This historical overview of American evangelical attitudes towards the apocalypse illustrates its consistent presence as an existential issue in the community, fueling theological debate, cultural productions, and political activism.

Together, the three biblical books Judges, Samuel, and Kings tell the larger part of the story of Israel and Judah as more-or-less independent nations on their own land. Their principal focus is on “rule,” good rule and bad rule: mostly royal rule (by kings), but also “rule” by judges and deliverers, and even by prophets. David is the key human ruler. God too “rules” in these books, but as “judge” rather than as “king.” Together with the book of Joshua, they constitute the sub-set of the Hebrew Bible called Former Prophets and the start of the historical books in an English Bible.

It is increasingly fashionable for interpreters of the Bible unfamiliar with the original languages and the relevant ancient history to pursue literary approaches. Even the legal material is commonly evaluated in literary terms. No scholarly effort is independent of fashion in the sense of a cultural trend and of idiosyncrasy in the sense of a personal bent. An often unspoken assumption is that because so much research into linguistic and historical backgrounds of the biblical texts has occurred down the centuries little scope is left to say much that is new. There is a measure of truth in this notion. Despite an abiding commitment among a coterie of German scholars, more often than not scholars pay but lip service to the longstanding historical-critical theory about the Graf-Wellhausen JEDP four source make-up of the Pentateuch. The approach’s long history illustrates the not infrequent phenomenon of a critical theory perpetuating itself even when its raison d’être has been lost sight of. It is, however, precisely a lack of confidence about uncovering new meaning in the original sources that provides a major impetus for this volume. The essays reflect the efforts of scholars who, by and large, not committing to old order ways, enable them to advance imaginative ones of looking at the Bible. The goal is to modify and reshape many preconceived notions about the contents of the Bible and also its role in selected areas of Western literature. Another aim is to stimulate further questioning on the part of the reader. There is good reason to do so. The German philosopher, Friedrich Schlegel, speaks of a classical work as one that cannot ever be fully understood, but those who are educated and who seek to enhance their education nevertheless through engagement with such a work learn more and more.

Apocalyptic thinking informs virtually every major aspect of life in the twenty-first century, the result of a shift in outlook that began in the late 1960s. This chapter examines the causes of this apocalyptic shift and its remarkable acceleration since 2001, with attention to popular culture, the resurgence of robust apocalypticism in religions both new and old, and the “illiberal revolution” and the normalization of apocalyptic thinking.

Medieval Ireland had a rich apocalyptic literature, encompassing treatments of the end-times, eschatology, and the afterlife. This chapter surveys several of the main texts, with special attention to themes that are particularly characteristic of Irish apocalyptic.

Shelley repeatedly described himself as an atheist, and yet in his poetry he frequently explored the possibility of god-like transcendent powers, divine inspiration, and prophecy. In many of his greatest poetic works (such as Mont Blanc, Ode to the West Wind, and Prometheus Unbound), Shelley frequently invokes biblical imagery to articulate essentially Christian values (hope, charity, love) while developing his own master themes of enlightened defiance, political liberty and the struggle toward self-control. In Prometheus Unbound, Shelley's Greek Titan is metaphorically “crucified” for his sacrifice to help humanity. His liberation follows a personal transformation that recalls aspects of St. Paul’s writing on self-mastery. It is unclear if Prometheus’ liberation is causally linked to his own imaginative renewal, or whether there are other forces (God, Necessity, inscrutable Powers) that are instrumental. The repeated inclination to invoke both classical and biblical writing while developing themes of personal autonomy and enlightenment is one of the most interesting aspects of Shelley's work, and one of the most representative qualities of Romantic writing more generally.

One of the great Reformation debates during Shakespeare’s lifetime focused on the nature of “repentance” as represented in the Bible. The Biblical concept embraced the idea of a turn away from error and a return to righteousness (mostly as interpreted in later translations of the Hebrew Testament) and the idea of an interior change of mind or revision of one’s attitude toward patterns of behavior (mostly in the Christian Testament likewise as interpreted in later translations). Shakespeare dramatized these ideas in histories, comedies, tragedies, and romances throughout his career. This essay focuses on the dynamics of repentance in King Lear, where turning away and changes of mind engage with competing – but also sometimes complementing and mutually reinforcing – claims of ancient pagan Stoicism and Epicureanism in regard to fate, destiny, free will, and random change.

