NT Wright refutes claim that early Christians expected immediate End Times

Akita Suggagaki said:

The kingdom of God seem to be a nebulous, flexible concept. It can be something that is close to a particular individual as in Mark 12:34 “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” as well as something that is like a new era. It is hard to imagine such a Kingdom in earthly political terms.

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Borg or Whitehead were closer to the truth here, a mystical reality, the quiet operations of love in the world that work in hidden ways yet have pervasive effects. It's akin to the Prophet's idea of "the Torah of the Heart". It just shows how much western people want everything practical, instrumentalized, when it's shot through Jesus' parables he's speaking of a deeper mystery than an earthly kingdom or David Koresh style doomsday cult. Jesus was in the Jewish wisdom tradition, and therefore he speaks in parables and symbols, reflecting a deeper reality.

public hermit said:

That makes sense. As a partial Preterist, couldn't some passages refer to both the destruction of Jerusalem at 70 AD and the "end of days," perhaps even different parts of the same passage referring to different events?

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Absolutely. It would, indeed, I think be perfectly legitimate to understand the destruction of Jerusalem as an icon of future Judgment. The visitation of judgment upon Jerusalem does not stand alone, but fits within a larger eschatological paradigm.

That's where, I think, both Futurists and Full Preterists almost equally miss the mark.

-CryptoLutheran