1. Concept

Up to the end of the 19th century and even beyond, the parousia was mainly treated dogmatically in terms of the coming again of Christ to judge and to reign. The “again,” however, cannot be traced back beyond the Constantinopolitan Creed (381); the Apostles’ Creed and the Nicene Creed (325; Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed) both simply have “come.” What we have, then, is a systematizing at a later stage of statements about the earthly life of Jesus and his expected coming as the exalted Son of Man (Mark 13:26; 1…