Prophecy and Apocalypticism

"The Star of the Magi" explores a new chronology of Jesus, based upon historical considerations of Nikos Kokkinos' that prove that John the Baptist died in 35 CE.  Since Jesus' ministry is subsequent to that of John's, his own death cannot be placed earlier than 36 CE.  Attempts to date it earlier have always been predicated upon false assumptions about what astronomical event, or series of events, could explain the appearance of the Star of the Magi, approximately 33 years earlier, provided that Jesus indeed was "about 30," when he began his ministry (Luke 3:23).  But there are no viable stellar events corresponding to the traditional date of Jesus' birth in ca. 6-4 BCE.  Rather, the only probable astronomical event associated with the Nativity can be that of the appearance of the great comet, Halley's, in the year 12 BCE, the true approximate date of the Birth of the Messiah -- a saviour (saošyant) expected from Zoroastrian sources to inaugurate a new Golden Age.  The reference in Luke is corrupt (an incomplete sentence), and the remark on Jesus' age in John 8:57 ("not yet 50 years old") fits more perfectly a birth of Jesus in 12 BCE and a death in 36 CE (thus, 12 + 36 = 48 years old, sc., the "not yet 50" complicit with John and other sources).  The article further discusses the rôle of Zoroastrianism in science and star-lore (but not zodiacal astrology), and the interface between cometology and the body of ancient magical and apocryphal literature.  The contribution concludes with a presentation of a hypothetical pre-Matthean version of the birth narrative and the rôle of entheogenic drugs in Zarathustrian revelation, which may have contributed to the events surrounding the Magi's historical discovery of the Child.

In the 1690s, a series of enthusiastic episodes rocked Pietist circles. Scholars have often pointed to Pietism's "heart religion" to explain these events. This essay demonstrates, however, that such experiences belonged to an older, firmly established cultural pattern in an Early Modern Europe in which a magical world view prevailed. Martin draws on dozens of texts, most previously overlooked by historians of Pietism, that document the continuity of this tradition from the sixteenth century into the Pietist era . She traces the integration of ecstatic events into Pietist conventicles and shows how Pietists adapted and transformed these older patterns to fit the new context of Pietism.

Russia as the leading orthodox power, the tsar as heir to the Eastern Roman Emperors, protector and messianic liberator of the Eastern Church and his coreligionists from Ottoman “captivity” – this representation shaped since the 17th century the self-perception of the Russian monarchy as well as the perceptions of European diplomacy and the Sublime Porte. This study traces the creation of these representations of Russia in Greek clerical environments, their circulation and evolution over time, by insisting on their various, dynamic contexts. Far from representing some kind of Orthodox peculiarity or a timeless Byzantine tradition, the discourses examined constitute part and parcel of a common Early modern European political language and imagery.

Recent years have seen the flourishing of research on Lithuanian Kabbalists in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, to the point that some scholars speak of a defined and delineated stream of Kabbalah, a school unto itself dubbed "Lithuanian Kabbalah." Such scholars include within this stream all those who saw the Vilna Gaon as their teacher in Kabbalah (parallel to the position of the Baal Shem Tov in Hasidism) and they ascribe to it such fixed categories as its "Articles of Faith." In their conception, this stream was part and parcel of the broader and well-known nationalist-messianic current that had its source, supposedly, in the Vilna Gaon himself; this current reached its full fruition in the twentieth century, and so too has the smaller stream within it, now a clearly defined "school," developed in various ways until the present. As if this were not enough, scholars have joined the later ideological trend which seeks to revise the history of Jewish settlement in the Land of Israel in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries in a decidedly messianic way, presenting it in a continuous line from the Vilna Gaon to the emergence of Zionism and then to the founding of the State of Israel. Again, the Vilna Gaon is not merely presented as a "herald" of Zionism but as one who encoded within his Torah the secret of redemption, the beginning of which, apparently, we are witnessing today. The article conducts a critical analysis of the concept of "Lithuanian Kabbalah," and uses as its case study the life and teachings of Rabbi Shimon Tsvi Horowitz.


