Deep time is a term introduced and applied by John McPhee to the concept of geologic time in his book Basin and Range (1981), parts of which originally appeared in The New Yorker magazine.
61-424: Last days is the time period described by the eschatology of various religions. Last Day or Last Days may also refer to: Last days Eschatology ( / ˌ ɛ s k ə ˈ t ɒ l ə dʒ i / ; from Ancient Greek ἔσχατος ( éskhatos ) 'last' and -logy ) concerns expectations of the end of present age , human history , or the world itself. The end of
122-549: A white horse and brings an end to the current Kali Yuga , completing a cycle that starts again with the regeneration of the world. In Buddhism , the Buddha predicted his teachings would be forgotten after 5,000 years, followed by turmoil. It says a bodhisattva named Maitreya will appear and rediscover the teachings of the Buddha Dharma , and that the ultimate destruction of the world will then come through seven suns. Since
183-562: A beginning, no prospect of an end". Other scientists such as Georges Cuvier put forward ideas of past ages, and geologists such as Adam Sedgwick incorporated Werner's ideas into concepts of catastrophism ; Sedgwick inspired his university student Charles Darwin to exclaim "What a capital hand is Sedgewick [sic] for drawing large cheques upon the Bank of Time!". In a competing theory, Charles Lyell in his Principles of Geology (1830–1833) developed Hutton's comprehension of endless deep time as
244-684: A coming resurrection of the dead . They place this event (as well as the Second Coming) in the year 70. Advocates of partial preterism do believe in a coming resurrection. Full preterists contend that partial preterists are merely futurists , since they believe the Second Coming, the Resurrection, the Rapture , and the Judgment are yet to come. Many preterists believe first-century Christians experienced
305-634: A complete unraveling of the social fabric, with widespread calamity and war: Then he said to them, "Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be great earthquakes, and in various places famines and pestilences. And there will be terrors and great signs from heaven. But before all this they will lay their hands on you and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors for my name's sake. This will be your opportunity to bear witness. Settle it therefore in your minds not to meditate beforehand how to answer, for I will give you
366-675: A crucial scientific concept into uniformitarianism . As a young naturalist and geological theorist, Darwin studied the successive volumes of Lyell's book exhaustively during the Beagle survey voyage in the 1830s, before beginning to theorise about evolution . Physicist Gregory Benford addresses the concept in Deep Time: How Humanity Communicates Across Millennia (1999), as does paleontologist and Nature editor Henry Gee in In Search of Deep Time: Beyond
427-512: A dark cloud makes the whole sky night, and it will rain more noxious creatures than water. A battle between the righteous and wicked will be followed by the Frashokereti . On earth, the Saoshyant will arrive as the final savior of mankind, and bring about the resurrection of the dead . The yazata s Airyaman and Atar will melt the metal in the hills and mountains, which will flow as lava across
488-423: A deep understanding of the history and functioning of the evolving universe is a necessary inspiration and guide for our own effective functioning as individuals and as a species. This view has greatly influenced the development of deep ecology and ecophilosophy . The experiential nature of the experience of deep time has also greatly influenced the work of Joanna Macy . H. G. Wells and Julian Huxley regarded
549-513: A linear cosmology , with end-time scenarios containing themes of transformation and redemption . In Judaism , the term "end of days" makes reference to the Messianic Age and includes an in-gathering of the exiled Jewish diaspora , the coming of the Messiah , the resurrection of the righteous , and the world to come . Christianity depicts the end time as a period of tribulation that precedes
610-527: A mouth and wisdom, which none of your adversaries will be able to withstand or contradict. You will be delivered up even by parents and brothers and relatives and friends, and some of you they will put to death. You will be hated by all for my name's sake. But not a hair of your head will perish. By your endurance you will gain your lives. "But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that its desolation has come near. Then let those who are in Judea flee to
671-481: A sequence of events that will end with the sun rising from the west and the beginning of the Qiyāmah (Judgment Day). Dharmic religions tend to have more cyclical worldviews, with end-time eschatologies characterized by decay , redemption, and rebirth (though some believe transitions between cycles are relatively uneventful). In Hinduism , the end time occurs when Kalki , the final incarnation of Vishnu , descends atop
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#1732847659532732-639: A situation where one must choose for or against the Bible as the will of God. Another view of the end times is preterism . It distinguishes the time of the end from the end of time . Preterists believe the term last days (or Time of the End ) refers to, neither the last days of the Earth, nor the last days of humankind, but the end of the Old Covenant between God and Israel ; which, according to preterism, took place when
