of departure.”17 To speak of sovereignty is to speak of the Kingdom. That is why the Argentinean Methodist theologian refers to the communal structure of the Church as a prefiguration of the Kingdom. He explains:

Such a communal structure of divine action is manifested in the congregation of the Church –which is a sign and prefiguration of the Kingdom (an organic community, mutually supportive and interdependent, one in multiplicity and vice versa, structured on mutual service and variety of functions, that do not destroy subordination or equality).18

In another text Míguez Bonino criticizes the inversion of the biblical notion of the

Kingdom of God in Christianity through history:

There is no doubt that the ardent expectation of the total transformation of the world and de advent of the Kingdom of God was soon replaced in Christianity by a spiritualized and individualistic hope for immortal, celestial life. Whether and to what extent this transformation was due to the influence of the Hellenistic culture, to the delay of the Parousia, to the influence of the mystery religions, to the sociologically necessary phenomenon of the institutionalization of the ecclesia is

17 José Míguez Bonino, “Fundamentos Teológicos de la Responsabilidad Social de la Iglesia”, in Rodolfo Obermüller et. al., Responsabilidad social del cristiano, Montevideo: ISAL, 1964, p. 25.18Ibid., p. 30.

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for us at point a question which can remain unanswered. […] The hope of the Kingdom, far from awakening an ethos to transform the world in the direction of that which was expected, worked as a deterrent for historical action.19

In those early works of ISAL, the Brazilian theologian Rubem Alves is the one who most emphasizes eschatology and the Kingdom of God. In his chapter entitled “The Social Ministry of the Local Church” Alves interprets what the action of God consists of. From Jesus Christ we understand the action of God, whose purpose is to lead human history to its initial purpose: love and harmony. God acts dynamically in history by exterminating the powers that rebel against His love and alter the historical order with chaos and disorder. What place has the Kingdom of God in this approach? Alves says:

This victory of God over the powers of evil and its sovereignty over all expressions of life is what the Christian faith calls "the Kingdom of God." When Jesus Christ affirmed that the Kingdom of God had arrived, he was indicating that, in His person, God was reducing to nothing all expressions of power that rebelled against his purposes. So we can never think that the Kingdom of God is just something subjective. Its power is expressed not only on the individual life, but has radical projections on social structures.20

Another influential theologian at ISAL was Richard Shaull and his book Encounter of Revolution. Shaull describes the presence of the Kingdom in the world. He affirms that “God broke into history in Jesus Christ and established His kingdom among men.” Shaull explains:21

God was present in his kingdom, offering new possibilities of life to men and nations. Jesus healed the sick, fed the hungry, opened the eyes of the blind, and brought good news to the poor. He gathered together a group of followers, gave them the power he possessed, and sent them out into the world with the promise that they would do even greater things than he had done. These acts were signs of a reality already present. The kingdom of God had come.22

19 José Míguez Bonino, Doing Theology in a Revolutionary Situation, Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1975, p. 133. Original italics. 20Ibid., p. 5721Richard Shaull, Encounter of Revolution, New York: Association Press, 1955, p. 50. Original italics. 22Ibid., p. 60

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The kingdom of God looks forward a final fulfillment. The incarnation is the beginning but

not the end of this kingdom. Shaull says:

In Jesus Christ, God’s kingdom has come (Sic), it is also the kingdom that is yet to come. In New Testament thought, history moves between two divine events: that in which God established his kingdom in the world, and that by which he will bring it to its final consummation. This is the meaning of the first and second coming of Christ. We now live “between the times”, between these two events, and in this “interim” God is at work. In it, history moves forward toward the goal which he has determined for it.23

When analyzing the contribution to this subject Andrew Kirk comments:

[…] Shaull was the initiator and the Church and Society in Latin America group the institutional catalyst of a new agenda for theological thought. According to Santa Ana, the first editor of the journal Iglesia y Sociedad (Church and Society), renewed reflection from within a commitment to change in Latin America should centre on three fundamental problems: the practical and theological relationship between the church and the world; the interaction between faith and ideology; and the concrete demands of Christian discipleship.24

