Apocalyptic Spirituality


Book Description

This book makes available major texts in the Christian apocalyptic literature from the 4th to the 16th centuries. The apocalyptic tradition is that of traditional philosophy based on revelation and concerned with the end of the world.




Apocalypticism in the Western Tradition


Book Description

This work on how apocalypticism in medieval times was viewed in terms of the Western tradition, covers symbols connected with the idea of the apocalypse, Teste David cum Sibylla, papal power and significance, Joachim of Fiore, the role of Bernard of Clairvaux and other matters.




Visions of the End


Book Description

From millenarists to Antichrist hunters, from the Sibyls to the Hussites, Visions of the End is a monumental compendium spanning the literature of the Christian apocalyptic tradition from the period A.D. 400 to 1500, masterfully selected and complete with a comprehensive introduction and new preface.




Revelation


Book Description

The final book of the Bible, Revelation prophesies the ultimate judgement of mankind in a series of allegorical visions, grisly images and numerological predictions. According to these, empires will fall, the "Beast" will be destroyed and Christ will rule a new Jerusalem. With an introduction by Will Self.




The Oxford Handbook of Apocalyptic Literature


Book Description

Apocalypticism arose in ancient Judaism in the last centuries BCE and played a crucial role in the rise of Christianity. It is not only of historical interest: there has been a growing awareness, especially since the 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States, of the prevalence of apocalyptic beliefs in the contemporary world. To understand these beliefs, it is necessary to appreciate their complex roots in the ancient world, and the multi-faceted character of the phenomenon of apocalypticism. The Oxford Handbook of Apocalyptic Literature is a thematic and phenomenological exploration of apocalypticism in the Judaic and Christian traditions. Most of the volume is devoted to the apocalyptic literature of antiquity. Essays explore the relationship between apocalypticism and prophecy, wisdom and mysticism; the social function of apocalypticism and its role as resistance literature; apocalyptic rhetoric from both historical and postmodern perspectives; and apocalyptic theology, focusing on phenomena of determinism and dualism and exploring apocalyptic theology's role in ancient Judaism, early Christianity, and Gnosticism. The final chapters of the volume are devoted to the appropriation of apocalypticism in the modern world, reviewing the role of apocalypticism in contemporary Judaism and Christianity, and more broadly in popular culture, addressing the increasingly studied relation between apocalypticism and violence, and discussing the relationship between apocalypticism and trauma, which speaks to the underlying causes of the popularity of apocalyptic beliefs. This volume will further the understanding of a vital religious phenomenon too often dismissed as alien and irrational by secular western society.




Apocalyptic Time


Book Description

Millennial movements are characterized by their nature and perception of time, and the ways in which these groups confront inevitable disappointment and then return to “normal” time. This is the theme for the book Apocalyptic Time. The volume consists of revised essays based on presentations made at an international conference devoted to that theme. Authors adopt a number of disciplinary approaches to the topic, analyzing millennial movements from the three Abrahamic faiths, as well as from the East. This book will be of particular interest to students of millennial movements, who wish to benefit from the comprehensive and comparative view it gives of the phenomenon, based on a wide variety of cases. This work greatly contributes to the theory of millennialism, by supplying specific data and theoretical reflection.




A Companion to the Premodern Apocalypse


Book Description

The final book of the New Testament, the Apocalypse, has been controversial since its initial appearance during the first century A.D. For centuries after, theologians, exegetes, scholars, and preachers have grappled with the imagery and symbolism behind this fascinating and terrifying book. Their thoughts and ideas regarding the apocalypse—and its trials and tribulations—were received within both elite and popular culture in the medieval and early modern eras. Therefore, one may rightly call the Apocalypse, and its accompanying hopes and fears, a foundational pillar of Western Civilization. The interest in the Apocalypse, and apocalyptic movements, continues apace in modern scholarship and society alike. This present volume, A Companion to the Premodern Apocalypse, collates essays from specialists in the study of premodern apocalyptic subjects. It is designed to orient undergraduate and graduate students, as well as more established scholars, to the state of the field of premodern apocalyptic studies as well as to point them in future directions for their scholarship and/or pedagogy. Contributors are: Roland Betancourt, Robert Boenig, Richard K. Emmerson, Ernst Hintz, László Hubbes, Hiram Kümper, Natalie Latteri, Thomas Long, Katherine Olson, Kevin Poole, Matthias Riedl, Michael A. Ryan




Catastrophes and the Apocalyptic in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance


Book Description

In the twenty-first century, insurance companies still refer to 'acts of God' for any accident or event not influenced by human beings: hurricanes, floods, hail, tsunamis, wildfires, earthquakes, tornados, lightning strikes, even falling trees. The remote origin of this concept can be traced to the Hebrew Bible. During the Second Temple period of Judaism a new literary form developed called 'apocalyptic' as a mediated revelation of heavenly secrets to a human sage concerning messages that could be cosmological, speculative, historical, teleological, or moral. The best-known development of this type of literature, however, came to fruition in the New Testament and is, of course, the Book of Revelation, attributed to the apostle John, and which figures prominently in the Middle Ages and Renaissance. This collection of essays, the result of the 2014 ACMRS Conference, treats the topic of catastrophes and their connection to apocalyptic mentalities and rhetoric in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance (with particular reference to reception of the Book of Revelation), both in Europe and in the Muslim world. The twelve authors contributing to this volume use terms that are simultaneously helpful and ambiguous for a whole range of phenomena and appraisal.




Revelation and the End of All Things


Book Description

Since its first publication in 2001, Revelation and the End of All Things has been a highly readable guide to one of the most challenging books in the Bible. Engaging the questions people most frequently ask about Revelation and sensationalistic scenarios about the end of the world, Craig Koester takes his readers through the entirety of Revelation, offering perspectives that are clear and compelling. In the second edition Koester provides new insights from recent scholarship and responses to the latest popular apocalyptic voices. Study questions make this new edition ideal for use in classrooms and study groups. Revelation and the End of All Things offers an accessible, engaging, and profoundly hopeful interpretation for students and general readers alike.




Tradition and Apocalypse


Book Description

In the two thousand years that have elapsed since the time of Christ, Christians have been as much divided by their faith as united, as much at odds as in communion. And the contents of Christian confession have developed with astonishing energy. How can believers claim a faith that has been passed down through the ages while recognizing the real historical contingencies that have shaped both their doctrines and their divisions? In this carefully argued essay, David Bentley Hart critiques the concept of "tradition" that has become dominant in Christian thought as fundamentally incoherent. He puts forth a convincing new explanation of Christian tradition, one that is obedient to the nature of Christianity not only as a "revealed" creed embodied in historical events but as the "apocalyptic" revelation of a history that is largely identical with the eternal truth it supposedly discloses. Hart shows that Christian tradition is sustained not simply by its preservation of the past, but more essentially by its anticipation of the future. He offers a compelling portrayal of a living tradition held together by apocalyptic expectation--the promised transformation of all things in God.