793-516: A theory known as Neptunism , envisaging the slow crystallisation of minerals in the ancient oceans of the Earth to form rock . Hutton's innovative 1785 theory, based on Plutonism , visualised an endless cyclical process of rocks forming under the sea, being uplifted and tilted, then eroded to form new strata under the sea. In 1788 the sight of Hutton's Unconformity at Siccar Point convinced Playfair and Hall of this extremely slow cycle, and in that same year Hutton memorably wrote "we find no vestige of
854-578: Is a range of eschatological belief in Protestant Christianity. Christian premillennialists who believe the end times are occurring now, are usually specific about timelines that climax in the end of the world. For some, Israel, the European Union , or the United Nations are seen as major players whose roles were foretold in scripture. Within dispensational premillennialist writing, there is
915-521: Is an evangelical futurist Biblical interpretation that foresees a series of dispensations , or periods, in which God relates to human beings under different Biblical covenants . The belief system is primarily rooted in the writings of John Nelson Darby and is premillennial in content. The reestablishment of Israel in 1948 provided a major impetus to the dispensationalist belief system. The wars of Israel after 1948 with its Arab neighbors provided further support, according to John F. Walvoord . After
976-660: Is believed to be imminent, with various current events as omens of impending Armageddon . These beliefs have been put forward by the Adventist movement ( Millerites ) and dispensational premillennialists . In 1918 a group of eight, well-known preachers produced the London Manifesto , warning of an imminent second coming of Christ shortly after the 1917 liberation of Jerusalem by the British. Protestants are divided between Millennialists and Amillennialists. Millennialists concentrate on
1037-434: Is drawing near." And he told them a parable: "Look at the fig tree, and all the trees. As soon as they come out in leaf, you see for yourselves and know that the summer is already near. So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that the kingdom of God is near. Truly, I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all has taken place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away." In
1098-503: Is incorporated as part of the end of days. A well-known passage from the Book of Isaiah describes this future condition of the world: "They shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks; nation will not lift sword against nation and they will no longer study warfare" (Isaiah 2:4, see also Micah 4:3 ). Maimonides (1135–1204) further describes the Messianic Era in
1159-558: The Amesha Spentas , living without food, hunger, thirst, weapons or injury. Bodies will become so light as to cast no shadow. All humanity will speak a single language, and belong to a single nation with no borders. All will share a single purpose and goal, joining with Ahura Mazda for a perpetual and divine exaltation. The Gnostic codex On the Origin of the World (possibly dating from near
1220-530: The Ancient Greek term ἔσχατος ( éschatos ), meaning "last", and -logy , meaning "the study of", and first appeared in English around 1844. The Oxford English Dictionary defines eschatology as "the part of theology concerned with death, judgment, and the final destiny of the soul and of humankind". The main tenets of modern Jewish eschatology, in no particular order, include: Judaism usually refers to
1281-603: The Historical Jesus . However, C. H. Dodd and others have insisted on a "realized eschatology" that says Jesus' own ministry fulfilled prophetic hopes. Many conservative scholars have adopted the paradoxical position the Kingdom of God passages describes a kingdom that is both "present" and "still to come" claiming Pauline eschatology as support. R. T. France and N. T. Wright among others have taken Jesus' apocalyptic statements of an imminent end, historically, as referring to
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#17328476595321342-475: The Mishneh Torah : "And at that time there will be no hunger or war, no jealousy or rivalry. For the good will be plentiful, and all delicacies available as dust. The entire occupation of the world will be only to know God; ... the people Israel will be of great wisdom; they will perceive the esoteric truths and comprehend their Creator's wisdom as is the capacity of man. As it is written (Isaiah 11:9): 'For
1403-572: The Six-Day War in 1967, and the Yom Kippur War in 1973, it seemed plausible to many Fundamentalist Christians in the 1970s that Middle East turmoil may well be leading up to the fulfillment of various Bible prophecies and to the Battle of Armageddon. Deep time The philosophical concept of geological time was developed in the 18th century by Scottish geologist James Hutton ; his "system of
1464-863: The Temple in Jerusalem was destroyed in 70 CE . Preterists believe that prophecies —such as the Second Coming , the desecration of the Jewish Temple, the destruction of Jerusalem, the rise of the Antichrist , the Great Tribulation , the advent of The Day of the Lord , and a Final Judgment —had been fulfilled when the Romans sacked Jerusalem and completely destroyed its Temple. Proponents of full preterism do not believe in
