Book of Daniel, composed during the 2nd century BCE but bearing the name of the legendary
Daniel
Daniel is a masculine given name and a surname of Hebrew origin. It means "God is my judge"Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 68. (cf. Gabriel—"God is my strength" ...
from the 6th century BCE.
Eschatology, from Greek ''eschatos'', last, concerns expectations of the end of the present age, and apocalyptic eschatology is the application of the apocalyptic world-view to the end of the world, when God will bring judgment to the world and save his followers. An apocalypse will often contain much eschatological material like the
epiphany of Paul the Apostle, but need not: the
baptism of Jesus in
Matthew's gospel
The Gospel of Matthew), or simply Matthew. It is most commonly abbreviated as "Matt." is the first book of the New Testament of the Bible and one of the three synoptic Gospels. It tells how Israel's Messiah, Jesus, comes to his people and form ...
, for example, can be considered apocalyptic in that the heavens open for the presence of a divine mediator (the dove representing the spirit of God) and a voice communicates supernatural information, but there is no eschatological element.
Scholars have identified examples of the genre ranging from the mid-2nd century BCE to the 2nd century CE, and examples are to be found in Persian and Greco-Roman literature as well as Jewish and Christian. The sole clear case in the Jewish Bible (
Old Testament
The Old Testament (often abbreviated OT) is the first division of the Christian biblical canon, which is based primarily upon the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible or Tanakh, a collection of ancient religious Hebrew writings by the Israelites. The ...
) is chapters 7-12 of the
Book of Daniel, but there are many examples from non-canonical Jewish works; the
Book of Revelation is the only apocalypse in the
New Testament, but passages reflecting the genre are to be found in the
gospels
Gospel originally meant the Christian message ("the gospel"), but in the 2nd century it came to be used also for the books in which the message was set out. In this sense a gospel can be defined as a loose-knit, episodic narrative of the words an ...
and in nearly all the genuine
Pauline epistles
The Pauline epistles, also known as Epistles of Paul or Letters of Paul, are the thirteen books of the New Testament attributed to Paul the Apostle, although the authorship of some is in dispute. Among these epistles are some of the earliest extan ...
.
Definition and history
"Apocalypse" has come to be used popularly as a synonym for catastrophe, but the Greek word ''apokálypsis'', from which it is derived, means a revelation. It has been defined by John J Collins as "a genre of revelatory literature with a narrative framework, in which a revelation is mediated by an otherworldly being to a human recipient, disclosing a transcendent reality which is both temporal, in that it envisages
eschatological salvation, and spatial, insofar as it involves another, supernatural world." Collins later refined his definition by adding that apocalypse "is intended to interpret present, earthly circumstances in light of the supernatural world and of the future, and to influence both the understanding and the behaviour of the audience by means of divine authority."
The genre of Jewish and Christian apocalypse flourished c.250 BCE-250 CE, but its antecedents can be traced back much further, in the Jewish prophetic and wisdom traditions (e.g.,
Ezekiel
Ezekiel (; he, יְחֶזְקֵאל ''Yəḥezqēʾl'' ; in the Septuagint written in grc-koi, Ἰεζεκιήλ ) is the central protagonist of the Book of Ezekiel in the Hebrew Bible.
In Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, Ezekiel is acknow ...
1-3 and
Zechariah
Zechariah most often refers to:
* Zechariah (Hebrew prophet), author of the Book of Zechariah
* Zechariah (New Testament figure), father of John the Baptist
Zechariah or its many variant forms and spellings may also refer to:
People
*Zechariah ...
1-6), and in the mythologies of the Ancient Near East, which have left a legacy of symbology (e.g., the sea as a symbol of chaos in Daniel 7 and Revelation 13:1).
Zoroastrian dualism may also have played a role. The reasons for its rise are obscure, but there seems to be a connection to times of crisis, such as the 2nd century BCE persecution of the Jews reflected in
Daniel's final vision, or the destruction of the Temple in 70 CE reflected in
4 Ezra
2 Esdras (also called 4 Esdras, Latin Esdras, or Latin Ezra) is an apocalyptic book in some English versions of the Bible. Tradition ascribes it to Ezra, a scribe and priest of the , but scholarship places its composition between 70 and .
It ...
and
2 Baruch 2 Baruch is a Jewish pseudepigraphical text thought to have been written in the late 1st century CE or early 2nd century CE, after the destruction of the Temple in CE 70. It is attributed to the biblical Baruch and so is associated with the Old Tes ...
.