The topic of the second meeting held in Lima, Peru, by the Latin American Theological

Fraternity (LATF) was “the Kingdom of God”. Emilio Antonio Núñez talked about the

nature of the Kingdom of God. The Centro American theologian distinguishes two

dimensions of the Kingdom of God. He says:

It is possible to talk about the horizontality and verticality of the kingdom. It is horizontal because its realization is in the history and has its goal in history and more there of history. Is verticality because descends from God as a charisma from him to the human beings. The kingdom is immanent and transcendent. In its future aspect it irrupts in history without advertence, when the time is completed according the will of God. In its present aspect, the kingdom is exerted by the sovereignty of God upon His creation; especially upon they with good will accept His will. Also, the kingdom is present in the redemptory activity of God for the human. In this activity the believer has the privilege for participle as “agent of change” in the hands of the Lord.25

Nuñez says: “The church reflexes the tension between the “now” and “not yet” of the

kingdom of God and out of the church it is not possible to think its existence. The church is

23Ibid., p. 61. Original italics24 Andrew Kirk, Theology Encounters Revolution, Illinois: InterVarsity Press, 1980, p. 5525Emilio Antonio Núñez, “La naturaleza del Reino de Dios” in C. René Padilla et. al, El Reino de Dios y América Latina, El Paso: Casa Bautista de Publicaciones, 1975, p. 32

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the simultaneous affirmation of the kingdom of God as a present reality and as a future

reality.”26

What are the consequences of dispensational eschatology for social and political questions? Samuel Escobar, who has defined them with great rigor, points out:

A dispensational and premillennial theology assumes the vision of a fallen world whose sinfulness is reflected in its structures and ways of life. The kingdom of God will burst into the future. Therefore no kingdom of this world can be considered the kingdom of God. The consequence of this belief should be a critical attitude towards the kingdoms of this world and its opposition to the kingdom of God. But conservative Protestantism has reduced its concept of worldliness to four or five social taboos: alcohol, tobacco, certain forms of dress, cinema, and dance. The social practices of capitalism, the spirit of profit as a determinant of life, the manipulation of consciences by the mass media, the political corruption of the government of the day, and so on are not criticized, or worse, are accepted and defended.27

Perhaps the best visualization of the presence of dispensational eschatology occurs in the Pentecostal world. In this regard, Howard Snyder, based on Melvin Hodges, states that Pentecostals believe that the remedy for many of the evils of the earth is to expect the Second Coming of Christ. He adds a text by Hodges describing that perspective, according to which the coming of Christ:

[...] will solve the problems of social order. Until that time, Christians must faithfully witness through their lives and their words, and they must prepare that body constituted by transformed [persons], which is the same salt of the earth at this present time, and which will form the core of the redeemed race in the coming kingdom. Christians must look for new converts, plant and grow churches, call, prepare and send Christian leaders until all souls on earth have had the opportunity to hear God's message of love and salvation in Christ Jesus.28

26C. René Padilla, “El Reino de Dios y la Iglesia” in Ibid., p. 4627 Samuel Escobar, “El Reino de Dios, la Escatología y la Ética Social y Política en América Latina” in C. René Padilla et. al, El Reino de Dios y América latina, p. 138. Original italics.28Hodges, “A Pentecostal’s View of Mission Strategy”, p. 88, cit. por Howard Snyder, La Comunidad del Rey, 3ra. Edición, Buenos Aires: Kairós, 2014, p. 71.

