The Greek term apocatastasis, like the corresponding verb, is used to express the cure of a disease, the return of goods taken, of a hostage or of an exile, the restoration of a State, or the return of the stars to their previous positions. The restoration need not be a necessary process, it may be the fulfilment of a free promise. The astronomical sense forms part of the philosophical doctrine of the “great year” or of the “eternal return”: the return of the stars to their former positions marks the beginning of a new cycle in the history of the world which reproduces the one that went before.

The NT…