Two Kingdoms or One Temple? Determining The Escondido Covenantal Metaphysical Topography

This paper will argue for the temple as an additional covenantal metaphysical analog that eases the dualistic boundaries of the two kingdoms through gradual movement from outside the temple toward the Most Holy Place. Two kingdom theology has often been accused of differing levels of dualism, whereby it separates the physical from the spiritual. The separation between physical and spiritual realms can result in competing citizenship between the kingdom of God and the kingdom of the world. Two kingdom theology varies in its explanations and solutions to this tension, but this paper will specifically address Escondido two kingdom theology as articulated by David VanDrunen, Michael Horton, and D.G. Hart. Escondido two kingdom theology is influenced by Meredith Kline’s covenant theology as articulated in his work Kingdom Prologue, whereby Kline locates the Mosaic covenant outside of the Covenant of Grace, and instead sees the Mosaic covenant as a republication of the Covenant of Works. In identifying the Mosaic covenant outside of the Covenant of Grace, Escondido theology is able to draw a stark boundary between the physical possibilities of God’s kingdom encroaching upon the world’s by bypassing what levels of continuity or discontinuity exist between Israel’s theocratic nation and Christ’s present reign. In doing so, the two kingdoms become the covenantal metaphysical analog by which our structure of reality is interpreted. This paper will argue for the temple as an additional covenantal metaphysical analog by identifying the Biblical rationale of two kingdoms and the nature of covenant as kingdom, the covenant kingdom and its temple as God’s dwelling, and the New Covenant temple as an eschatological in-breaking that bridges the physical and spiritual realms. The final summation will include the practical implications of cultural and political engagement.