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4. The influence of Jürgen Moltmann and his Theology of Hope

In his book Eschatology and Ethics, Carl Braaten recognizes the decisive importance of Jürgen Moltmann in the recovery of eschatology in the perspective of hope. The book in its original English was published in 1974 and its author says that during the decades of 1960s and 1970s the theologians who were in charge of eschatology were few, although very hopeful. This tendency is due to the influence of Moltmann and his theology. After the failure of a certain idealistic romanticism that ended in frustration, Braaten says that “the theology of hope can provide comfort to the sincerely disappointed, as well as reanimate them in order to remain responsible, despite the obscurity of the prospects for a better future for humanity.”29

Moltmann published his Theology of Hope as a response to Ernst Bloch and his Hope

Principle. In opinion of Andrew Kirk, “Theology of Hope marks a watershed in European

theology, the beginning of a new theological consciousness.”30 Moltmann changes the

notion of eschatology as “doctrine of a future” for “doctrine of the hope”. In another book,

Moltmann shows the tension between futurist eschatology and present eschatology. He

says:

“The end of all things”, it is said, must either lie wholly and thus be present. According to this viewpoint, future and present lie along the same temporal line. So it is then also easy to fin a reconciliation solution when distinguishing in temporal terms between that which is “now already”, present and that which is “not yet” present. If the kingdom of God is the quintessence of Christianity’s eschatology message, then according to this viewpoint it is “already there” in a hidden sense, but is “not yet” present in the sense of being already manifest. The hope is then what is not yet cab after all still be. But this is only an apparent solution. Resignation knows that everything which “now already” exists will “no longer” exist tomorrow; for everything that comes into being passes away, even “now already” and the “not yet”! –eschatology cannot be comprehended at all; it can only be dissolved altogether.31

29Carl E. Braaten, Ética y Escatología, trad. Luis Farré, Buenos Aires: La Aurora, 1977, p. 17. Original: Eschatology and Ethics, Augsburg Publishing House, 1974.30 Andrew Kirk, op. cit., p. 60. Original italics.

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José Míguez Bonino recognizes that Moltmann is the theologian of most important

influence for the liberation theology. He says:

In his first and epoch-making book, Theology of Hope, the Tübingen theologian convincingly argued that Christian hope, far from leading to easy acceptance of the status quo, is a constant disturbance of realty as it is and a call to move ahead to the future. The God of the promise does not sacralize the present: he opens man for the future and opens a future for man, the future of love, justice, and life which he has promised in the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.32

Another book that Míguez Bonino considers is The Crucified God. He says that

Moltmann finds in the cross of Christ “the test of Christian identity and the point of God’s

maximum–indeed total and irreversible–commitment to mankind.”33Moltmann speaks

about the present of the kingdom of God in history. He says:

The question of liberation is, precisely, not something fixed but in process and can be grasped only by means of a dialectical, engaged thought… The conception of reality as a sacrament corresponds to the symbol in thought… These realities are not a realm distinct and separated from God, neither are they mere parables and similarities of his reign. They are, to take up Luther’s expression, synechdocally, real presences of his coming universal presence. In this sense, no theology of liberation, unless it wills to remain within idealism, can do without the materializations of God’s presence.34

In a comparative analysis between the eschatology of Karl Barth and that of Jürgen Moltmann, Timothy Gorringe states:

As strongly as Barth, Moltmann insists that eschatology is grounded in Christology: “Christian eschatology is at heart Christology in an eschatology perspective” (TH 192). The key difference in the insistence that everything is not yet completed, that there are promises outstanding: “With the raising of Jesus all has not yet been done” (TH 163).35

31 Jürgen Moltmann, The Coming of God. Christian Eschatology, trad. Margaret Kohol, Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1996, p. 6.32 José Míguez Bonino, Doing Theology in a Revolutionary Situation, Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1975, p. 144.33Ibid., p. 145.34Cit. in Ibid., pp. 148-149.35 Timothy Gorringe, “Eschatology and Political Radicalism. The Example of Karl Barth and Jürgen Moltmann” in Rcichard Bauckham (editor), God will be All in All. The Eschatology of Jürgen Moltmann, Minneapolis: Fortresss Press, 2001, p. 105.

