It’s the end of the world as we know it – and it has been for over 5000 years. The Greek terms, apokálupsis (apo– ‘un-’ + kaluptein ‘to cover’) and eskhatos (last), give us a way of talking about theological approaches to the “end times.” Translating roughly as “the lifting of the last veil,” apocalyptic eschatology is the theological study of the “end of time.” While Christian “revelation” has considerable representation in the Western mainstream popular imagination, there are other cultures that have envisioned the devastation of creation.
In this conversational Insights class, we’ll be reading Ancient Mesopotamian, Jewish and Early Christian, Hindu, and Northern European prophecy narratives and considering the following questions:
- What are the roots of Christian apocalyptic eschatology?
- What other cultures have a narrative for the ‘end of the world’ and how do those play out?
- What do these stories have in common? Where do they diverge? and
- What does any of this mean for Pagans in the West today?”
Rather than coming to a definitive conclusion in our 4 weeks together, this class hopes to give us all a new (and very old) way of framing some socio-political conversations about the lifting of the veil and our literal and figurative global climate.
Instructor: Angela Farmer, Ph.D.
Meeting Day/Time: March Thursdays 5-6:00 PM ET
No required texts
