"The Coming of the Son of Man"

When one reads and studies (in detail) the Emerging Church movement, one is lost in a world of ambiguity, mystery, narrative, orthopraxy, and helping the poor, that one is struck by the silence regarding eschatology. Once in a while, Emergents raise the issue but spend little time on it. One thing is clear: they're not fans of Left Behind.

So I picked up Andrew Perriman's book, "The Coming of the Son of Man: New Testament Eschatology for an Emerging Church," to get a better understanding of what the Emerging Church believed about eschatology.

I must say that I was impressed (though disagreeing with the conclusions) with the book as a whole. The main reason I was impressed was because the author provided a serious review and an honest argument from Scripture. There wasn't as much speculation, conversation, or ambiguity as I expected. What I read was an honest treatment of Scripture and although I disagree with Perriman's conclusion, he at least deserves credit for taking the text seriously unlike most in the Emerging Church movement.

Perriman offers an argument that most of the eschatological prophecies in Scripture were fulfilled in the First Century. I do not wish to go into specific detail because this argument has been repeatedly made for two thousand years. In the end, I find the argument lacking and incomplete. I do believe that much of what is prophesied in Scripture was fulfilled in the first century and that the original readers did see much of Revelation to refer to Rome and their own times, however, much of eschatological prophecies in Scripture do not refer to just the first-century, but also to a final moment in history. There is oftentimes an immediate fulfillment and a future fulfillment.

Overall, this book provides keen insight into Emergent eschatology. Although I disagree with his conclusions I appreciate his honesty and thoroughness. What Perriman offers is missing in other Emergent theology.