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Gorringe then refers to Rubem Alves's criticisms to Moltmann's theology. There are two criticisms: first, that theology is essentially idealistic. Alves himself says:

The pattern for the historical movement which Moltmann offers is… basically platonic. I is eros… which creates the corinquietum. And more than that: God becomes the primummovens, as with Aristotle, pulling history to its future, but without being involved in history.36

Secondly, Alves criticizes Moltmann because He fails to do justice to the present reality

of God. He says that the biblical communities

Did not know a God whose essential nature was the future, the primummovens ahead of history. The Old and New Testaments speak about the historical present of God. The pure futuricity of God is a new form of Docetism in which God loses the present dimension and therefore becomes ahistorical.37

5. The Eschatology in the renewal movements: Postmilenarism?

From the renewal movements of Latin America it is possible to identify a form of

Postmilenarism. Pablo A. Deiros is a represents of this position. He says:

We live in an apocalyptic time with a magnified eschaton, it is necessary to read the history not from the present to the pass but from the future to the present. From this perspective the Christendom paradigm is internalized in many expressions of the traditional Christianity, after of many centuries of presence, but now is in crisis. I suppose that situation is not for human initiative but for the redemptory irruption of God in preparation for the glorious return of Christ. […] The associate prophecies with the end of the times describe a people of God more similar to the Apostolic Church. […] Probably many not consider with this Eschatology interpretation.38

6. Presence of Eschatology in the evangelical songs39

36Rubem Alves, Theology of Human Hope: New York: World Publishing, 1969, p. 59. Original italics. Cit. in Ibid., p. 106.37 Alves, Theology of Human Hope, p. 94. Cit. in Ibid., p. 106.38Pablo Deiros, “The Spiritual Awakening in Argentina: Historical Perspective”, Boletín Teológico, Vol. 29, Nro. 68, Bogotá: FTL, October-December 1997, p. 32.39 This section has been adapted from the chapter: “La Escatología en la Teología Latinoamericana” (Eschatology in the Latin American Theology). Roldán, Alberto F. (2002). Escatología: Una Visión Integral desde América Latina (Eschatology: An Integral Vision from Latin America). Buenos Aires, Argentina: Kairós Ediciones, 2002

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The theme of the presence of the eschatological issue in the liturgical expressions

deserves a detailed analysis that it is not possible to face here. We will limit ourselves to

present some examples of hymns that we would call “classics” within evangelical

hymnology, and discover their eschatological emphases and perspectives in order to

contrast them with similar expressions of some songs present in today's Latin American

evangelical worship.

We will begin with the famous hymn: “When the Roll Is Called Up Yonder”, which

exhibits the arrival of the “final day” in the presence of God40:

1 When the trumpet of the Lord shall sound, and time shall be no more,And the morning breaks, eternal, bright and fair;When the saved of earth shall gather over on the other shore,And the roll is called up yonder, I'll be there.

RefrainWhen the roll is called up yonder,When the roll is called up yonder,When the roll is called up yonder,When the roll is called up yonder, I'll be there.

2 On that bright and cloudless morning when the dead in Christ shall rise,And the glory of His resurrection share;When His chosen ones shall gather to their home beyond the skies,And the roll is called up yonder, I'll be there. [Refrain]

3 Let us labor for the Master from the dawn till setting sun;Let us talk of all His wondrous love and care;Then when all of life is over, and our work on earth is done,And the roll is called up yonder, I'll be there. [Refrain]

The emphasis of this hymn lies in the final judgment, and his poetry seems to be

inspired by the passage from Revelation 20.11-15. It says that “time shall be no more,” but

makes no reference to an intermediate instance like the Millennium on earth, before

consummation. Although it speaks of "the saved of earth", which might indicate some

reference to a corporate salvation, the whole emphasis is individual, as the refrain repeats:

“I'll be there.” The “home beyond the skies” seems to ignore the biblical perspective of a

new earth. It does not appear on the horizon. As for the influence of this eschatological 40 Text and music: James M. Black.

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perspective on the present of Christians, even though it is admitted, it is reduced to “Let us

labor for the Master,” not in terms of transforming the concrete, social world, but simply

speaking about “His wondrous love and care”.

