J. Richard Middleton - A New Heaven and a New Earth: Reclaiming Biblical Eschatology

2014 by J. Richard Middleton

Published by Baker Academic

a division of Baker Publishing Group

P.O. Box 6287, Grand Rapids, MI 49516-6287

www . bakeracademic . com

Ebook edition created 2014

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any meansfor example, electronic, photocopy, recordingwithout the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is on file at the Library of Congress, Washington, DC.

ISBN 978-1-4412-4138-2

Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright 1989, by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

This volume is a superb theological examination of a key biblical theme that is all too often neglected in academic circles. Ranging widely across Old Testament and New Testament texts, with careful attention to the history of Christian interpretation on this issue, Middleton presents a very thoughtful treatment that deserves wide attention.

Terence E. Fretheim , Luther Seminary

Rooted in Scripture, chock-full of insight, clearly and fetchingly written, A New Heaven and a New Earth winsomely presents the biblical story of holistic salvation. Over against the all-too-common eschatology of heavenly rapture and earthly destruction, Richard Middletons new book reclaims the scriptural vision of cosmic renewal. In a time when the Bible is often used to justify ecological degradation, since (it is argued) the earth will in the eschaton be burned up to nothing, A New Heaven and a New Earth could not be more timely. Simply put, this sorely needed volume is the best book of its kind. May it find a great multitude of readers.

Steven Bouma-Prediger , Hope College; author of For the Beauty of the Earth

Richard Middleton is talking about a revolution! Why should Christians settle for the anemic goal of eternity spent in heaven when the Bibles robust vision is one of a resurrected humanity on the new earth? Set your imagination free from the chains of other-worldly dualism and enter into the brilliant and fascinating world of the biblical story, where the vision of all things redeemed breathes new life into our discipleship.

Sylvia Keesmaat , Trinity College, University of Toronto

A New Heaven and a New Earth is a very fineIm inclined to say magnificentexample of sound biblical scholarship based on decades of intense and careful scholarship and sustained by an integral theological vision which honors biblical authority. It delivers a strong blow to the long and powerful influence of an otherworldly Platonism on the Christian eschatological imagination and celebrates Gods commitment to an integral and comprehensive restoration of the creation, including all its earthly and cultural dimensions.

Al Wolters , Redeemer University College, Ancaster, Ontario

Martin Buber once reconceived the exclusionary distinction between the holy and the unholy as the potentially inclusionary distinction between the holy and the not-yet-holy. In a similar vein, Richard Middleton, on solid biblical grounds, reenvisions this present world, in all its ambiguity, as the not-yet-new-heaven-and-new-earth of Gods redemptive purpose. The upshot is a radical reorientation of human hope and an exhilarating call to participate in Gods work for the redemptive transformation of this world. I wish I had read this book sixty years ago; it would have made a world of difference in my life. Yet even at this date, it enables me to reread my past, and live toward my future, in a new light.

J. Gerald Janzen , Christian Theological Seminary, Indianapolis, Indiana

To Marcia,
my faithful friend and partner in the journey of life