Do you believe the world will come to an end? If so, where, when and what will it look like?

FROM THE PANEL

Paula Fredriksen is the Aurelio Professor of Scripture at Boston University. The "On Faith" panelist previously held teaching positions at the University of Pittsburgh, University of California -- Berkeley, Stanford and Princeton. She has also taught at Hebrew University in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv University. Fredriksen earned her doctorate in the history of religions (ancient Christianity, Graeco-Roman religions) at Princeton, writing her dissertation on "Augustine's Early Interpretations of Paul." She has published widely on the social and intellectual history of ancient Christianity from the late Second Temple period to the fall of the Roman Empire in the West. Her books include From Jesus to Christ: The Origins of the New Testament Images of Jesus (1988 and 2000), for which she won the 1988 Yale Press Governors' Award for Best Book, and Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews: A Jewish Life and the Emergence of Christianity (1999), for which she won a National Jewish Book Award. Together with Adele Reinhartz, she edited and contributed to Jesus, Judaism, and Christian Anti-Judaism: Reading the New Testament After the Holocaust (2002). She also edited and contributed to On 'The Passion of the Christ' (2005), a collection of essays about Mel Gibson's controversial film. Her latest book, Augustine and the Jews, is set for publication in 2007.

Second Coming or Third?

In Augustine's view, the Second Coming had already occurred at the first Pentecost.

Paula Fredriksen, Author and Aurelio Professor of Scripture, Boston University | 5 COMMENTS
Mar 26, 2007 at 1:36 PM

The Question Is Not If the World Will End, But How?

The Jewish Sages have taught that humanity has a choice.

Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz, Founder, The Israel Institute for Talmudic Publications | 18 COMMENTS
Mar 26, 2007 at 9:57 AM

End of the World or End of Time?

Belief in the Earth's end and a divine reckoning with humanity don't necessarily cancel each other out.

Gustav Niebuhr, Director of the Religion & Society Program, Syracuse University | 4 COMMENTS
Mar 26, 2007 at 8:05 AM

Apocalyse Now

The idea that human beings can predict when, where and how the world will end is arrogant and unfaithful.

Rev. Dr. Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite, President, Chicago Theological Seminary | 157 COMMENTS
Mar 25, 2007 at 10:20 AM

Who's Afraid of the End of the World?

One person's "truth claim" is another's page in a textbook of clinical psychological disorders, and belief in the Rapture end-of-the-world scenario offers an excellent example of the latter.

Susan Jacoby, Author and reporter | 273 COMMENTS
Mar 25, 2007 at 9:52 AM

Before and After

The world is a beautiful and wondrous place. To think of the ultimateness of its end requires a fearsome act of imagination.

James Anderson, Co-founder, Alban Institute | 16 COMMENTS
Mar 23, 2007 at 10:51 AM

"The World" Means What?

The idea that “the end of the world” is the consummation of a divine plan for the earth is due to a bad translation in the King James Version of the Bible.

John Dominic Crossan, Lecturer and professor emeritus, DePaul University | 40 COMMENTS
Mar 23, 2007 at 9:37 AM

At World's End, Restoration and Judgment

Not to believe that there will be a time for the reckoning of all accounts, for the consummation of history as we know it, is not to believe in a just God.

Charles "Chuck" Colson, Founder, Prison Fellowship ministry | 64 COMMENTS
Mar 23, 2007 at 8:40 AM

Not Even "The Angels" Know

The idea that we are living in the latter period of the world’s history is a repeated theme in Mormon doctrine.

Michael Otterson, Media relations director, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints | 145 COMMENTS
Mar 23, 2007 at 7:16 AM

We've Got the Whole World In Our Hands

I’ve wondered if the phenomenon of global warming will bring on the kind of apocalypticism described in the book of Revelation.

Randall Balmer, Columbia University professor, author | 28 COMMENTS
Mar 22, 2007 at 10:36 AM

Not With a Bang but a Whimper

Which position I favor varies from day to day depending on my own psyche and what I read in the morning newspaper.

Thomas J. Reese, S.J., Rev. Thomas J. Reese, senior fellow Woodstock Theological Center, Jesuit priest | 28 COMMENTS
Mar 22, 2007 at 9:53 AM

World Without End, Amen

The "world" will not end. It will be transformed, even re-created.

Cal Thomas, Syndicated political columnist | 91 COMMENTS
Mar 22, 2007 at 8:09 AM

Entropy, Apocalypse and All That Jazz

I see no harm in adding a touch of religious imagery to science.

Anthony M. Stevens-Arroyo, Director, Research Center for Religion in Society and Culture | 11 COMMENTS
Mar 22, 2007 at 7:37 AM

Focus on the Here, Not the Hereafter

We had better do as well as we can, and behave as morally and ethically as we can, and not worry about the end of the world.

Julia Neuberger, Chair, Commission on the Future of Volunteering in England | 13 COMMENTS
Mar 21, 2007 at 8:43 AM

Read the Book; You'll Know How it Ends

The idea that to get salvation you need to go to heaven -- rather than that salvation is a gift which comes from heaven to embrace earth -- results in misreadings of key texts.

Nicholas T. Wright, Anglican Bishop of Durham, England | 48 COMMENTS
Mar 21, 2007 at 7:39 AM