Question 1:
How do theologians distinguish between individual and general eschatology?
Dr. Stephen C. Roy
The word "eschatology" comes from the Greek adjective , meaning "last," and so it's the eschatos
study of the last things, the things that will ultimately happen. And theologians have
distinguished two broad forms of eschatology. We might call them "individual" eschatology and
"general." Both deal with last things, ultimate outcomes, but in different realms. Individual
eschatology asks the question, "what will ultimately happen to me, to you, to any human as an
individual?" And it speaks about what happens when this life is done. It speaks of the reality of
death, of the intermediate state prior to final resurrection, and of ultimate eternal states, whether
eternal blessedness in the new heavens and new earth or eternal conscious punishment in hell…
General eschatology also deals with ultimate things, but now it's not so much the ultimate
destiny of individuals. Now, it's humanity as a whole. It's human history. It's the created
universe, the cosmos itself. General eschatology says not so much, "what will happen to me?" as,
"what will happen to us?" What will happen in history? What will the final outcome of the
universe be? And so, it deals with realities like the second coming of Christ. It deals with
questions of millennium and rapture, and it deals with those eternal states, again of the new
heavens, new earth, or of hell. So, it's helpful to think in these two categories of individual
eschatology and general.
Dr. Jeff Lowman
When we think about eschatology historically, it has been divided into individual and corporate
eschatology. Individual eschatology is simply what happens to us at death, what happens to us in
the future. It speaks about, often when you deal with individual eschatology, you're dealing with
issues concerning the nature of death. You're dealing with issues concerning the intermediate
state. You're dealing with the issues of the resurrection body and the nature of the resurrection
body, drawing a lot, in that instance, from 1 Corinthians 15. When you talk about general
eschatology, corporate eschatology, you're really talking about the second coming of Christ, and
you're talking about his return. You're dealing with the basic four millennial views, and you're
