Apocalyptic Projections

Apocalyptic Projections have been pondered since Biblical times. Theories abounded in an attempt to prepare for calamity and plan for the future. Worldwide concern regarding a twenty-first century apocalypse, related to the 2012 Mayan Apocalyptic prediction, sparked renewed interest. Even though the concept of apocalypse evokes images of total oblivion, threads of possibility and redemption offer a potential fabric of hope. The majority of the papers included in Apocalyptic Projections were p ...

How will the world end? Doomsday ideas in Western history have been both persistent and adaptable, peaking at various times, including in modern America. Public opinion polls indicate that a substantial number of Americans look for the return of Christ or some catastrophic event. The views expressed in these polls have been reinforced by the market process. Whether through purchasing paperbacks or watching television programs, millions of Americans have expressed an interest in end-time events. Americans have a tremendous appetite for prophecy, more than nearly any other people in the modern world. Why do Americans love doomsday?In Apocalyptic Fever, Richard Kyle attempts to answer this question, showing how dispensational premillennialism has been the driving force behind doomsday ideas. Yet while several chapters are devoted to this topic, this book covers much more. It surveys end-time views in modern America from a wide range of perspectives--dispensationalism, Catholicism, science, fringe religions, the occult, fiction, the year 2000, Islam, politics, the Mayan calendar, and more.

Linking literature from the sociological study of the apocalyptic with the sociology and philosophy of science, Apocalyptic Narratives explores how the apocalyptic narrative frames and provides meaning to contemporary, secular and scientific crises focussing on nuclear war, general environmental crisis and climate change in both English- and German-speaking cultural contexts. In particular, the book will use social identity and representation theories, the sociologies of risk and Lakatos’ philosophy of science to trace how our cultural background and apocalyptic tradition shape our wider interpretation, communication and response to contemporary global crisis. The set of environmental and other challenges that the world is facing is often framed in terms of apocalyptic or existential crisis. Yet apocalyptic fears about the near future are nothing new. This book looks at the narrative connections between our current sense of crisis and the apocalyptic. The book will be of interest to readers interested in environmental crisis and communication, the sociology and philosophy of science, and existential risk, but also to readers interested in the apocalyptic and its contemporary relevance.

Sixteen compelling tales of post-apocalyptic societies and dystopian worlds include stories by Stephen King, Ray Bradbury, Arthur C. Clarke, Philip K. Dick, Kurt Vonnegut, W. E. B. Du Bois, Harlan Ellison, and others.

This book offers analyses of the roles of race, gender, and sexuality in the post-apocalyptic visions of early twenty-first century film and television shows. Contributors examine the production, reproduction, and re-imagination of some of our most deeply held human ideals through sociological, anthropological, historical, and feminist approaches.

From the author of The Real History Behind the Templars--the origins and stories behind end-of-the-world predictions throughout history, from Revelations to 2012. In entertaining and sharp prose, historian Sharan Newman explores theories of world destruction from ancient times up to the present day- theories which reveal as much about human nature as they do about the predominant historical, scientific, and religious beliefs of the time. Readers will find answers to the following end-of-times questions: ?Did the Mayans really say the world will end in December 2012? ?How have the signs in the New Testament Book of Revelations been interpreted over the years? ?How did ancient Egyptians, Norse, and Chinese think the world would end? ?When did Nostradamus predict that the last days would come? ?Does the I Ching reference 2012? ?Why didn't the world end in Y2K? ?Are meteors, global warming, super-volcanoes, and the threat of nuclear war signs that the end is near?

For many years, Professor Joel Delobel has served as a member of the Department of Biblical Studies of the Faculty of Theology, K.U. Leuven (1969-2001). His research has tended to focus on Luke-Acts, Pauline Literature and especially Textual Criticism (he is a member of Das Institut fur Neutestamentliche Textforschung, Munster). His friends and colleagues in the Department of Biblical Studies of the Faculty of Theology and elsewhere have honoured him with a Festschrift on the occasion of his retirement. The congratulatory volume deals with an issue that is dear to him: the mutual link between textual criticism and exegesis, which he himself once referred to as the 'Siamese twins'. A number of international scholars in the field of textual criticism have treated different aspects of this relationship. Some contributions are of a more general nature: B. Aland deals with the criteria used to judge the value of smaller New Testament Papyrus fragments, J. Lust compares the textual critical investigation of the Old Testament to that of the New, W.L. Petersen studies the earliest form of the text of the Gospel. Other contributions are related to a specific text: Mt 21,28-32 (J.K. Elliott); Mk 16,8 (C. Focant); Lk 7,42b (T. Baarda); Lk 22, 43-44 (C.M. Tuckett); Lk 24,12 (F. Neirynck); Jn 4,1 (G. Van Belle); Jn 12,31 (M.-E. Boismard); Jn 16,13 (R. Bieringer); Acts 15,20.29; 21,25 (C.-B. Amphoux); Rom 16,7 (E.J. Epp); Rom 16,25-27 (R.F. Collins); 1 Cor 2,1 (V. Koperski); The Epistle of James (D.C. Parker); Rev 13,9-10 (J. Lambrecht) and Rev 13,18 (J.N. Birdsall); J. Verheyden deals with the New Testament text in the 2nd Century, more specifically in the writings of Justin.