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Imagining the End: Visions of Apocalypse from the Ancient Middle East to Modern America
Packed into all major monotheistic religions is a powerful theological punch: apocalypse. This provocative volume explores how apocalyptic visions have expressed themselves in different ways in Judaism, Zoroastrianism, Christianity, and Islam. The contributors also consider how Millennialism has expressed itself in a historical context, and why has it has so powerfully excited the human imagination. The essays demonstrate that the apocalyptic legacy of all four traditions has shaped major currents in human history from the rise of new religions to political revolution.
- GenresReligion
427 pages, Hardcover
First published November 23, 2001
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January 5, 2020
A group of scholars examines apocalypse and millennialism in America, the Middle East, Africa, and China. The main focus is on Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. This includes origins, medieval, early modern, and modern times.
In Mesopotamia, the death of the world was in the past as in the flood. Only a person's death was in the future. It is noted that millennialism and other forms of apocalyptic were calendaric and not the same as our modern concept of linear time and progress. In Zoroastrianism fire and molten metal cleanse the world.
"It is interesting to note that in Zoroastrian eschatology as it developed since the time of the Prophet, the Last Things have come to mirror the First almost completely, although in a compressed form." p. 47
After a look at the origins, apocalypticism and millennialism are viewed as ideas of political and social transformation, often led by a charismatic messiah figure. This seems very different from its beginnings.
In Mesopotamia, the death of the world was in the past as in the flood. Only a person's death was in the future. It is noted that millennialism and other forms of apocalyptic were calendaric and not the same as our modern concept of linear time and progress. In Zoroastrianism fire and molten metal cleanse the world.
"It is interesting to note that in Zoroastrian eschatology as it developed since the time of the Prophet, the Last Things have come to mirror the First almost completely, although in a compressed form." p. 47
After a look at the origins, apocalypticism and millennialism are viewed as ideas of political and social transformation, often led by a charismatic messiah figure. This seems very different from its beginnings.
Displaying 1 of 1 review