An Elegant Ending: Biblical Reflections on Kingdom, Crisis, and Human Destiny
Ebook
Millions of Christians the world over hold strong convictions about what happens to humankind at the end of history: Jesus will rapture the church away. Non-Christians will suffer eternal conscious torment in hell. We will play harps on clouds forever. But what if conventional Christian ideas don't align with what the Bible actually teaches? By scrutinizing the faulty assumptions and shaky exegetical foundations found in dispensationalism, An Elegant Ending offers believers an eschatological vision that is simpler, clearer, and more strongly grounded in the biblical canon.
“If you struggle with the idea of God sending people created in his image to eternal torment, this short but thick read is for you. In this stimulating theological exposition, Samuel Cocar convincedly encourages Evangelicals to rethink their traditional assumptions about eternal life by proposing a biblical alternative labeled ‘conditionalism.’ But he doesn’t leave it at that. Cocar also persuasively describes how our thoughts about the future shape sociopolitical engagement in the present.”
—Sam Hamstra Jr., pastor emeritus
“I strongly recommend this book. The eschatological is always fascinating; in this book, it appears even more so because of the questions Cocar raises. I’ve never come across some of these questions before, and the author demonstrates courage in tackling them. I have only one regret: that I didn’t have this book when I was younger.”
—Petru Amarei, president, Romanian Television Network
“This is the work of an excellent young theologian . . . Cocar takes on the history of theology, contests the accepted limits, and shakes conventional wisdom. His ideas move at the borderline between time and eternity, space and infinity. Only God has the full knowledge; the rest of us look for understanding. I enthusiastically recommend this book as an excellent exercise in exploring God’s word, wherein we find eternal life (John 17:3).”
—Daniel Branzei, senior pastor, Bethel Baptist Church
“Samuel Cocar leaves behind Left Behind and forges an alternative approach to biblical eschatology. Through accessible but rigorous expositions of key texts, he sketches a different understanding of Scripture’s teachings about the last things. This book will help those convinced that the Bible teaches the truth but unsure if dominant strands of North American Evangelicalism in the twentieth century heard rightly what it says about eschatology.”
—Stephen J. Chester, Wycliffe College
- Title: An Elegant Ending: Biblical Reflections on Kingdom, Crisis, and Human Destiny
- Author: Samuel Cocar
- Publisher: Wipf and Stock
- Print Publication Date: 2022
- Logos Release Date: 2022
- Language: English
- Resources: 1
- Format: Digital › Ebook
- ISBNs: 9781666717266, 9781666717242, 9781666717259, 1666717266, 166671724X, 1666717258
- Resource ID: LLS:9781666717266
- Resource Type: Monograph
- Metadata Last Updated: 2022-12-22T07:32:02Z
Samuel Cocar is a pastor and educator. He is the co-author of Practicing the Monastic Disciplines with Sam Hamstra Jr. He lives in southern Wisconsin with his spouse Valerie and two daughters.