The impulse to write this book came from two sources. On the one hand, as a teacher of New Testament literature, and particularly as an interpreter of the synoptic gospels, it early become obvious to me that the central theme of the preaching of the historical Jesus of Nazareth was the near approach of the kingdom of God. Yet, to my amazement, this theme played hardly any role in the systematic theology I had been taught in the seminary. Upon further investigation I realized that this theme had in many ways been largely ignored in the theology and spirituality and liturgy of the church in the past two thousand years, and when not ignored, often distorted beyond years.