1525-519: The second coming of Christ , who will face the rise of the Antichrist along with his power structure and false prophets , and usher in the Kingdom of God . In later traditions of Islam, separate hadiths detail the Day of Judgment is preceded by the appearance of the Masīḥ ad-Dajjāl , and followed by the descending of ʿĪsā ( Jesus ), which shall triumph over the false Messiah or Antichrist; his defeat will lead to
1586-568: The second coming of Christ will be a cataclysmic event are generally called adventism . These have arisen throughout the Christian era, but were particularly common after the Protestant Reformation . Emanuel Swedenborg considered the second coming to be symbolic, and to have occurred in 1757. Along with others, he developed a religious system around the second coming of Christ, disclosed by new prophecy or special revelation not described in
1647-777: The year 6000 AM , and is the latest time the Messiah can come. A number of early and late Jewish scholars have written in support of this, including the Ramban , Isaac Abarbanel , Abraham Ibn Ezra , Rabbeinu Bachya , the Vilna Gaon , the Lubavitcher Rebbe , the Ramchal , Aryeh Kaplan and Rebbetzin Esther Jungreis . Frashokereti is the Zoroastrian doctrine of a final renovation of
1708-650: The 1750s onward. As mathematician John Playfair , one of Hutton's friends and colleagues in the Scottish Enlightenment , remarked upon seeing the strata of the angular unconformity at Siccar Point with Hutton and James Hall in June 1788, "the mind seemed to grow giddy by looking so far into the abyss of time". Early geologists such as Nicolas Steno and Horace Bénédict de Saussure had developed ideas of geological strata forming from water through chemical processes, which Abraham Gottlob Werner developed into
1769-442: The Bible. The Millerites are diverse religious groups which similarly rely upon a special gift of interpretation for predicting the second coming. The difference between the 19th-century Millerite and adventist movements and contemporary prophecy is that William Miller and his followers, based on biblical interpretation, predicted the time of the Second Coming to have occurred in 1844. Contemporary writing of end time has suggested
1830-510: The Book of Revelation, the "great tribulation" (Rev. 7:14b) refers to a time of affliction upon God's people. The Profession of Faith addresses Catholic beliefs concerning the last days. Catholicism adheres to the amillennial school of thought, promoted by Augustine of Hippo in his work The City of God . Contemporary use of the term End Times has evolved from literal belief in Christian millennialism. In this tradition, Biblical apocalypse
1891-504: The Fossil Record to a New History of Life (2001) Stephen Jay Gould 's Time's Arrow, Time's Cycle (1987) also deals in large part with the evolution of the concept. In Time's Arrow, Time's Cycle , Gould cited one of the metaphors McPhee used in explaining the concept of deep time: Consider the Earth's history as the old measure of the English yard, the distance from the King's nose to
Last days (disambiguation) - Misplaced Pages Continue
1952-622: The Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled. "And there will be signs in sun and moon and stars, and on the earth distress of nations in perplexity because of the roaring of the sea and the waves, people fainting with fear and with foreboding of what is coming on the world. For the powers of the heavens will be shaken. And then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. Now when these things begin to take place, straighten up and raise your heads, because your redemption
2013-603: The New Testament, applicable passages include Matthew 24 , Mark 13 , the parable of " The Sheep and the Goats " and the Book of Revelation —Revelation often occupies a central place in Christian eschatology. The Second Coming of Christ is the central event in Christian eschatology within the broader context of the fullness of the Kingdom of God . Most Christians believe that death and suffering will continue to exist until Christ's return. There are, however, various views concerning
2074-577: The Rapture to rejoin the Christ . According with Preterism's interpretation of end times, many "time passages" in the New Testament foretell a Second Coming of Christ, with last days to take place within the lifetimes of his disciples: Matt. 10:23, Matt. 16:28, Matt. 24:34, Matt. 26:64, Rom. 13:11–12, 1 Cor. 7:29–31, 1 Cor. 10:11, Phil. 4:5, James 5:8–9, 1 Pet. 4:7, 1 Jn. 2:18. Dispensationalism
2135-525: The belief that Christians will be summoned to Heaven by Christ at the rapture , occurring before a Great Tribulation prophesied in Matthew 24–25; Mark 13 and Luke 21. The Tribulation is described in the Book of Revelation. "End times" may also refer to the passing of an age or long period in the relationship between man and God. Adherents to this view cite the Second Epistle to Timothy and draw analogies to
2196-409: The darkness will dissolve, and the deficiency will be taken from its root. Those who were not perfected in the unconceived one will receive glories in their realms and kingdoms of the immortals, but those who were will enter a kingless realm. All will be judged according to their deeds and gnosis . Christian eschatology is the study concerned with the ultimate destiny of the individual soul and of
