Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Moon-Ryul Jung" <moon AT sogang.ac.kr>]

John A.T. Robinson wrote in his book JESUS AND HIS COMING:

 These ideas and others like them (e.g. the resurrection of the dead),
 which in the New Testament are associated with the Parousia, do not 
 of themselves require any special explanations. The consumation of God's
 purpose, the judgement, the ingathering (of the elects), and the end
 of the world are all parts of traditional Jewish eschatology. (p. 21)

I am not familiar with the original sources behind Robinson's conclusion.
It seems that his conclusion is pretty obvious; He does not cite
the sources supporting his conclusion. So be it.

But I wonder what does the "end of the world" mean in traditional Jewish
eschatology? In short, does it include the collapse/destruction of the
physical earth, or rather mean the collapse of the existing social order?

Sincerely

Moon Jung
Associate Professor
Dept of Media Technology,
Sogang Univ,
Seoul, Korea