Contemporary Cosmology is Irrelevant to Classical Theistic Christian Eschatology Steven Nemes Fuller Theological Seminary, Pasadena, California, United States ABSTRACT Some are of the opinion that cosmological predictions regarding the future of the physical universe contradict or challenge the Christian eschatological hope for a “new heavens and new earth” (2 Pet. 3:13). The present essay argues that cosmological science is irrelevant to classical theistic Christian eschatology on two grounds. First, cosmology does not substantially inform Christian eschatology, which already affirmed the demise of the cosmos on theological grounds. Second, cosmology does not challenge eschatology if a classical theistic conception of God and its corollary doctrines of creatio ex nihilo and divine conservation and concurrence are admitted. KEYWORDS Classical theism; cosmology; creatio ex nihilo; God beyond being; Kathryn Tanner Not a few philosophers, scientists, and theologians are of the opinion that the morbid predictions which contemporary cosmology makes regarding the future of the physical universe are somehow in contradiction with or present a challenge to the Christian eschatological hope for a “new heavens and new earth” (2 Pet. 3:13 NRSV; cf. Rev. 21:1). 1 Some recent predictions affirm that in a mere 10 34 years, 2 the universe will have expanded to the point of becoming permanently uninhabitable for any carbon- based life forms. The responses on the part of the theologians have been diverse. Some have abandoned traditional eschatological hope altogether as being irreconcilable with contemporary scientific knowledge and opt instead for revisionist reinterpretations of different forms. Other, scientifically trained theological writers with greater sympathy for traditional Christian hope express disappointment in the lack of informed engage- ment on the part of systematic theologians with this information, in spite of the resur- gence of eschatology as a part of Christian dogmatics in the twentieth century. 3 But the question must be asked: is there in fact a fruitful dialog to be had between contem- porary cosmology and Christian eschatology on the topic of the “new heavens and new earth”? Does the scientifically predicted fate of the physical cosmos present a “challenge” to the traditional hope? The thesis of the present essay is that contemporary cosmology is irrelevant to classical theistic Christian eschatology. More specifically, contemporary cosmology and its unop- timistic vision about the future of the cosmos neither informs nor presents any unique challenges to traditional Christian eschatology when this is paired with the classical theis- tic conception of God shared by such thinkers as John of Damascus and Thomas © 2021 Graduate Theological Union (CTNS Program) THEOLOGY AND SCIENCE 2021, VOL. 19, NO. 4, 390–405 https://doi.org/10.1080/14746700.2021.1982251