This chapter is an exposition of a visionary, apocalyptic perspective in Christian intellectual history of the early modern period which contrasts with a mainstream mistrust of apocalyptic claims. Discussion of Anne Hutchinson, Gerrard Winstanley, and William Blake concludes with a consideration of the centrality of such an apocalyptic perspective in the New Testament.

The figure of Antichrist does not appear as such in Christian Scripture; it is instead constituted by the interactions of several exegetical and theological strands in late antiquity and the early Middle Ages. This chapter studies the contours of that developing tradition, casting forward even into the present invocations of Antichrist in contemporary thinkers such as René Girard and Giorgio Agamben.

“Wisdom Literature” is a scholarly inference from the common interest of three biblical books: ḥokmah (wisdom). They promote universal human values, lack anything specific to Israel, and convey “parental” advice. Proverbs resembles sound bites, the book of Job debates the problem of innocent suffering, and Qoheleth (the name of the author of Ecclesiastes) views life philosophically as toilsome and pointless. Two other books, Sirach and Wisdom of Solomon, resemble Proverbs while integrating Jewish traditions from law and prophecy into their teachings about wisdom. These books are mainly poetry, although a prose account frames the book of Job, Qoheleth mixes prose and poetry, and Proverbs uses prose to describe a successful seduction. Only the divine speeches in Job surpass his initial curse of his birthday, Qoheleth’s two poems about cyclical reality and declining years of life, and the description of primordial Wisdom. Within parallel utterances or cola, numerous poetic devices both tease and delight.

Apocalypticism is a worldview that developed in ancient Judaism in the Hellenistic period. It draws heavily on ancient myths, and attempts to express a sense that the world is governed by transcendent powers and that human destiny transcends the present order.

A great deal of literature attempts to reimagine, rework, revamp, retrieve – in short, retell – the Bible. The growing body of work known as “biblical reception history” is devoted to studying this phenomenon. The essay continues down this productive path: first a review of the biblical Song of Songs, noting the points most salient for understanding later retellings; next, detailing what biblical retellings are and how we might define them. Turning to the essay’s focus, there is close analyses of the novel Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison (1977) and the short story “Song of Songs” by Darcey Steinke (2004) as they interact with the Bible. These stories show how biblical retellings are like a field, with some closer to the center (i.e. the Bible) than others. The essay concludes by suggesting why retellings exist in the first place.

In the laws in the first five books of the Bible, each law is a response to a specific ethical or legal problem arising in a narrative incident recounted in Genesis through 2 Kings. The closest of links exist between law and literature. This argument differs significantly from the commonly held view that legal texts were inserted into narrative texts at different historical periods to reflect changing societal circumstances. Topics covered include the origin of the Decalogue (the Ten Commandments); legal ideas of perennial interest such as individual and corporate responsibility, conflict of law with principle, and authoritative sanctioning of evil; sacred (ritual) law; the absence of certain rules; the role of the curse in controlling behavior; the contributions of Jesus and Paul to ethics and law.

Biblical and non-Biblical prophecy from the ancient Near East, in all its manifestations, is an equivalent form of divination translated through human words and gestures. Prophets do not need to be members of a guild of religious practitioners or operate within a cultic context based on learned skills. They are measured by the perceived veracity of their message and their strict adherence to the god they serve. The recording of these messages in letters or collected sayings becomes the basis for what we term “prophetic literature,” a diverse body of literary forms that at its heart demonstrates to devotees the active interest of the god(s) in human activities and endeavors. To comprehend the basic characteristics of prophetic literature in the Hebrew Bible, this study examines the social and cultural setting contributing to its development as well as the prophetic traditions that are found in documents from ancient Mesopotamia.