Apocalyptic Spirituality

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.

Since the day Jesus ascended into heaven, the church has eagerly awaited his second coming. And during the intervening years too many Christians have focused their study of the Bible entirely on discovering the end-time signs of his coming. Does Jesus expect us to focus on dates and signs, or does he want us to instead develop a healthy and mature apocalyptic spirituality as we await his coming and the culmination of his plan of redemption and restoration? Many of today's Christians lack a basic understanding of apocalyptic spirituality or do not understand God's mission through the church. Consequently they fail to see and appropriate the rich truths that can be learned and applied to their lives today. Yes, Revelation is a book for today! This book begins by explaining how the historic misinterpretation of end-time Biblical literature has distracted Christians from their true spiritual development and mission. It then explains how developing a proper apocalyptic spirituality can lead believers to healthy applications of end-time teachings. Discover how apocalyptic Biblical literature can help you see the redemptive work that God has in store for us today while we await his imminent return.

Apocalytic literature has addressed human concerns for over two millennia. This volume surveys the source texts, their reception, and relevance.

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.

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.

A fascinating collection of predictions for the end-times in the year 2000 The Year 2000 is at hand. The end of the millennium means many things to many people, but it has significance for almost everyone. A thousand years ago, monks stopped copying manuscripts and religious building projects came to a halt as panic swept Europe. Today, anxiety about global warming, government power, superviruses, even recycling, is on some level rooted in the fear of irreversible cataclysm. In a landscape shadowed by racial conflict, technological upheaval, AIDS, and nuclear weapons, we reasonably fear the end of history. 2000 looms large in our religious, political, and cultural imagination. But while 2000 brings dread it also raises the prospect of transformation. There is hope to be found in the apocalyptic. This panoramic volume explores how the Year 2000 operates in contemporary political discourse, from Black evangelical politics to radical right-wing rhetoric. One section is devoted specifically to apocalyptic violence, analyzing twentieth-century cults and cultural movements, from David Koresh—who renamed his Waco compound Ranch Apocalypse and perished in a modern-day Armageddon that fueled the millennialist angst of other extremist groups—to environmental campaigns like Earth First! that also rely on the language of violence and imminent doom in their greening of the Apocalypse.

Apocalyptic rhetoric creates dangerous politics; three great thinkers show how clear-eyed realism is our best hope.