Apocalypticism
Apocalypticism is a worldview based on the idea that important matters are hidden from view and they will soon be revealed in a major confrontation of earth-shaking magnitude that will change the course of history. It can appear as a tendency, outlook, perceptual frame, or rhetorical style; and can lead people toward passivity while awaiting the inevitiable end, or active prepararation in anticipation of a momentous event. Apocalypticism can be tied to religious or secular views, and the expected outcome can be seen as positive, negative, or ambiguous.
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 and scapegoat their enemies as wholly 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.
The tendency was especially evident with the approach of the millennial year 2000, but it need not be tied to a particular calendar date.
See also
General
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- Left Behind book series Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins
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Christian premillennial apocalyptic writers
Apocalyptic fiction
- Left Behind book series by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins
- Survivors by Zion Ben-Jonah
Apocalyptic films
Apocalyptic movements
Millenarian cults
- Peoples Temple Jonestown
- Heaven's Gate
- Order of the Solar Temple
- Aum Shinrikyo
- Militia Armed Citizens Militia movement in U.S.
- Find additional links at Millenarianism
External Links
References (chronological)
- Boyer, Paul S. (1992). When Time Shall Be No More: Prophecy Belief in Modern American Culture. Cambridge, Mass.: Belknap/Harvard University Press. ISBN 067495128X
- Cohn, Norman. (1993). Cosmos, Chaos and the World to Come: The Ancient Roots of Apocalyptic Faith. New Haven: Yale University Press. ISBN 0300090889
- Aukerman, Dale. (1993). Reckoning with Apocalypse. New York: Crossroad. ISBN 082451243X
- O’Leary, Stephen. (1994). Arguing the Apocalypse: A Theory of Millennial Rhetoric. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0195080459
- Quinby, Lee. (1994). Anti-Apocalypse: Exercises in Genealogical Criticism. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. ISBN 0816622787 (hard bound) ISBN 0816622795 (paperback)
- Strozier, Charles B. (1994). Apocalypse: On the Psychology of Fundamentalism in America. Boston: Beacon Press. ISBN 0807012262
- Fuller, Robert C. (1995). Naming the Antichrist: The History of an American Obsession. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0195082443
- Thompson, Damian. (1996). The End of Time: Faith and Fear in the Shadow of the Millennium. London: Sinclair-Stevenson. ISBN 1856197956
- 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 0874518490
- Strozier, Charles B, and Michael Flynn, eds. 1997. The Year 2000: Essays on the End. New York: New York University Press. ISBN 081478030X (hard bound) ISBN 0814780318 (paperback)
- Robbins, Thomas, and Susan J. Palmer, eds. 1997. Millennium, Messiahs, and Mayhem: Contemporary Apocalyptic Movements. New York: Routledge. ISBN 0415916488 (hard bound) ISBN 0415916496 (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 0800631447
- Wessinger, Catherine, ed.. 2000. Millennialism, Persecution, and Violence: Historical Cases. Religion and Politics Series, Michael Barkun, (ed.). Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press. ISBN 0815628099 (hard bound) ISBN 0815605994 (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 0801439205 (hard cover) ISBN 0801488192 (paperback)