Another example can be seen in “What If It Were Today?”41, a hymn whose leit motiv

revolves around imminence:

1 Jesus is coming to earth again–What if it were today?Coming in power and love to reign–What if it were today?Coming to claim His chosen Bride,All the redeemed and purified,Over this whole earth scattered wide–What if it were today?

RefrainGlory, glory! Joy to my heart 'twill bring;Glory, glory! When we shall crown Him King.Glory, glory! Haste to prepare the way;Glory, glory! Jesus will come someday.

2 Satan's dominion will then be o'er–O that it were today!Sorrow and sighing shall be no more–O that it were today!Then shall the dead in Christ arise,Caught up to meet Him in the skies;When shall these glories meet our eyes?What if it were today? [Refrain]

3 Faithful and true would He find us hereIf He should come today?Watching in gladness and not in fear,If He should come today?Signs of His coming multiply,Morning light breaks in eastern sky;Watch, for the time is drawing nigh–What if it were today? [Refrain]

The emphasis of this hymn is the intense desire for the coming of Christ to occur today.

The Savior is “Coming in power and love to reign.” It is not clear, but perhaps the

41 Text and music: Leila N. Morris (1912).

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millennial kingdom of Christ is insinuated. As it is affirmed that Christ returns for “His

chosen Bride”, a biblical metaphor that alludes to the Church, and mentions the rapture, we

are in a position to suggest that the author emphasizes the idea of premillennial-

dispensational eschatology: Christ returns for the Church, and it shall be taken away. This

is corroborated by the mention of “Signs of His coming multiply”, which indicates the

imminence of this eschatological event. Unlike the hymn discussed above, there is no

incidence of the future on the present, beyond the intense yearning for the coming of Christ

to occur today.

The same emphasis can be seen in the hymn "We Shall See the King Some Day"42.

1 Tho' the way we journey may be often drear,We shall see the King some day;On that blessed morning clouds will disappear;We shall see the King some day.

RefrainWe shall see the King some day,We will shout and sing some day;Gathered ’round the throne,When He shall call His own,We shall see the King some day.

2 After pain and anguish, after toil and care,We shall see the King some day;Thro' the endless ages joy and blessing share,We shall see the King some day. [Refrain]

3 After foes are conquered, after battles won,We shall see the King some day;After strife is over, after set of sun,We shall see the King some day. [Refrain]

4 There with all the loved ones who have gone before,We shall see the King some day;Sorrows past forever, on that peaceful shore,We shall see the King some day. [Refrain]

42 Author: Lewis E. Jones.

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Again, heaven is emphasized as the final destination of Christians. In this case, the

refrain declares that we will be “Gathered ’round the throne”. The latter verse explicitly

admits a futuristic theodicy43: the evil will be overcome when "Sorrows past forever".

As for the anthem “I'm a Pilgrim, and I'm a Stranger”44, it presents the same scheme as

the previous one.

1 I'm a pilgrim, and I'm a stranger,I can tarry, I can tarry but a night;Do not detain me, for I am goingTo where the fountains are ever flowing:I'm a pilgrim, and I'm a stranger,I can tarry, I can tarry but a night.

2 There the glory is ever shining;O my longing heart, my longing heart is there:Here in this country so dark and drearyI long have wandered, forlorn and weary:I'm a pilgrim, and I'm a stranger,I can tarry, I can tarry but a night.

3 Of the city to which I'm goingMy Redeemer, my Redeemer is the light;There is no sorrow, nor any sighing,Nor any sinning, nor any dying:Of the city to which I'm goingMy Redeemer, my Redeemer is the light.Amen.

It stresses the pilgrim character of the Christian towards the celestial homeland, with an

emphasis on the "heart" (disembodied heart?), which will enjoy eternally in the presence of

God. The overcoming of evils and sufferings will occur in the afterlife, without seeming to

have anything to do with the transformation that the world of today needs.

