A Theology of the "Last Word"

Christian theology is a theology of the "last word," the "theology of the end" - it is the ultimate comeback.

Too much of our speech about God is pressed down by the response of the present world, the pain which does surround us, and which apparently dominates, which lacks a terminus, and which seems to have no half-life, but instead increases, perpetuates itself.

To avoid such despondency, theologians (professionals and pew-people) have adopted a theology that simply shouts "One glad morning when this life is over I'll fly away" over the discordant notes in "even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of Death." It misses the present, skips over the historical, and forgets about the Incarnation.

Two meanings can be ascribed to "end:" that which refers to the finality, or to the teleology, the purpose, the fulfillment of the Architect's design (archegon kai teleitein, Author and Completer/Perfector/Finisher, as in Heb 12). Christian theology must keep both in mind, for both are right loci of our speech about God, about the final word.


We must know what it means to live in the flesh in this world, even and especially when life gets hard, but also what it means to walk in another world, in another time, under another King.

Christianity pronounces a theology of the last word because this present world, these "light, fleeting circumstances, are as nothing compared with the eternal weight of glory that is being wrought in us."

Christianity is the theology of the last word because the single most powerful, most spiteful, most hope-sapping thing this world can scream at us in its desperation is "DEATH!," but our reply, spoken with humility and triumph, is simply "Really? Because I know the One who got up."