Apokalyptische Vorstellungen von Untergang und Verheißung, von letzten Dingen und äußersten Wahrheiten, von Endgültigem und noch nie Dagewesenem begleiten die europäische Kulturgeschichte seit mehr als 2000 Jahren. Die vorliegende Reihe Kulturgeschichte der Apokalypse legt eine heterogene und interdisziplinäre Durchmessung des Endzeitdenkens aus historisch-kulturwissenschaftlicher Perspektive vor. Sie betont die einzigartigen Verhaftungen apokalyptischer Diskurse in jeweils zeitgenössischen, epistemischen, medialen und politischen Kontexten und plädiert für den Mut zum Bruch – zum Bruch mit homogenen Lesarten, linearen Denktraditionen und lediglich formalen Rückführungen auf einen apokalyptischen Ursprung. Dabei öffnet sie den Blick in andere religiöse wie geographische Kontexte und lädt zum interdisziplinären Vergleich ein.

Occidental Eschatology is a study of apocalypticism and its effects on Western philosophy. One of the great Jewish intellectuals of the twentieth century, Taubes published only this one book during his life, and here the English translation finally becomes available.

In all religions, in the medieval West as in the East, ideas about the past, the present and the future were shaped by expectations related to the End. The volumes Cultures of Eschatology explore the many ways apocalyptic thought and visions of the end intersected with the development of pre-modern religio-political communities, with social changes and with the emergence of new intellectual and literary traditions. The two volumes present a wide variety of case studies from the early Christian communities of Antiquity, through the times of the Islamic invasion and the Crusades and up to modern receptions, from the Latin West to the Byzantine Empire, from South Yemen to the Hidden Lands of Tibetan Buddhism. Examining apocalypticism, messianism and eschatology in medieval Christian, Islamic, Hindu and Buddhist communities, the contributions paint a multi-faceted picture of End-Time scenarios and provide their readers with a broad array of source material from different historical contexts. The first volume, Empires and Scriptural Authorities, examines the formation of literary and visual apocalyptic traditions, and the role they played as vehicles for defining a community’s religious and political enemies. The second volume, Time, Death and Afterlife, focuses on key topics of eschatology: death, judgment, afterlife and the perception of time and its end. It also analyses modern readings and interpretations of eschatological concepts.

Contextualizing Eschatology in African Cultural and Religious Beliefs addresses the African consciousness and nuances of eschatological beliefs as part and parcel of the holistic African Indigenous worldviews within the context of the people's traditional heritage. The concept of eschatology is usually explained from the perspective of "endtimes" in relation to either the human individual or the cosmos. Within these contexts, the primary interests, particularly with regard to human eschatology, have centred on the questions of death, afterlife, immortality, destiny, judgment, reward and punishment, and the final destination or eternal "home" of humans. This book explores the characteristic nature, the modes, the process as well as the dynamics associated with the various features culminating the functional expression of the "reality" of eschatological beliefs demonstrated in varied but fundamentally the same subject matter of practices among different African ethnic groups. It also discusses the influences of other religious traditions, particularly Christianity and Islam, on contemporary African eschatological thoughts and their attendant consequences. This book will be of interest to students and scholars of African studies, eschatology, religious studies, and the philosophy of religion.

Dread and Hope brings early Christian hopes concerning the consummation of the cosmos and modern apocalyptic pop-culture into dialog. Drawing from a wide range of research and media, Joshua Wise examines how figures like Antiochus IV, Damien from The Omen, the Emperor Nero, and Winston Smith from Orwell's 1984 inform each other.

Eschatology is the study of the last things: death, judgment, the afterlife, and the end of the world. Through centuries of Christian thoughtfrom the early Church fathers through the Middle Ages and the Reformationthese issues were of the utmost importance. In other religions, too, eschatological concerns were central. After the Enlightenment, though, many religious thinkers began to downplay the importance of eschatology which, in light of rationalism, came to be seen as something of an embarrassment. The twentieth century, however, saw the rise of phenomena that placed eschatology back at the forefront of religious thought. From the rapid expansion of fundamentalist forms of Christianity, with their focus on the end times; to the proliferation of apocalyptic new religious movements; to the recent (and very public) debates about suicide, martyrdom, and paradise in Islam, interest in eschatology is once again on the rise. In addition to its popular resurgence, in recent years some of the worlds most important theologians have returned eschatology to its former position of prominence. The Oxford Handbook of Eschatology will provide an important critical survey of this diverse body of thought and practice from a variety of perspectives: biblical, historical, theological, philosophical, and cultural. This volume will be the primary resource for students, scholars, and others interested in questions of our ultimate existence.

Building on his critically acclaimed Gifford Lectures, N. T. Wright presents a richly nuanced case for a theology based on a renewed understanding of historical knowledge.The question of 'natural theology' interlocks with the related questions of how we can conceive of God acting in the world, and of why, if God is God, the world is full of evil. Can specific events in history, like those reported in the Gospels, afford the necessary point from which to answer such questions? Widely shared cultural and philosophical assumptions have conditioned our understanding of history in ways that make the idea of divine action in history problematic. But could better historical study itself win from ancient Jewish and Christian cosmology and eschatology a renewed way of understanding the relationship between God and the world? N. T. Wright argues that this can indeed be done, and in this ground-breaking book he develops a distinctive approach to natural theology grounded in what he calls an 'epistemology of love'. This approach arises from his reflection on the significance of the ancient concept of the 'new creation' for our understanding the reality of the world, the reality of God and their relation to one another.