Thank you very much, Carola Föller. You caught a lot of time from the times for my lecture,

but thank you very much. I think it's not necessary to introduce persons like that,

thank you. And I'm thanking to those persons who helped me to prepare this lecture,

too, because the spirit of Pentecostis to have a very correct English was not lasting from last

Sunday to today. So I'm especially thanking to Senora Plas and to Hans Christian Lehner.

As the end of this world is nearing, subversions grow and certain manifest signs appear. We have

to go to Rome to pray. These words are said to have been written by the Breton Duke Salomon to

Pope Henry II in 870. Consequently, Duke Salomon proceeds. He had vowed to travel to Rome,

but had not been able to do so because of the threats of heavens. That means of the

Normans at that time. Instead, he sent a very valuable statue and other gifts to Rome to

request relics for the new monastery of his peninsula. Duke Salomon did not question that

the world has an end and that this end was nearing, that it was even announced through

signs. Other people besides Duke Salomon were not so sure whether the world had an end or

not. But if the times end, how is time structured? How has the time before the end to be imagined?

What is coming beyond the earthly life? The end of times always possessed a double aspect,

one of general time and one of personal lifetime. Both concepts could be combined as they were,

for example, in Christian worldview. In this lecture, I want to pick up some aspects of

my presentation at the conference last year in December, end of times, but enlarge these

aspects by referring to the consequences of the three key conceptions mentioned in my

title, course of history as cathology and transcendence. In a Christian worldview, the

expression end of times usually refers to the end of earthly time as heavenly time is

infinite. Therefore, heavenly time was not structured. In contrast, earthly time was

usually directed towards the time after this earthly period. The course of history was

not necessarily an open process, but we all know that different concepts were discussed

and underwent historical developments. The doctrine of successive empires could be phrased

differently and the apocalypse could be commented on differently according the times going on

during medieval ages. We just have to think of Joachim of Fiore. With his concept of the

three eras, he surpassed former concepts of Latin middle ages. Concepts of the end of

Western worlds lasted throughout the Reformation up to scientific designs and are specially

located in Christianity, not in other world religions as Johannes Fried emphasized in

his book Dies Irae. Lutheran theology coined the expression eschatology. It seeks to describe

the last events of the development directed by God. If we take this expression into consideration,

we may conclude that not only broad concepts like those of Augustine, but individual designs

of provision played a role that were gradually developed throughout the middle ages. We have

to consider godly deeds, penance, provision for spiritual salvation, indulgences, and

questions about a third place between end and beginning, often called purgatory. Thus,

we have to differentiate between universal eschatology and individual eschatology for

the universal judgment might be different from the individual, the personal judgment.

To come to my third keyword, transcendence. The invention or usage of this term dates

back only to the 17th century. Transcendence intends to define things beyond our concrete

world. Describing transcendence in more concrete terms was nearly impossible as transcendence

phenomena could only be seized in a theoretical way. Plato's conception was an important starting

point for this. But obviously, the tension between transcendence and imminence continued.

In my presentation, I can only clear some paths to introduce the conceptions of historical

development in my third chapter, based on a biblical basis concerning eschatology and

transcendence, my second chapter. In a further step, I will discuss the different practical

consequences emerging from these conceptions. But first of all, we shall have a look at

the central fundamentals of biblical scripture. We have to distinguish between three different

occasions on which the Bible commends the end of times. First of all, the comments in

the Old Testament. Second, the comments in the different gospels. And thirdly, the comments