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Stefano De Feo offers the first comprehensive investigation of the Greek lexeme ??????? in Jewish, Christian, and Graeco-Roman sources from the 3rd cent. BCE to the 1st cent. CE. He examines how this term functions within diverse philosophical and religious traditions and asks which uses may be described legitimately as "eschatological." The author maintains that the scholarly confusion regarding the use of the category of eschatology can be reduced significantly through a broad analysis of the lexeme ???????, the very lexeme from which the modern term "eschatology" is derived. Methodologically, the author adopts a historical-critical approach integrated with insights from modern semantics. Each occurrence of the lexeme is interpreted within its literary, argumentative, and historical context, thereby avoiding the "word-concept fallacy," the retrojection of later theological categories, and the assumption that the presence of a word necessarily signals a concept. The analysis is both diachronic and comparative: it follows the development of the lexeme across the Greek translation of the Hebrew Scriptures, Jewish apocalyptic literature, Stoic philosophical writings, Hellenistic and Roman Jewish authors, the writings of the early Christian communities, and selected pagan authors (such as, for example, Dio Chrysostom and Plutarch). By tracing the uses of ??????? across several centuries and traditions, De Feo demonstrates that the "time of the end" is not reducible to a chronological endpoint but constitutes a theological and philosophical category. He thereby provides a new foundation for the interpretation of eschatological language.
Price: £105.80
Pages: 420
Publisher: Mohr Siebeck
Imprint: Mohr Siebeck
Series: Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament 2. Reihe
Publication Date:
30 May 2026
ISBN: 9783161644481
Format: Paperback
BISACs:
INTRODUCTION
1. THE RATIONALE OF THE STUDY
2. STATE OF CURRENT RESEARCH
3. METHODOLOGICAL CAVEATS
4. RELEVANCE OF THE ANALYSIS
5. OUTLINE OF THE STUDY
PART 1. THE USE OF THE LEXEME ??????? IN THE HELLENISTIC PERIOD
1. TRANSLATION AS CREATION OF MEANINGS? THE USE OF THE LEXEME ??????? IN THE SEPTUAGINT
1.1. Between Jewish and Christian Traditions
1.2. From the Hebrew Vorlage to the LXX
1.3. The Equivalents of the Lexeme ??????? in the Hebrew Bible
1.4. The Use of the Lexeme ??????? with No Equivalent in the Hebrew Bible
1.5. A Diachronic Overview of the Occurrences of the Lexeme ??????? in the Septuagint
1.6. The Septuagint Connection Between the Lexeme ??????? and the Noun ?????
1.7. Final Observations
2. THE USE OF THE LEXEME ??????? IN THE APOCALYPTIC TRADITIONS
2.1. The Book of Enoch or 1 Enoch
2.2. The Book of Jubilees
2.3. The Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs
2.4. The Testament of Job
2.5. The Sibylline Oracles
2.6. Final Observations
3. THE USE OF THE LEXEME ??????? IN THE HELLENISTIC PHILOSOPHICAL TRADITIONS
3.1. Between 'Teleology' and 'Eschatology': The Stoics
3.2. The Peculiar Meanings of the Lexeme ??????? in the Stoic Tradition
3.3. Final Observations
PART 2. THE USE OF THE LEXEME ??????? IN THE EARLY ROMAN IMPERIAL PERIOD
4. NO TIME FOR ESCHATOLOGY: THE USE OF ??????? IN PHILO AND JOSEPHUS
4.1. Philo of Alexandria
4.2. Josephus
4.3. Final Observations
5. THE USE OF ??????? IN THE NEW TESTAMENT
5.1. Forging Eschatological Language: The Lexeme ??????? in Paul's Letters
5.2. The Lexeme ??????? in Connection with Temporal Terms Within the New Testament
5.3. The Space of Eschatology
6. THE USE OF THE LEXEME ??????? IN EARLY CHRISTIAN TEXTS PRIOR TO THE APOLOGISTS
6.1. Didache (or The Doctrine of the Twelve Apostles)
6.2. The Ascension of Isaiah
6.3. The Epistle of Barnabas
6.4. The First and Second Letter of Clement
6.5. The Epistles of Ignatius of Antioch
6.6. The Shepherd of Hermas
6.7. Final Observations
7. THE USE OF ??????? IN THE PAGAN-RELIGIOUS TRADITIONS (1ST CENT. CE)
7.1. Dio Chrysostom
7.2. Plutarch
7.3. The Roman Stoics
7.4. Final Observations
CONCLUDING REMARKS