With all the John Hagees, the Lalondes, etc. on every street corner making a fuss every time Saddam Hussein so much as blows his nose, it's refreshing to be able to find a scholarly and sober analysis of the NT's end-time passages from the likes of a careful scholar like Ben Witherington.

Witherington's most valuable contribution comes at the very beginning with his discussion of the NT writers' use of the 'language of Imminence'. What this means is that because the writers knew that Jesus was returning, but did not know for certain that He would do so within their lifetimes, they often spoke in a way that suggested that they thought that it was possible that they would be alive when Jesus returned. An understanding of this sort of language puts paid to various theories about how the Church behaved because they supposedly thought that the Parousia was right around the corner.

Our author is not afraid to take on even the toughest citations in his discussions. He clearly and convincingly deals with such thorny verses as Matthew 10:23 and Mark 13:30. Especially interesting is his analysis of the word parousia itself, in which he points out that the word was commonly used to describe a greeting committee that went to meet a visiting king upon his arrival just outside the city, then accompanied him back to town for the final leg of the journey. This parallel understood correctly carries significant implications for the context of the so-called Great Tribulation for dispensationalists, but fits quite well within a preterist eschatology.

We also found Witherington's section on the resurrection body extremely helpful.