Branch of study within Christian theology
Christian eschatology is a minor branch of study within Christian theology which deals with the doctrine of the "last things", especially the Second Coming of Christ, or Parousia. Eschatology – the word derives from two Greek roots meaning "last" (ἔσχατος ) and "study" (-λογία ) – involves the study of "end things", whether of the end of an individual life, of the end of the age, of the end of the world , or of the nature of the Kingdom of God . Broadly speaking, Christian eschatology focuses on the ultimate destiny of individual souls and of the entire created order , based primarily upon biblical texts within the Old and New Testaments .
Christian eschatology looks to study and discuss matters such as death and the afterlife , Heaven and Hell , the Second Coming of Jesus , the resurrection of the dead , the rapture , the tribulation , millennialism , the end of the world , the Last Judgment , and the New Heaven and New Earth in the world to come .
Eschatological passages appear in many places in the Bible, in both the Old and New Testaments. Many extra-biblical examples of eschatological prophecies also exist, as well as extra-biblical ecclesiastical traditions relating to the subject.