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Apocalypticism

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Apocalypticism is the religious belief that there will be an apocalypse which originally meant a revelation of God's will. Today the term usually refers to belief that the world will come to an end time very soon, usually meaning within one's own lifetime. This belief is usually accompanied by the idea that civilization, as we know it, will soon come to a tumultuous end with some sort of global event, usually war. Apocalypticism is usually conjoined with esoteric knowledge that will likely be revealed in a major confrontation between good and evil forces, destined to change the course of history. Apocalypses can be viewed as good, evil, ambiguous or neutral, depending on the belief system. They can appear as a personal or group tendency, an outlook or a perceptual frame of reference, or a just rhetorical style.

Contents

[edit] Christian apocalypticism

John the Baptist, Jesus Christ, and the Apostles were all apocalypticists who preached to their followers that the world would end within their lifetimes. The apocalypticism of John the Baptist and the Apostles is well known and documented. However, Jesus' apocalypticism has been less well known as it has been de-emphasized and reinterpreted in post-crucifixion Christianity. After there is no apocalypse upon his crucifixion as he believed there would be, he asks on the Cross, "Why hast thou forsaken me?" The disciples then have to change their interpretation of Jesus' message as portrayed in Acts of the Apostles[1]

The preaching of John was, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand" (Mat. 3:2), and Jesus also taught this same message (Mat 4:17; Mark 1:15). Additionally, Jesus spoke of the signs of "the close of the age" in the Olivet Discourse in Mat 24 (and parallels), near the end of which he said, "[T]his generation will not pass away until all these things take place" (v. 34). Interpreters have understood this phrase in a variety of ways, including that Jesus was a mistaken apocalypticist, that most of what he described was fulfilled in the destruction of the Temple in the Roman Siege of Jerusalem (see Preterism), and that "generation" should be understood instead to mean "race" (see NIV marginal note on Mat 24:34).

Various Christian eschatological systems have developed, providing different frameworks for understanding the timing and nature of such predictions. Some like dispensational premillennialism tend more toward an apocalyptic vision, while others like postmillennialism and amillennialism, while teaching that the end of the world could come at any moment, tend to focus on the present life and not set expectations for the timing of the end, though there are exceptions such as postmillennialist Jonathan Edwards who attempted to calculate the precise timing of the end times.

[edit] Apocalypticism in culture

Apocalypticism is a frequent theme of literature, film and television. It also influences political policy through movements such as Christian Zionism, and in the dualism seen when politicians demonize their enemies as unholy, bad, evil, or even Satanic. This process often involves conspiracism, in which the apocalyptic enemy is alleged to be engaged in a conspiracy against the good or Godly people.

[edit] Y2K

Apocalypticism was especially evident with the approach of the millennial year 2000, but it need not be tied to a particular calendar date. The next popularly predicted date for the apocalyse is in 2012, on the basis that this year signifies the end of the Mayan calendar. Many hundreds of books and predictions have been made throughout history about looming apocalypses and none of them have ever come true. Christian fundamentalists, the most popular apocalyptians, have been buzzing with end time expectations since the Jews returned to Israel in 1948 but, arguably, nothing has solidly come true from this yet. When it comes to apocalyptic views and beliefs, only the future seems to be able to tell, and the future seems to be up to us. Still there are no guarantees that unknown forces won't intervene at some point, or that unknown natural cycles won't reassert themselves.

