It seems to me through many investigations into the myriad views of the end times, that a relativistic hermeneutic is quite common and acceptable. For example, the first 3 chapters of Revelation consist of epistles to different churches. Some theologians say that these churches are not really churches, but symbolize church ages, such that 7 different ages will occur before the end.
Another example is that within the Olivet discourse, when Jesus refers to the sun being blackened and the moon not shining its light and the stars falling from the sky, that these events are figurative. The sun blackening, in prophetic language, is the sin of Jacob for rejecting the messiah. The sign of the Son of Man coming in the sky is the flags of the Roman invaders of Jerusalem.
Within the context of these passages there is no evidence to support these claims. Going to other passages proponents of these theories can expound on their view by claiming that the sun, moon, and stars prophetically relate to Jacob and his 12 sons, because that is what they symbolized in Josephs dream, where the 11 stars bow down to him.
Taking this approach to prophecy can seem like a spiritualization of the message, but I think that it is just a relativists approach in the guise of spirituality. Taking a passage and producing meanings from that passage that are not clearly represented; in this manner the reader of the Scripture determines what the passage says, rather then the writer of the passage. You, the reader, determine the truth. This is very similar to relativism, with the exception that instead of multiple truths, there is just one, and those who do not believe in that one truth are spiritually in the dark.
Taking such hermeneutics to other realms of theology yield quite unorthodox and even blasphemous theologies. Jesus didn’t really rise from the dead, it was a spiritual resurrection.
The realm of eschatological theology is one of the greatest mires for any Christian. There are so many views, ideas, contradictions and inconsistencies that most Christians have adopted a popular view with no study whatsoever, or no view at all. A “pan-millennialist” believes that it will all just pan out in the end. This sort of defeatist attitude is rampant within our churches. Part of the problem is a lack of guidance from church leaders; eschatology is held in such a view as to be unknowable, beyond human comprehension, vastly complex. Such notions derail our attempts to understand Scripture, we are set in the mindset that only scholars and theologians can ever attempt to know the mind of God on this matter.
Without a clear hermeneutical foundation, our churches will continue to become prey to these theologies, advancing the confusion and dissention between believers, and granting deception, apathy and ignorance to God’s children.
Pan-millenialism
It is interesting to me that the most knowledgeable, the ones who had the prophecies figured out, were the ones who rejected Jesus. Those who believed in a coming Messiah but were not locked into the details were the ones who could also embrace him. I am an advocate for understanding the varying views and for recognizing that nobody’s probably going to get it exactly right.
While I resonate and agree with some of what you write in the first few paragraphs, the connection to End Times theology seems tenuous. In the first part, you talk about relativism and not taking the text seriously. With End Times theology, even the strongest literalists have explicitly different understandings about the End.
I belief God has given us the method to read signs for the journey, not a Mapquest street-by-street driving directions. To many End Times theorists feel more like Mapquest.