The Reality of the Kingdom

Jesus came proclaiming the advent of the "kingdom of God." New Testament scholars, however, are by no means agreed about Jesus' meaning or intention, or about whether we have any way of penetrating through the testimony of the early Christians to what Jesus actually said or meant. This study by Paul Rowntree Clifford presses to a scholarly conclusion two key questions: What did Jesus mean by his proclamation of the kingdom? And in what sense has his promise been fulfilled?

Following an insightful evaluation of the Gospel evidence, Clifford concludes that the kingdom of God as proclaimed by Jesus is a reality in the light of which we have come to terms with the modern world — a world where natural catastrophes and humanly created disasters are common occurrences. By focusing on matters of fact, Clifford shows that we end up with a startlingly challenging proclamation of the kingdom of God that is profoundly relevant to the difficult world in which we live.