[edit] Mayan calendar 2012

Main article: 2012 Doomsday prediction

[edit] See also

 The lists in this article may contain items that are not notable, encyclopedic, or helpful. Please help out by removing such elements and incorporating appropriate items into the main body of the article. (March 2009)

[edit] General

[edit] Christian premillennial apocalyptic writers

[edit] Apocalyptic fiction

[edit] Apocalyptic films

[edit] Apocalyptic songs

[edit] Apocalyptic movements

[edit] Millenarian cults

[edit] Apocalyptic computer games

[edit] Further reading (chronological)

  • Boyer, Paul S. (1992). When Time Shall Be No More: Prophecy Belief in Modern American Culture. Cambridge, Mass.: Belknap/Harvard University Press. ISBN 0-674-95128-X
  • Cohn, Norman. (1993). Cosmos, Chaos and the World to Come: The Ancient Roots of Apocalyptic Faith. New Haven: Yale University Press. ISBN 0-300-09088-9
  • Aukerman, Dale. (1993). Reckoning with Apocalypse. New York: Crossroad. ISBN 0-8245-1243-X
  • O’Leary, Stephen. (1994). Arguing the Apocalypse: A Theory of Millennial Rhetoric. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-508045-9
  • Quinby, Lee. (1994). Anti-Apocalypse: Exercises in Genealogical Criticism. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. ISBN 0-8166-2278-7 (hard bound) ISBN 0-8166-2279-5 (paperback)
  • Strozier, Charles B. (1994). Apocalypse: On the Psychology of Fundamentalism in America. Boston: Beacon Press. ISBN 0-8070-1226-2
  • Fuller, Robert C. (1995). Naming the Antichrist: The History of an American Obsession. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-508244-3
  • Thompson, Damian. (1996). The End of Time: Faith and Fear in the Shadow of the Millennium. London: Sinclair-Stevenson. ISBN 1-85619-795-6
  • Thompson, Damian. (1997). The End of Time: Faith and Fear in the Shadow of the Millennium. Hanover, N.H.: University Press of New England. ISBN 0-87451-849-0
  • Strozier, Charles B, and Michael Flynn, eds. 1997. The Year 2000: Essays on the End. New York: New York University Press. ISBN 0-8147-8030-X (hard bound) ISBN 0-8147-8031-8 (paperback)
  • Robbins, Thomas, and Susan J. Palmer, eds. 1997. Millennium, Messiahs, and Mayhem: Contemporary Apocalyptic Movements. New York: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-91648-8 (hard bound) ISBN 0-415-91649-6 (paperback)
  • Stewart, Kathleen and Susan Harding. 1999. "Bad Endings: American Apocalypsis." Annual Review of Anthropology, 28, pp. 285–310.
  • Allison, Dale C. (1999) Jesus of Nazareth: Millenarian Prophet (Augsburg Fortress) ISBN 0-8006-3144-7
  • Wessinger, Catherine, ed.. 2000. Millennialism, Persecution, and Violence: Historical Cases. Religion and Politics Series, Michael Barkun, (ed.). Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press. ISBN 0-8156-2809-9 (hard bound) ISBN 0-8156-0599-4 (paperback)
  • Stone, Jon R., ed. 2000. Expecting Armageddon: Essential Readings in Failed Prophecy. New York: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-92331-X (paperback)
  • Brasher, Brenda E. 2000. "From Revelation to The X-Files: An Autopsy of Millennialism in American Popular Culture", Semeia 82:281-295.
  • Mason, Carol. 2002. Killing for Life: The Apocalyptic Narrative of Pro-life Politics. Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press. ISBN 0-8014-3920-5 (hard cover) ISBN 0-8014-8819-2 (paperback)
  • Urstadt, Bryant. 2006. "Imagine there's no oil: scenes from a liberal apocalypse. (Viewpoint essay)." Harper's Magazine 313.1875 (August 2006): 31(9) [1]
  • Kobb, Kurt. 2006. "Apocalypse always: Is the peak oil movement really just another apocalyptic cult?" (August 5, 2006). http://resourceinsights.blogspot.com/2006/08/apocalypse-always-is-peak-oil-movement.html Accessed on October 14, 2006.
See also: List of new religious movements

[edit] External links

[edit] References

 This article includes a list of references, related reading or external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks inline citations. Please improve this article by introducing more precise citations where appropriate. (February 2008)
  1. ^ Bart D. Ehrman's Jesus: Apocalyptic Prophet
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