In a reference to the influence of millennialism on Protestant hymnology in Brazil,

Antonio Gouvéa Mendonça mentions in his book O Celeste Porvir, among others, the

following examples:

43 Theodicy is the part of theology that attempts to explain the problem of evil, justifying God or excusing Him of the evils that occur on the ground. It comes from the Greek theos, "God", and dike, "justice". The term was created by the philosopher Leibnitz. For an analysis philosophical and creative on the subject, see Leszek Kolakowski (2001), If There Is No God...44 Text: Mary Danna Shindler.

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By Elizabeth Milles, "Place of Delights":

Let us keep in our memoryThe riches of the beautiful country,And keep hope with usOf a better, happier life. 45

From Sanfor Fillmore Bennett, "The Sweet Future":

We will sing in the beautiful country,Melodies of holy ardor;In that heavenly and happy landThere is no crying, no moan, no pain. 46

After mentioning other examples, Mendonça concludes: “The millennial hymnology is

extensive and has been the source of the most extensive emotions of Protestant worship,

which contains basic characteristics of every millenarian mentality: egalitarianism, sanctity

and perfection.”47

From Central America we can highlight the lyrics of a hymn widely distributed in

Central and South America, written by Felicia and Mariano Beltran, called “How Glorious

Will Be That Great Morning.”48

1. O how glorious will be that great morningWhen Christ Jesus will return to be adored.When the nations as sisters and as brothersJoin to welcome the coming of the Lord.

45 Antonio Gouvéa Mendonça, O Celeste Porvir - A Inserção do Protestantismo no Brasil, Pending Real, Astee Ecumenical Institute of Postgraduation; in Theology and Religious Sciences, San Pablo, 1995, p. 238. We translate the Portuguese version that the author mentions.46 Translated from the Portuguese version by John Boyle.47 The author offers an important historical fact: the Brazilian Presbyterians, educated initially in postmillennialism, then turned to the premillenarism, as was the case of the leader Alfredo Borges Teixeira at the end of the 19th century, who testified: "Educated in postmillennialism we always felt the strength of this argument at the same time as we noted the religious ardor and spiritual joy that characterize the premillennialist brothers. Finally, greater attention given to the subject and the reading of books led us to the conclusion that , in the dark realms of Eschatology, premillennialism is the most luminous theory."48 It appears under No. 549 of the hymnal Celebremos Su Gloria (Let Us Celebrate His Glory). The music of this hymn is by unknown author, but with arrangements by Roberto Savage, copyright 1953, updated in 1981. The reference hymn has been edited by professors of the Central American Theological Seminary of Guatemala and is dedicated, among other authors, to Guatemalan hymnologist Alfredo Colom Maldonado (1904-1971). Data provided by Professor Pablo Sosa of ISEDET. Traslated into English by Mary Louise Bringle.

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RefrainFor the brilliance of that dawnWill outshine the brightest sun.All it’s heat and light give wayTo God’s never ending day.No more weeping will remain,No more grief and no more pain.For at last Jesus Christ, the Lamb of heaven‘Throned in mercy, forevermore will reign!

2. How we wait for that great glorious morningWhen the God of love descends for us to greet;When the fragrance of Christ will bath our sensesIn the rose light of dawn so rich and sweet. [Refrain]

3. On that day, ev’ry true faithful Christian,Each a worker who has gladly sacrificed,Like the Bride all adorned to meet her Bridegroom,Will rejoice in the loving arms of Christ. [Refrain]

In the same conceptual framework of the classical hymns already mentioned, this

Central American poetry returns to the themes of heaven, the heavenly home, the

overcoming of anguish, crying and pain, in a poetic construction saturated with apocalyptic

symbols. Even in a later verse, it affirms that in that heavenly place “When the fragrance of

Christ will bath our senses / In the rose light of dawn so rich and sweet”. Although all of

that is true, it follows the question of how to solve the problems of the here and now, where

everything is not “rosy” precisely. Or, in other words, how can this future perspective help

us to change the present state of things?

A very brief song, still sung in Pentecostal churches and, with ecclesiastical

globalization, in many other renovated and neo-Pentecostal churches, is the famous "I'm

Going with Him". It says:

Christ is coming, signs are there;Saved souls, He comes to seek.Those who slept will stay;Those who veiled, will go with Him.I go with Him (3 times),I do not stayI go with Him.

