This is the seventh and final book in the Christian Foundation series authored by Donald Bloesch, Emeritus Professor of Theology at Dubuque (Iowa) Theological Seminary. Bloesch's thematic insistence throughout the series is that Word and Spirit bring truth and experience together in a sacramental theology that views Jesus Christ as entering deeply into the depths of human existence while, at the same time, drawing humans out of despair into living fellowship with the risen and glorified Christ. One might say that Bloesch assumes a foundational spiritual reality captured by the Apostle Paul when he speaks of ‘Christ in you, the hope of glory’, and ‘your life is hidden with Christ in God’ (Col 1:27; 3:3). This christological hermeneutic allows the Spirit of Christ in human experience and the divine Word of Christ to become an analogical construct that both reveals and conceals.

One is not surprised then, that The Last Things presents an eschatology that traces out the contours of a biblical vision of final judgement, the consummation of the Kingdom of God, death and resurrection, heaven and hell, in such a way that human theories yield to divine purpose and catastrophic events are penultimate to divine grace. As with his other books in this series, Bloesch is both encyclopedic and engaging in his approach. Readers will discover that not only does he present a fair and balanced view of differing positions with regard to eschatological theories, he names the names and discloses nuances of their views that reveal more than bibliographic data.

For example, his discussion of ‘The Millennial Hope’ (chapter 5) includes views held by those who argue for a premillennial, postmillennial, amillennial return of Christ, as well as by those who represent several forms of dispensationalism. In each category, both modern as well as contemporary theologians are identified. Bloesch concludes this section with his view of an ‘unfolding millennium’ where the reign of Christ is both revealed and hidden within history while pointing towards a final transformation where millennial glory already at work within history moves towards the end of history (superhistory). As always, Bloesch does not ‘hold his cards too close to his chest’. He opposes that aspect of premillennialism that makes the Kingdom of Christ totally future and that aspect of amillennialism that views the Kingdom as already being accomplished within history. His own view is historical-symbolic in that the symbols of apocalyptic literature refer not to timeless truths nor to specific historical events but rather to the penetration of the Kingdom of God within history moving history forward to its final transformation. Bloesch invites us to view eschatology as both experiential with regard to infusing faith with hope and also prophetic in terms of grounding hope in our faith in what God has done, is doing, and will bring to consummation through Jesus Christ.

His discussion of the last judgement, hell and heaven is placed within the chapter titled ‘The Triumph of Grace’, which reveals his indebtedness to Karl Barth, though not without some caveats. ‘The possibility of ontological separation from God has been cancelled by Jesus Christ through his universal atoning sacrifice’ (p. 217). The hell of outer darkness has been banished by Christ's victory, Bloesch asserts, but there remains a hell of inner darkness as a shadow of what has been overcome. The pain of hell is due to the presence of God, not his absence. Instead of viewing hell as a torture chamber presided over by the devil, we should view it as a sanatorium for sick, incurable souls, where not the devil, but Jesus Christ presides (p. 224). The punishment of hell is not simply retribution but curative and remedial, though some will even then resist this cure. Sinners are preserved from annihilation by this love that seeks transformation. While there is no passageway from hell to heaven, there is one from heaven to hell (p. 237). The reality of hell must be taken seriously, but it is not a hell outside the compass of God's love. Citing the Catholic tradition, Bloesch argues that hell is a creation of God's love as well as his justice. With Richard John Neuhaus, he suggests that damnation is not the last word. At the same time, he rejects outright universalism in favour of what he calls ‘a particularism within a universalism’. Hell is a penultimate, not an ultimate reality. It is a searing word of judgement before the final word of grace (p. 238). Salvation is fixed at death for those who are spiritually united with Christ but the condemnation of those who die without being in Christ is not yet decided at death. ‘I am teaching not a doctrine of a second chance but the universality of opportunity for salvation’. Citing Peter T. Forsyth, Bloesch says that ‘there may well be more conversions on the other side of death than on this side’ (p. 146).

It is not easy to determine exactly what Bloesch has in mind at this point. Perhaps the clue lies in his leaning towards Kierkegaard where paradox holds in tension the universal intention of God's grace and the experiential reality of addiction to perversity and wilful rejection of God's grace. ‘The paradox is that God's grace accomplishes its goal but in and through human determination’ (p. 240). My conclusion is that Bloesch, like Barth, is a ‘wistful universalist’. Indeed, he cites Bernard Ramm approvingly: ‘Every sensitive evangelical is a universalist at heart’ (p. 236).

Heaven, like hell, for Bloesch is a place not merely a condition. It involves a cosmic transformation – a new heaven and earth – as well as an eschatological fellowship with God and with one another. There will be distinctions in heaven – greater and lesser lights – but not unlawful discriminations. Gender distinctions will persist, but sexuality will be left behind. There will be perfect love and beatitude in heaven despite poignant awareness of the existence of hell (pp. 230-1). Perhaps this statement is most typical of Bloesch; he states his own view in the form of one-liners, leaving the reader to ponder the implications!

I found his discussion of death and the interim state prior to resurrection interesting and helpful (chapters 6 and 7). At the moment of death we will be clothed with an incorruptible body. When Christ comes again we will be reclothed with a glorified body that is eternal (p. 131). He accepts the older view that paradise represents the interim state, a preliminary realm of glory. He rejects the notion of purgatory as unbiblical as well as a failure to appreciate fully the achievement of Christ's death and resurrection as a work of grace (p. 151). My own view is that Bloesch here interjects a form of temporality into a post-temporal eternality that leads to unnecessary speculation. Professor T. F. Torrance helpfully reminds us that, ‘Looked at from the perspective of a new creation there is no time gap between the death of the believer and the parousia of Christ, but looked at from the perspective of time that decays and crumbles away, there is a lapse of time between them’ (Theology in Reconstruction (1965), p. 118).

I have only begun to touch upon the creative, stimulating and biblically based eschatology of Donald Bloesch. While I have resisted assigning one book for my students in the area of eschatology, this book is the one that I have been looking for. It is both edifying and informative. It provides a solid evangelical basis for dialogue with both postmodernists and traditionalists. Not all will agree with Bloesch's conclusions, but all will be stimulated to reflect once again on a too-often-neglected aspect of the theological spectrum.