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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
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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

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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

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