Ethics and Eschatology in the Synoptic Tradition: A Response to N. T. Wright on Gospel Eschatology in His Gifford Lectures

the primary point of the paper is to highlight how Wright’s interpretive position on Mark 9:1; 13:24–27; and 14:62 (along with their synoptic parallels) envisages a mode of fulfilment at odds with the moral bearing of Jesus’ historic mission and message, as attested in the biblical Gospels.

The 2018 Gifford Lectures were delivered at the University of Aberdeen by Professor N. T. Wright. Eight public lectures were presented under the title, “Discerning the Dawn: History, Eschatology and New Creation”. These lectures were subsequently published as History and Eschatology: Jesus and the Promise of Natural Theology (Baylor University Press and SPCK, 2019).

This paper probes a point of tension between ethics and eschatology within Wright’s fundamental proposal about Gospel eschatology, which is that Jesus’ future oriented sayings featuring the “Son of Man” and/or the kingdom of God related to the demise of the temple in Jerusalem rather than presaging the “end of the world” at Jesus’ return (or parousia). After briefly noting important aspects of Wright’s Gifford Lectures in their entirety, the paper homes in on chapter 4, titled “The End of the World? Eschatology and Apocalyptic in Historical Perspective”, tracing Wright’s larger argument, identifying key features of his position, and offering a respectful critique on several crucial points. Time permitting, brief exegetical remarks on certain contested Synoptic texts will be offered, but the primary point of the paper is to highlight how Wright’s interpretive position on Mark 9:1; 13:24–27; and 14:62 (along with their synoptic parallels) envisages a mode of fulfilment at odds with the moral bearing of Jesus’ historic mission and message, as attested in the biblical Gospels.