The hope of the early church : a handbook of patristic eschatology / Brian E. Daley.

Includes bibliographical references (p. 266-287) and index.

Visions of a new day: early Semitic Christianity and Christian apocalyptic -- Making history intelligible: eschatology and the apologists -- Regaining the light: eschatology in the gnostic crisis (150-200) -- Senectus Mundi: eschatology in the West, 200-250 -- A school for souls: Alexandrian eschatology and its critics (185-300) -- The dawn of the final conflict: Latin eschatology in the great persecution (303-313) -- Facing death in freedom: Eastern eschatology in the Age of Nicaea (325-400) -- Redemptio Totius Corporis: Latin eschatology in the fourth century -- Grace present and future: Greek eschatology in the fifth century -- Signs of a church triumphant: Latin eschatology in the fifth century -- Apokatastasis and apocalyptic: Eastern eschatology after Chalcedon -- The end of all flesh: eschatology in the sixth-century West -- Epilogue: a common hope.

This book is an outline of the development of eschatological thought in the first seven centuries of Christianity. It is the first attempt, in any language, to give a comprehensive description of the origins of Christian eschatology, as it expanded from its Jewish roots and Jesus' preaching, and as it drew upon the philosophical and folkloric notions of death and its aftermath held by the peoples of the Mediterranean. Based on a study of the original texts, the book considers not only the eschatology of the Greek and Latin fathers, but also what can be known from the early Syriac, Coptic, and Armenian Christian literature. Brief and clearly-focused in its range of subjects, the book provides an accessible historical survey of a centrally important aspect of early Christian doctrine.This book is an outline of the development of eschatological thought in the first seven centuries of Christianity. It is the first attempt, in any language, to give a comprehensive description of the origins of Christian eschatology, as it expanded from its Jewish roots and Jesus' preaching, and as it drew upon the philosophical and folkloric notions of death and its aftermath held by the peoples of the Mediterranean. Based on a study of the original texts, the book considers not only the eschatology of the Greek and Latin fathers, but also what can be known from the early Syriac, Coptic, and Armenian Christian literature. Brief and clearly-focused in its range of subjects, the book provides an accessible historical survey of a centrally important aspect of early Christian doctrine.