Tribulation and Peace: the Fate of Shalom in j eWish Apocalyptic

Abstract

The notion that the utopian age of peace and justice can come into being only through extreme conflict has roots in the biblical eschatological tradition, where the advent of the age of shalom always seems to presuppose the prior purge of the Day of Yahweh. Western theology finds itself forced to reassess the meaning of this traditional sequence, lest we wrongly identify the nuclear sword wielded against evildoers with the fire of divine judgment. This article offers such a reassessment by linking the apocalyptic onset-crisis-paradise sequence back to the prophetic schema of indictment-threat-promise. As in the prophets, the apocalyptic crisis (cataclysm) can be understood as a gracious act of God, the means to the end of remediation and peace.