Characteristics
![BambergApocalypseFolio019v7AngelsWith7TrumpetsAnd1WithCenser](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/79/BambergApocalypseFolio019v7AngelsWith7TrumpetsAnd1WithCenser.JPG)
Apocalyptic revelations are typically mediated through such means as dreams and visions (the ancient world did not distinguish between these), angels, and heavenly journeys. These serve to connect two sets of axes, the spatial axis which has God and the heavenly realm above and the human world below, and the temporal axis of the present and the future. The revelation thus demonstrates that God rules the visible world, and that the present days are leading to an end-time in which divine justice will be done and God's rule will become visible. Mythic images with their roots in texts from the
Hebrew Bible and rich in symbolic meaning are a significant characteristic of the genre. Further characteristics include
transcendentalism, mythology, pessimistic cosmological and historical surveys, dualism (including a doctrine of two ages and the division of time into periods),
numerology
Numerology (also known as arithmancy) is the belief in an occult, divine or mystical relationship between a number and one or more coinciding events. It is also the study of the numerical value, via an alphanumeric system, of the letters in ...
(e.g., the "
number of the beast
The number of the beast ( grc-koi, Ἀριθμὸς τοῦ θηρίου, ) is associated with the Beast of Revelation in chapter 13, verse 18 of the Book of Revelation. In most manuscripts of the New Testament and in English translations of ...
" in Revelation), claims of ecstasy and inspiration, and esotericism.
With the exception of the
Apocalypse of John the authors of apocalyptic works released their books under pseudonyms (false names): the Book of Daniel, for example, was composed during the 2nd century BCE but took the name of the legendary Daniel for its hero. Pseudonymity may have been used to secure acceptance for the new works, to protect the real authors from reprisals, or because the authors had experienced what they believed to be genuine revelations from the famous past figure or identified with him and claimed to write on his behalf.
Jewish apocalypses
Canonical (including proto-apocalyptic)
*
Isaiah 24–27; 33; 34–35
*
Jeremiah 33:14–26
*
Ezekiel
Ezekiel (; he, יְחֶזְקֵאל ''Yəḥezqēʾl'' ; in the Septuagint written in grc-koi, Ἰεζεκιήλ ) is the central protagonist of the Book of Ezekiel in the Hebrew Bible.
In Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, Ezekiel is acknow ...
38–39
*
Joel 3:9–17
*
Zechariah
Zechariah most often refers to:
* Zechariah (Hebrew prophet), author of the Book of Zechariah
* Zechariah (New Testament figure), father of John the Baptist
Zechariah or its many variant forms and spellings may also refer to:
People
*Zechariah ...
12–14
*
Daniel
Daniel is a masculine given name and a surname of Hebrew origin. It means "God is my judge"Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 68. (cf. Gabriel—"God is my strength" ...
7–12
Non-canonical
*
3 Enoch
The Third Book of Enoch ( he, ספר חנוך לר׳ ישמעאל כ׳׳ג , abbreviated as 3 Enoch) is a Biblical apocryphal book in Hebrew. 3 Enoch purports to have been written in the 2nd century, but its origins can only be traced to the 5th c ...
*
Apocalypse of Abraham
*
Apocalypse of Adam
*
Apocalypse of Moses
Apocalypse () is a literary genre in which a supernatural being reveals cosmic mysteries or the future to a human intermediary. The means of mediation include dreams, visions and heavenly journeys, and they typically feature symbolic imagery ...
*
Apocalypse of Sedrach
Written between the 2nd and 5th centuries AD, in Greek, the Apocalypse of Sedrach, also known as the Word of Sedrach, is an ancient apocryphal text. It is preserved only in one 15th century manuscript (Bodleian Cod.Misc.Gr. 56, fols. 92–100). Th ...
*
Apocalypse of Zephaniah
*
Apocalypse of Zerubbabel
Sefer Zerubavel ( he, ספר זרובבל), also called the Book of Zerubbabel or the Apocalypse of Zerubbabel, is a Middle Ages, medieval Hebrew apocalypse written at the beginning of the 7th century CE in the style of biblical visions (e.g. Book ...
*
Aramaic Apocalypse
*
Gabriel's Revelation
Gabriel's Revelation, also called ''Hazon Gabriel'' (the Vision of Gabriel) or the Jeselsohn Stone, is a stone tablet with 87 lines of Hebrew text written in ink, containing a collection of short prophecies written in the first person. It is dat ...
*
Genesis Apocryphon
*
Greek Apocalypse of Baruch
3 Baruch or the Greek Apocalypse of Baruch is a visionary, pseudepigraphic text written some time between the fall of Jerusalem to the Roman Empire in 70 AD and the third century AD. Scholars disagree on whether it was written by a Jew or a Chris ...
