In The Return of Jesus in Early Christianity, John T. Carroll and three other scholars describe the origins of this hope in ancient Christian writings and its persistence to the present. Chapters on the New Testament explore the theme of the parousia, or return, of Jesus in the Synoptic Gospels and Acts, in the writings of Paul (a chapter by Alexandra R. Brown), in the Johannine writings, and in the Catholic Epistles. Jeffrey S. Siker describes Christian hope for Jesus' return in the two hundred years after the last New Testament books were written. Claudia J. Setzer relates the Christian hope to Jewish messianic expectations. A final chapter surveys key developments form Augustine through the Reformation to North American developments. Carroll concludes that even at the end of the twentieth century, Christian theology is irreducibly eschatological.
John T. Carroll is Dean of the Theology Faculty and Harriet Robertson Fitts Memorial Professor of New Testament at Union Theological Seminary and Presbyterian School of Christian Education in Richmond, Virginia. With James R. Carroll, he coauthored Preaching the Hard Sayings of Jesus. He and Joel B. Green, with contributions from other members of the Society of Biblical Literature's 'Passion Narrative and Tradition in Early Christianity Group', wrote The Death of Jesus in Early Christianity.
