Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-pftt2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-05-01T01:24:19.203Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

10 - Apocalyptic Literature

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 March 2020

By
Meghan Henning
Edited by
Calum Carmichael
Calum Carmichael
Affiliation:
Cornell University, New York
Get access

Summary

The essay contributes to the scholarly conversation about apocalyptic literature by emending the definition of the genre to take into account the ancient rhetorical techniques the apocalyptic authors use, namely, vivid visual rhetoric. The essay considers the facets of genre, audience, and style, three of the literary elements of ancient apocalyptic literature essential for understanding the Biblical texts. The heart of the essay looks at the main texts of apocalyptic literature in the Bible, Daniel, Mark 13, and Revelation. In looking at them the focus is on storytelling, why the authors told the story in a certain way and what effects this mode of communication might have had on each audience’s political, economic, and social outlook. The discussion about the Biblical materials paves the way for thinking about the way they are used in art, contemporary literature, media, politics, and even religious pilgrimage sights.

Keywords

ApocalypseDanielMarkRevelationheavenhellafterlifegenrerhetoricreception history
Type
Chapter
Information
The Cambridge Companion to the Bible and Literature , pp. 166 - 180
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2020

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Further Reading

Carey, Greg, Ultimate Things: An Introduction to Jewish and Christian Apocalyptic Literature (St. Louis, MO, 2005).Google Scholar
Collins, Adela Yarbro, Crisis and Catharsis: The Power of the Apocalypse (Philadelphia, 1984).Google Scholar
Engstrom, Erika and Valenzano, Joseph M. III, Television, Religion, and Supernatural: Hunting Monsters, Finding Gods (Lanham, MD, 2014).Google Scholar
Henning, Meghan R., “Narrating the Future,” in Religion: Narrating Religion, ed. Iles Johnston, Sarah (Farmington Hills, MI, 2017), 191–206.Google Scholar
Moss, Candida, “Welcome to Hell: A History of Portals to Underworld,” The Daily Beast (May, 2018). www.thedailybeast.com/welcome-to-hell-a-history-of-portals-to-the-underworld.Google Scholar
Murphy, Kelly J., “The End Is (Still) All Around: The Zombie and Contemporary Apocalyptic Thought,” in Apocalypses in Context: Apocalyptic Currents through History, ed. Murphy, Kelly J. and Jeffcoat Schedtler, Justin (Minneapolis, 2016), 469–96.Google Scholar
Pippen, Tina. Death and Desire: The Rhetoric of Gender in the Apocalypse of John (Louisville, KY, 1992).Google Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×