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With simple language, the author emphasizes what we have already seen in the classical

eschatological hymns: the imminence of the “already”, with a striking absence of the

Cullmannian “not yet”, and the fact that the signs have already been fulfilled to know that

this is true. Christ comes to seek “saved souls,” an implicit adoption of Greek dualism and

the immortality of the soul, to the detriment of the resurrection of the body. With the

expression “those who slept will stay,” the song seems to adopt the strange hypothesis of a

“partial rapture”: Christ returns, and only those who are watching will be raptured. The

ending emphasizes an individualistic profile: “I do not stay, I go with Him.”

What about the eschatological emphases in the production of the new evangelical

songwriters such as, for example, Marcos Witt? A quick review of this area allows us to

risk the suspicion that the eschatological is under-emphasized or directly absent. In fact,

there are few letters that refer to the themes enunciated in the classical hymnology of Latin

American production in the 1950s and 1960s. One exception may be the song entitled "And

Every Eye Shall See Him."49

And every eye shall see Him,When he comes back in power.On the clouds He will return,With great glory and majesty.Blessed is he who hearsThe words of this prophecy.Blessed is he who seeks,Because the time is near.Happy is he who wantsTo drink the water of life.And the Spirit and the Churchsay, "Come, Lord Jesus."

The song affirms the return of Jesus Christ without taking position for the pretribulation

rapture; rather, it focuses on Christ's glorious parousia to the world, when “every eye shall

see Him.” Very little poetic construction can be said, since the lyrics is a mere transcription

of texts from Revelation, especially 1.3, 7, and 22.17, which contrasts with the poetic

creation that can be seen in some of the classic hymns about the theme, and even in Latin

American hymnology. One wonders: Is this little emphasis on the eschatological future a

49 Taken from the CD entitled "Live, from Jerusalem, MARCOS WITT". Authors: Juan Salinas, Coamor Zamorano and Gamaliel Morán, CanZion Producciones, 1998.

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new form of “inaugurated eschatology”? Could it be that the “here”, with its urgent

solutions and easy recipes, has displaced the “afterlife” of the Latin American liturgical

scene? A general look at Witt's production shows that the emphasis is placed on the

lordship of Jesus Christ's worship of God, the “spiritual warfare”, the victory of the

Christian, prayer and the life of holiness. The influence of the eschatological future for the

present of history and of social and political reality appears sublimated or subsumed by

these emphases.

Finally, it is opportune to cite a different type of liturgical eschatology, perhaps with

less diffusion than the one exposed before, but present, especially in the so-called historical

churches. As an illustration, we can mention "We Have Hope", poetry of the Argentine

Methodist bishop Federico J. Pagura:50

Because He entered into the world and into history,Because He broke the silence and the agony;Because He filled the earth with His glory,Because He was light in our cold night;Because He was born in a dark crib,Because He lived sowing love and life;Because He broke the hard heartsAnd lifted the despondent souls.

RefrainThat’s why today we have hope;That’s why today we struggle with striving;That’s why today we look with confidence.The future, in this land of mine.That’s why today we have hope;That’s why we strive with obstinacy;That’s why today we look with confidence,To the future.

Because He attacked ambitious merchantsAnd denounced wickedness and hypocrisy;Because He exalted the children and the women,And rejected those who were proud.Because He bore the cross of our sorrowsAnd tasted the gall of our evils;Because He agreed to suffer our condemnation

50 The music is by the Uruguayan composer Homero R. Perera and has a tango rhythm. Here the lyrics are taken from Cancionero Abierto (Open Hymnal) ISEDET, Buenos Aires, p. 66.