*
Greek Apocalypse of Daniel
The Greek Apocalypse of Daniel is a Christian pseudepigraphic text (one whose claimed authorship is unfounded) attributed to the Biblical Daniel and so associated with the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament). However, no Jewish or Christian groups regard ...
*
Greek Apocalypse of Ezra
The Greek Apocalypse of Ezra, also known as The Word and Revelation of Esdras, is a pseudepigraphal work written in the name of the biblical scribe Ezra. It survived in only two Greek copies and is dated between the 2nd century and the 9th century ...
*
Sefer Elijah
Sefer Elijah (also known as Sefer Eliahu, Sefer Elias, or the Apocalypse of Elijah) is an ancient apocalyptic text which was written in Hebrew to a Jewish audience as early as the 3rd century and as late as the 7th century. This text is presented i ...
*
Syriac Apocalypse of Baruch
Christian and gnostic apocalypses
Canonical (New Testament)
*
Matthew 24
Matthew 24 is the twenty-fourth chapter of the Gospel of Matthew in the New Testament of the Christian Bible. It commences the Olivet Discourse or "Little Apocalypse" spoken by Jesus Christ, also described as the Eschatological Discourse, which ...
*
The Sheep and the Goats
*
Mark 13
*
2 Thessalonians 2
The Second Epistle to the Thessalonians is a book from the New Testament of the Christian Bible. It is traditionally attributed to Paul the Apostle, with Timothy as a co-author. Modern biblical scholarship is divided on whether the epistle was ...
*
1 Timothy 4
1 Timothy 4 is the fourth chapter of the First Epistle to Timothy in the New Testament of the Christian Bible. The author has been traditionally identified as Paul the Apostle since as early as AD 180, Halley, Henry H. ''Halley's Bible Handbook ...
*
2 Peter 3
2 Peter 3 is the third (and final) chapter of the Second Epistle of Peter in the New Testament of the Christian Bible. The author identifies himself as "Simon Peter, a bondservant and apostle of Jesus Christ" and the epistle is traditionally attri ...
*Jude 14–15
*
Book of Revelation
Non-canonical
*
Apocalypse of Golias
The ''Apocalypse of Golias'' ( la, Apocalypsis Goliae) is a satirical Latin poem of the 12th century, probably written in England or France. Like the Biblical Book of Apocalypse, the poem is addressed to the "Seven Churches", but manuscripts dif ...
*
Apocalypse of Paul
*
Apocalypse of Peter
*
Apocalypse of Pseudo-Methodius
Written in Syriac in the late seventh century, the ''Apocalypse of Pseudo-Methodius'' shaped and influenced Christian eschatological thinking in the Middle Ages.Griffith (2008), p. 34.Debié (2005) p. 228.Alexander (1985) p. 13.Jackson (2001) p. ...
*
Apocalypse of Samuel of Kalamoun
*
Apocalypse of Stephen
The Revelation of Stephen or Apocalypse of Stephen is a text of New Testament apocrypha. It features Saint Stephen, one of the Seven Deacons to the Twelve apostles.
Summary
The text describes a conflict at the very beginnings of Christianity ab ...
*
Apocalypse of Thomas
* Coptic
Apocalypse of Elijah
Gnostic
*
Gnostic Apocalypse of Peter
The Gnostic Apocalypse of Peter is a text found amongst the Nag Hammadi library, and part of the New Testament apocrypha. Like the vast majority of texts in the Nag Hammadi collection, it is heavily Gnostic. It was probably written around 100-20 ...
*
First Apocalypse of James
*
Second Apocalypse of James
The Second Apocalypse of James is a Gnostic writing. It is the fourth tractate in Codex V in the Nag Hammadi library, immediately following the First Apocalypse of James. The order is a deliberate scribal choice, since the first text prepares Ja ...
*
Coptic Apocalypse of Paul
See also
*
Apocalypticism
*
Christian eschatology
Christian eschatology, a major branch of study within Christian theology, deals with "last things". Such eschatology – the word derives from two Greek roots meaning "last" () and "study" (-) – involves the study of "end things", whether of ...
*
Climate apocalypse
A climate apocalypse (also called a climate dystopia and a climate-induced collapse, among other names) generally denotes a Futures studies, predicted scenario involving the global Societal collapse, collapse of human civilization and potenti ...
*
Eschatology
*
Islamic eschatology
Islamic eschatology ( ar, علم آخر الزمان في الإسلام, ) is a field of study in Islam concerning future events that would happen in the end times. It is primarily based on hypothesis and speculations based on sources from t ...
*
List of dates predicted for apocalyptic events
*
Messianic Age
*
Ultimate fate of the universe
References
Sources
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{{Doomsday
Christian genres
Christian terminology
Mythology
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