End of Days

The idea of the complete annihilation of all life is a powerful and culturally universal concept. As human societies around the globe have produced creation myths, so too have they created narratives concerning the apocalyptic destruction of their worlds. This book explores the idea of the apocalypse and its reception within culture and society, bringing together 17 essays that explore both the influence and innovation of apocalyptic ideas from classical Greek and Roman writings to the foreign policies of today’s United States.

Instructors considering this book for use in a course may request an examination copy here.

Karolyn Kinane is associate director of pedagogy and faculty engagement at the University of Virginia Contemplative Sciences Center in Charlottesville, Virginia. She researches and teaches on many aspects of contemplative inquiry including approaches to reading, writing, teaching, and learning.

Michael A. Ryan is an associate professor of history at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque.

Edited by Karolyn Kinane and Michael A. Ryan

Format: softcover (6 x 9)
Pages: 393
Bibliographic Info: 6 photos, notes, bibliographies, index
Copyright Date: 2009
pISBN: 978-0-7864-4204-1
eISBN: 978-0-7864-5359-7
Imprint: McFarland

Acknowledgments      v

Introduction
  (Karolyn Kinane and Michael A. Ryan)      1

Teaching the End of Days: Medieval Meets Modern Apocalypse in the Classroom
  (Brett Edward Whalen)      9

PART I. DEVELOPMENT AND DISSEMINATION

Ancient Visions: The Roots of Judeo-Christian Apocalypse
  (Casey Starnes)      27

Beatus of Liébana: Medieval Spain and the Othering of Islam
  (Kevin R. Poole)      47

“Seeing” the Apocalyptic City in the Fourteenth Century
  (Tessa Morrison)      67

Social Upheaval and the English Doomsday Plays
  (Lisa LeBlanc)      87

Flight from the Apocalypse: Protestants, Puritans and the Great Migration
  (Carmen Gómez-Galisteo)      103

J. Edmestone Barnes, a Jamaican Apocalyptic Visionary in the Early Twentieth Century
  (Richard Smith)      120

“Tidings out of the East”: World War I, the Eastern Question and British Millennialism
  (Eric Michael Reisenauer)      142

Nazi End Times: The Third Reich as Millennial Reich
  (David Redles)      173

PART II. POLITICAL AND POPULAR

Protestant Evangelicals and U.S. Policy Towards Israel
  (Husam Mohamad)      199

At the Edge of Tomorrow: Apocalypticism and Science Fiction
  (Lorenzo DiTommaso)      221

“A Human Incarnate”: Puritans and Parody in Good Omens
  (Therese-Marie Meyer)      242

The End-Times Narratives of the American Far-Right
  (Johann Pautz)      265

The Left Behind Series and Its Place Within the American Evangelical Subculture
  (Nancy A. Schaefer)      287

Gaming Armageddon: Leaving Behind Race, Class and Gender
  (Evelyn Stiller)      309

Apocalyptic Thought in UFO-Based Religions
  (Benjamin E. Zeller)      328

Zombie Apocalypse: Plague and the End of the World in Popular Culture
  (Rikk Mulligan)      349

About the Contributors      369

Index      373