Systematic Theology, by Louis Berkhof - New Leaven

PART SIX:
THE DOCTRINE OF THE
LAST THINGS
Introductory Chapter
A. ESCHATOLOGY IN PHILOSOPHY AND RELIGION.
1. THE QUESTION OF ESCHATOLOGY A NATURAL ONE. A doctrine of the last things is not
something that is peculiar to the Christian religion. Wherever people have seriously
reflected on human life, whether in the individual or in the race, they have not merely
asked, whence did it spring, and how did it come to be what it is, but also, whither is it
bound? They raised the question, What is the end or final destiny of the individual; and
what is the goal towards which the human race is moving? Does man perish at death, or
does he enter upon another state of existence, either of bliss or of woe? Will the
generations of men come and go in endless succession and finally sink into oblivion, or
is the race of the children of men and the whole creation moving on to some divine telos,
an end designed for it by God. And if the human race is moving on to some final, some
ideal, condition perhaps, will the generations that have come and gone participate in
this in any way, and if so, how; or did they merely serve as a thoroughfare leading up to
the grand climax? Naturally, only those who believe that, as the history of the world
had a beginning, it will also have an end, can speak of a consummation and have a
doctrine of eschatology.
2. THE QUESTION OF ESCHATOLOGY IN PHILOSOPHY. The question of the final destiny of
the individual and of the race occupied an important place even in the speculations of
the philosophers. Plato taught the immortality of the soul, that is, its continued
existence after death, and this doctrine remained an important tenet in philosophy up to
the present time. Spinoza had no place for it in his pantheistic system, but Wolff and
Leibnitz defended it with all kinds of arguments. Kant stressed the untenableness of
these arguments, but nevertheless retained the doctrine of immortality as a postulate of
practical reason. The idealistic philosophy of the nineteenth century ruled it out. In fact,
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