2257-504: The devastation: When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation , spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand). Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains. Let him which is on the housetop not come down. ...Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes, and woe unto them that are with child. ...For then shall be great tribulation, such as
2318-537: The development of the concept of deep time in the 18th century and the calculation of the estimated age of planet Earth , scientific discourse about end times has considered the ultimate fate of the universe . Theories have included the Big Rip , Big Crunch , Big Bounce , and Big Freeze ( heat death ). Social and scientific commentators also worry about global catastrophic risks and scenarios that could result in human extinction . The word "eschatology" arises from
2379-459: The difficulties of coping with the concept of deep time as exaggerated: "The use of different scales is simply a matter of practice," they said in The Science of Life (1929). "We very soon get used to maps, though they are constructed on scales down to a hundred-millionth of natural size ... to grasp geological time all that is needed is to stick tight to some magnitude which shall be the unit on
2440-419: The earth and all mankind, both the living and resurrected, will be required to wade through it. Ashavan will pass through the molten river as if it were warm milk, but the sinful will burn. It will then flow down to hell, where it will annihilate Angra Mainyu and the last vestiges of wickedness. The righteous will partake of the parahaoma , which will confer immortality upon them. Humanity will become like
2501-516: The earth shall be filled with the knowledge of God, as the waters cover the sea.'" In Kabbalah , the Zohar maintains that the seven days of the week, based on the seven days of creation, correspond to the seven millennia of creation. The seventh day of the week, the Shabbat day of rest, corresponds to the seventh millennium, the age of universal rest, or the Messianic Era. The seventh millennium begins with
Last days (disambiguation) - Misplaced Pages Continue
2562-435: The end of days to be imminent. Most of the scholars participating in the third quest hold that Jesus was an eschatological prophet who believed the " Kingdom of God " was coming within his own lifetime or within the lifetime of his contemporaries. This view, generally known as "consistent eschatology," was influential during the early to the mid—twentieth century and continues to be influential today in proposed portraits of
2623-562: The end of days. The precise time, however, will come like a "thief in the night" ( 1 Thess. 5:2 ). They may also refer to Matthew 24:36 in which Jesus is quoted as saying: "But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only." In the New Testament, Jesus refers to this period preceding the end times as the "Great Tribulation" ( Matthew 24:21 ), "Affliction" ( Mark 13:19 ), and "days of vengeance" ( Luke 21:22 ). The Book of Matthew describes
2684-494: The end of ordinary reality and to reunion with the divine . Many religions treat eschatology as a future event prophesied in sacred texts or in folklore , while other religions may have concepts of renewal or transformation after significant events. The explicit description of a new earth is primarily found in Christian teachings (this description can be found in Chapter 21 of the Book of Revelation) . The Abrahamic religions maintain
2745-477: The end of the third century AD) states that during what is called the consummation of the age, the Sun and Moon will become dark as the stars change their ordinary course. Kings will make war with each other, and thunder will cause the world to be shaken. The corrupt Archons will mourn. The sea will be troubled by fighting of the kings who became drunk from the flaming sword . Finally, great thunder will come from Sophia ,
2806-763: The end of the world, the Last Judgment , and the New Heaven and New Earth in the world to come . Eschatological passages occur in many places in the Bible, in both the Old and the New Testaments . In the Old Testament, apocalyptic eschatology can be found notably in Isaiah 24–27, Isaiah 56–66, Joel , Zechariah 9–14 as well as in the closing chapters of Daniel , and in Ezekiel . In
2867-677: The end times as the "end of days" ( aḥarit ha-yamim , אחרית הימים), a phrase that appears several times in the Tanakh . The end times are addressed in the Book of Daniel and in numerous other prophetic passages in the Hebrew scriptures, and also in the Talmud , particularly Tractate Avodah Zarah . The idea of a Messianic Age, an era of global peace and knowledge of the Creator, has a prominent place in Jewish thought, and
2928-463: The entire created order, based primarily upon biblical texts within the Old and New Testaments . Christian eschatological research looks to study and discuss matters such as the nature of the divine and the divine nature of Jesus Christ , death and the afterlife , Heaven and Hell , the Second Coming of Jesus , the resurrection of the dead , the rapture , the Tribulation , millennialism ,
2989-495: The fall of Jerusalem and the destruction of the Temple in 70 AD. A number of interpretations of the term "Kingdom of God" have thus appeared in its eschatological context, e.g., apocalyptic , realized or Inaugurated eschatologies, yet no consensus has emerged among scholars. While some who believe in the literal interpretation of the Bible insist the prediction of dates or times is futile, others believe Jesus foretold signs of
