Eschatology
Theology of endings
Eschatology is the branch of theology concerned with final things—death, judgment, heaven, hell, and the ultimate fate of humanity.
Christian eschatology includes doctrines about the Second Coming, resurrection, and the end of the world.
The term extends beyond Christianity to any system of beliefs about ultimate destiny: Buddhist eschatology, secular eschatology.
Informally, eschatological thinking surfaces whenever people contemplate civilizational collapse or species extinction.
Total civilizational collapse
- raptureOverwhelming ecstatic feeling
- judgmentReasoned decision-making capacity
- resurrectionRevival from death
- heavenSky or bliss
hell · millennium · tribulation · Armageddon · second coming · afterlife · salvation · damnation
Study of the divine
- doctrineEstablished body of teachings
- hermeneuticsStudy of interpretation methods
- postmillennialismReturn follows global renewal
- teleologyStudy of purpose in nature
futurism · historicism · biblical studies · apocalypticism · Christology · seminary · exegesis · canon
Prophesied world's end
- apocalypticPertaining to ultimate devastation
- dystopiaImaginary terrible society
- survivalismEmergency readiness lifestyle
- prepperOne who stockpiles for catastrophe
millennium bug · nuclear winter · climate collapse · extinction · catastrophism · cult · millenarianism · cargo cult
Norse end of days
- MahdiIslam's foretold deliverer
- ZoroastrianFollower of ancient Persian faith
- DreamtimeAboriginal mythological creation era
- linear timeDuration moving one direction
apocalypse
Total civilizational collapse
- raptureOverwhelming ecstatic feeling
- judgmentReasoned decision-making capacity
- resurrectionRevival from death
heaven · hell · millennium · tribulation · Armageddon · second coming · afterlife · salvation · damnation · purgatory
theology
Study of the divine
- doctrineEstablished body of teachings
- hermeneuticsStudy of interpretation methods
- postmillennialismReturn follows global renewal
teleology · futurism · historicism · biblical studies · apocalypticism · Christology · seminary · exegesis · canon
doomsday
Prophesied world's end
- apocalypticPertaining to ultimate devastation
- dystopiaImaginary terrible society
- survivalismEmergency readiness lifestyle
prepper · millennium bug · nuclear winter · climate collapse · extinction · catastrophism · cult · millenarianism · cargo cult · Left Behind
Ragnarok
Norse end of days
- MahdiIslam's foretold deliverer
- ZoroastrianFollower of ancient Persian faith
- DreamtimeAboriginal mythological creation era
Eschatologycosmogony
Study of universal origins
creation narrative · genesis · origins · Genesis · origin story
Eschatologyempiricism
Knowledge through observation
historiography · naturalism · positivism · phenomenology · recorded history