FOR unnumbered people Christian Science has awakened an entirely new interest in the Parousia, the so called second coming of Christ and the establishment of his kingdom and rule among men.
In discussing this question in the light of the Master's teaching, eschatologists and Bible critics in general have, roughly speaking, ranged themselves into two schools of thought, holding in most essentials opposite views on the subject. One of these schools, which numbers many authorities among its adherents, maintains that Christ Jesus not only regarded the promised kingdom as an institution to be fashioned after earthly models, but as one whose advent was to be expected in the near future; while the other school, which can claim a number of prominent scholars among its protagonists, asserts either that the Master conceived of the kingdom as being of a spiritual nature, or that at any rate he had no expectation of its speedy coming.
The first school bases its arguments in great part upon the thirteenth chapter of Mark, more especially upon the thirtieth verse, and much scholarly ingenuity has been expended for the purpose of reconciling the categorical statement contained in that verse with the apparently less definite prediction formulated in the thirty-second verse. On the other hand, those who hold the belief that our Lord did not intend to convey to his hearers an expectation of the early coming of the kingdom of heaven, adduce in support of their contention various utterances of his, such as certain of the parables and his declaration as to the necessity for preaching the gospel among the Gentiles, a work which must entail the lapse of a considerable period of time, as a preliminary to the awaited great change in the existing order of things.