3050-581: The framework of the major Abrahamic faiths, a fully developed concept of the end of the world was not established in Zoroastrianism until 500 BCE. The Bahman Yasht describes: At the end of thy tenth hundredth winter, the sun is more unseen and more spotted; the year, month, and day are shorter; and the earth is more barren; and the crop will not yield the seed. And men become more deceitful and more given to vile practices. They will have no gratitude. Honorable wealth will proceed to those of perverted faith. And
3111-452: The habitable Earth" was a deistic mechanism keeping the world eternally suitable for humans. The modern concept entails huge changes over the age of the Earth which has been determined to be, after a long and complex history of developments, around 4.55 billion years. James Hutton based his view of deep time on a form of geochemistry that had developed in Scotland and Scandinavia from
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#17328476595323172-541: The issue of whether the true believers will see the Great Tribulation or be removed from it by what is referred to as a Pre-Tribulation rapture . Amillennialists believe the end times encompass the time from Christ's ascension to the last day, and maintain that the mention of the "thousand years" in the Book of Revelation is meant to be taken metaphorically (i.e., not literally), a view which continues to cause divisions within Protestant Christianity . There
3233-560: The late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. Post-Exilic Hebrew books of prophecy such as Daniel and Ezekiel are given new interpretations in this Christian tradition, while apocalyptic forecasts appear in the Judeo-Christian Sibylline Oracles which include the Book of Revelation ascribed to John, the apocryphal Apocalypse of Peter , and the Second Book of Esdras . Religious movements which expect that
3294-466: The mountains, and let those who are inside the city depart, and let not those who are out in the country enter it, for these are days of vengeance, to fulfill all that is written. Alas for women who are pregnant and for those who are nursing infants in those days! For there will be great distress upon the earth and wrath against this people. They will fall by the edge of the sword and be led captive among all nations, and Jerusalem will be trampled underfoot by
3355-414: The order and significance of other eschatological events. The Book of Revelation stands at the core of much of Christian eschatology. The study of Revelation is usually divided into four interpretative methodologies or hermeneutics : First-century Christians believed Jesus would return during their lifetime. When the converts of Paul in Thessalonica were persecuted by the Roman Empire , they believed
3416-425: The timetable will be triggered by future wars and moral catastrophe , and that this time of tribulation is close at hand. Seventh-day Adventists believe biblical prophecy to foretell an end time scenario in which the United States works in conjunction with the Catholic Church to mandate worship on a day other than the true Sabbath, Saturday, as prescribed in the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:8–11). This will bring about
3477-414: The tip of his outstretched hand. One stroke of a nail file on his middle finger erases human history. Concepts similar to geologic time were recognized in the 11th century by the Persian geologist and polymath Avicenna , and by the Chinese naturalist and polymath Shen Kuo . The Roman Catholic theologian Thomas Berry explored spiritual implications of the concept of deep time. Berry proposes that
3538-448: The universe when evil will be destroyed, and everything else will then be in perfect unity with God ( Ahura Mazda ). The doctrinal premises are: Zoroastrian eschatology is considered one of the oldest in recorded history. The birth of its founder, Zoroaster , is unknown, with scholarly dates ranging from 500 BCE to 1,500 BCE. Pliny the Elder even suggests there were two Zoroasters. However, with beliefs paralleling and possibly predating
3599-437: The woman in the firmament above the forces of Chaos . She will cast the corrupt gods into the abyss where they will fight each other until only their chief Yaldabaoth remains and destroys himself. Next the heavens of the Archons will collapse on each other before the Earth sinks into the abyss. Light will cover the darkness and eliminate it then form into something greater than anything that ever existed before. The source of
3660-399: The world or end times is predicted by several world religions (both Abrahamic and non-Abrahamic), which teach that negative world events will reach a climax. Belief that the end of the world is imminent is known as apocalypticism , and over time has been held both by members of mainstream religions and by doomsday cults . In the context of mysticism , the term refers metaphorically to
3721-437: Was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened. The resulting chaos will affect pregnancies, newborns, and a scourge will spread throughout the flesh, save for the elect. The vivid imagery of this section is repeated closely in Mark 13:14–20 . The Gospel of Luke describes
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