Eschatology: not a word you will frequently hear in the local Starbucks or amidst the chatter at a cocktail party. It means, according to Merriam-Webster, "a belief concerning death, the end of the world, or the ultimate destiny of humankind." It is a branch of Christian theology which specifically captured the attention of C.H. Dodd during the twentieth century, and this happened because Dodd was a careful reader of his New Testament and had noticed some peculiarities in the way Jesus talked about eschatology.

Often Jesus seems to see eschatological events as happening in the future: the destruction of the Temple, the second coming of Christ, the judgment of mankind. Dodd called this "future eschatology." But just as frequently, Jesus talks of the Kingdom of God as present right now. "The Kingdom of God is within you," he says, and Dodd calls this "realized eschatology."

Well, which is it? Is the Kingdom of God a future promise or a present reality?

If, as a Christian, you are feeling picked on, it may cheer you to know that the Buddhists face the same dilemma. Is enlightenment a future state, to be attained through meditation? Or is it a present reality? Are we already in fact enlightened -- we just don't realize it? The first of these concepts is embraced by Theravadan Buddhism, the latter by the adherents of Soto Zen.

Perhaps the answer is "both," or -- even better -- it doesn't really matter. The Buddhist master Dogen mandated meditation both before one realizes that one is enlightened and afterwards: in short, meditation is enlightenment. Jesus advised his followers to be ready, like the five wise virgins, and to watch and pray. If we are focused on the here and now through the practice of Steps 10 and 11, it matters little whether the Kingdom of God will arrive in the future or is already here.