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And thus die for all mortals. [Refrain]

Because a dawn saw His great victoryOver death, fear, lies,Nothing can stop His story,Nor the coming of His eternal Kingdom. [Refrain]

The mere reading of the poem gives us the clear feeling that we are in the presence of a

Christology and Eschatology different from those exposed in the previous cases. The

central theme is hope and, more precisely, the “why” of hope. It is a hope that is nourished

and invigorated from the One who “entered into the world and into history.” It summarizes

the life of Jesus of Nazareth, his life of love and justice, his choice for the poor and the

“downcast soul” and, as a counterpart, his criticism and denunciation of the “ambitious

merchants” for their “wickedness and hypocrisy". Where does hope come from? It comes

from both the history of Jesus and the eschatological future evident in the resurrection as a

proleptic eschatological event (“a down saw her great victory over death...”) and in the

blunt affirmation: “Nothing can stop its history anymore, nor the coming of His eternal

Kingdom.” Perhaps the refrain provides the hermeneutic key to understand this

eschatology: “We look forward to the future in this land of mine.” The future of the

triumph of Jesus Christ and the Kingdom of God must be translated into “this earth”,

waiting for the final consummation. It is, in short, the proposal of a dynamic hope, which

does not resign itself to failure, but leads to “strive with obstinacy.”

In the same way it is expressed in the song “Jogging of Victory”, released in CLADE

IV. From the Brazilian authors Laan Mendes de Barros and Joao Francisco we extract the

first verse:

If anyone asks for the day of hope,You will say with faith and confidence:“Everything here will get better.”The happy people will smooth history,And the Lord of victory will reap the harvest.And will hunger exist? Do not!Will violence exist? Do not!If our strength is maintained with striving,The Lord of harmony will take away our pain.

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It is the same message from the previous example, with different metaphors; and sets

forth a day of hope for history, which is nourished by the Lord, who is both the "Lord of

victory" and the "Lord of harmony" (shalom: peace, welfare). It exhorts us to stand firm,

with faith, confidence and striving.

Immersed in the world of image and sound, abstracted by the force of music and

participatory and emotional worship in churches, aspects that are not negative themselves,

we run the risk of not taking into account what is sung, that is, the theological content of the

songs. We must say that there are no innocent liturgies, hymnologies or aseptic songs. All

of them always respond to theological positions and doctrinal emphases, consciously or

unconsciously assumed. The samples have shown that, except in very honorable

exceptions, there is a marked celestial and transcendent tendency in classical hymnology

and the songs of evangelicals. There is, in general, an assumption of the theory of the

“rapture” of the Church and an absence of hope as a dynamic factor for the present of the

world. In summary, the eschatology expressed in the Latin American liturgy is, in general,

dualistic and spiritualistic, or has been directly replaced by other themes that have been

installed in the churches. It should be noted that this brief analysis of the classical hymns

and the most current songs is not done to the detriment of the spiritual blessing and strength

they may have provided in the past or continue to offer in the present. It is only a

theological analysis of its contents. What, then, would be an alternative eschatology of both

the models of systematic eschatology and those expressed in the Latin American cult? An

“integral eschatology” would offer an alternative in this regard.

Conclusion:

The Christianity is an eschatological faith. Jesus Christ, the Messiah, inaugurated the

eschatology in His proclamation of the Kingdom of God. There are many schools of

Eschatology: Historical Premilenarism, Dispensational Premilenarism, Amilenarism and

Postmilenarism. Dispensationalism was predominant in the Latin America context during

the first period of 20th Century but in the second period it is possible to detect the influence

of Theology of Hope by Jürgen Moltmann in three theological schools: Church and Society

in Latin America, Theology of Liberation and Latin American Theological Fraternity. As a

result of this influence, the imminence of the Parousia of Jesus Christ was replaced by the

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notion of Hope. In the traditional hymnology the Dispensationalistic view is present but in

the new Latin American Evangelical songs it is possible to detect the influence of Theology

of Hope. The clear example is “We Have Hope”, which represents an invitation to

transform the world here and now.

Because a dawn saw His great victory

Over death, fear, lies

Nothing can stop His story,

Nor the coming of His eternal Kingdom.

Alberto F. Roldán

Buenos Aires, October 30, 2017