The ambivalent Style and the Eschatology of the New Testament

The article deals with the problem of Parusieverzogerung in the Synoptic Gospels. The most crucial verses are Mark 9: 1 and 13:30. To begin with, the New Testament shows a calculated ambiguity in many of its statements about the future "when" and "how": What will be consummated first on the Last Day is displayed already now in different ways. These both aspects are intertwined. Therefore, it is not possible to say that Jesus was mistaken in his eschatological expectation. To be sure, Mark 9: 1 refers to the coming of the Son of Man but the verse is tied also to the following transfiguration which anticipates the parousia. Similarly, Mark 13: 30 refers to the end of the world, but that global catastrophe already has taken place in miniature through the destruction of the temple.