HIST 214 - History of the Apocalypse

Credits: (3)
This course will study the history of apocalypticism and reflections about the end of the world (eschatology), and how these connect to social concerns, political developments, and religious change. The class will focus on the Christian apocalyptic tradition, but it will consider influences and contacts with other traditions, especially Jewish, Zoroastrian, and Islamic apocalyptic thought. The class will begin with the birth of apocalyptic thought in ancient Judaism, and it will closely analyze the apocalyptic books of the Bible: the Book of Daniel in the Old Testament and the Book of Revelation in the New Testament. From there, the class will trace the medieval development of apocalyptic thought (such as the development of traditions about the Antichrist and the Last World Emperor), apocalyptic influences on Europeans’ initial contact with and colonization of the New World, and millennial movements in the early United States. The class will conclude with the secularization of apocalypticism, and the development of modern concerns about the end of the human civilization through nuclear war, pandemic disease, or climate change. We will also consider popular media. A major theme of the course will be the flexibility of apocalyptic language, its ability to interpret various historical situations, and its power to move people to either acceptance or action.