Telos
The Hope of Heaven Today
by Leonard I. Sweet & Len Wilson · Invite Press · 2022
Book summary
A theology of the end that rejects destruction, utopianism, nostalgia, escape, ahistoricism, and authoritarian rescue in favor of God's completing presence and kingdom.
Chapter & section guide
Prologue: Long Time Coming
The end is approached as the completion of God's story.
Chapter 1: Out of Time
Apocalyptic destruction is rejected as a false ending.
Chapter 2: Double Time
Humanly engineered utopia cannot produce the kingdom.
Chapter 3: Back in Time
Traditionalism confuses remembrance with God's future.
Chapter 4: Marking Time
Millennial escape distorts Christian hope.
Chapter 5: No Time
Ahistoricism denies purpose and moral direction to history.
Chapter 6: Big Time
Messianic politics wrongly transfers hope to powerful rescuers.
Half Time: Truth Is Not a Proposition
Truth is ultimately personal and encountered in Jesus.
Chapter 7: Real Time
All authority belongs to Jesus.
Chapter 8: End Time
Telos means purpose, completion, and God's presence now.
Chapter 9: Full Time Kingdom
The end is the kingdom wherever Jesus reigns.
Chapter 10: Time Out
God's presence frees people to love.
Chapter 11: Party Time
Jubilee and joy disclose the character of the end.
Chapter 12: Time Being
For now, disciples let Jesus author their lives.
Epilogue: Overtime
Signs of the times are read as signs of God's kingdom rather than fuel for speculation.
Editorial note: these are original thematic summaries prepared as a research and reading aid, not quotations from the book itself.