בשנים האחרונות צומח ועולה מחקר סביב למקובלים בני ליטא במאות התשע עשרה והעשרים, עד שיש כאלו המדברים על זרם מוגדר ומובחן, אסכולה בפני עצמה, המכונה 'קבלה ליטאית'. בתוך זרם זה כוללים את כל אלו שראו בגר"א את מורם בקבלה, כמעין בעש"ט לחסידות, ומונים קטגוריות מקובעות של 'עיקרי אמונה' של אותו זרם הרוכב על מהלך משיחי ולאומי ידוע שמקורו כביכול בגר"א עצמו והגיע לגמר בישולו במאה העשרים. עד שנוצר בעיני כמה חוקרים מעין 'חוג' ברור ומוגדר שמתגלגל באופנים שונים עד לימינו. אם לא די בכך, הרי שהמדברים על אותו זרם קבלי רוכבים למעשה על קו אידיאולוגי מאוחר שבא לפרש מחדש את ההיסטוריה של היישוב היהודי בארץ ישראל במאה התשע עשרה ברוח משיחית וליצור מעין המשכיות מימי הגר"א עד להופעתה של הציונות ולמאורעות שהתרחשו עם הקמת מדינת ישראל. שוב אין הגר"א מצטייר רק כ'מבשר' הציונות אלא כמי שצפן בתורתו את סוד הגאולה שאנו עומדים לכאורה בפתחה. המאמר עוסק בניתוח ביקורתי של המשוג "קבלת ליטאית" וכמקרה מבחן יש כאן דיון בדרכו של ר' שמעון צבי הורביץ

As the interest in eschatology within academia as well as amongst many Christians increases, the natural outflow of apocalyptic prophecy interpretation has given occasion to two main popular interpretations, namely futurism and preterism – even to the extent of questionably influencing politics and theocratic movements. With the aim of identifying an adequate school of apocalyptic interpretation within the discourse of eschatology, this theological study within systematic theology analyses the way apocalyptic prophecy is interpreted within broader discourses on eschatology. The different hermeneutical assumptions of the various interpretation schools of apocalyptic models are researched and challenged. Preterism, which assigns apocalyptic prophecy’s fulfilment to the past; futurism, which consigns apocalyptic prophecy’s fulfilment to the future; and historicism, which disperses apocalyptic prophecy’s fulfilment throughout the lapse of history, are the focus of this study. The study is directed towards determining whether the more adequate system for interpreting apocalyptic prophecy can be identified within the doctrine of the last things (eschatology). An analysis model is developed whereby the three interpretational schools are critically evaluated. The consequential proposal from this research is a historicist hermeneutic.

From the beginning of the modern Pentecostal Movement, Classical Pentecostals have understood themselves as standing within a very long prophetic tradition. When they think of the gift of prophecy, they think first of the Old, and then of the New Testament prophets and they value the prophetic gifts outlined by Paul. They acknowledge the continuation of prophetic manifestations throughout the course of the Church’s history. Such manifestations have at times been subject to
diverse responses, especially by Christian leaders who have not always understood or appreciated these gifts. They also believe that the Holy Spirit, with his many charisms, has been poured out upon this modern movement at this point in history, in keeping with the promise of Joel 2:28-29 and Acts 2:16-21. They contend that this relatively recent outpouring of the Spirit has been instrumental in forming an eschatological “community of prophets” at this present time, which serves as a harbinger of the end of the age.

To see all of our books and editions of the journal, please visit www.aptspress.org

One of the more perplexing exegetical difficulties faced by adherents of American-style premillennialism has to do with the question of what role the United States will play in the coming apocalypse. Despite the nearness of the eschaton and the critical role that the United States seems to play in foreshadowing it, the Mediterranean-based apocalypse scenario that lies at the heart of most premillennialist exegesis seems to leave little room for the Western hemisphere. How could the most powerful nation in the world, the single greatest political influence in the modern Middle East, be a non-entity at the time of the End?
This paper is an attempt to survey the various responses to that question from within the premillennialist camp. After surveying early attempts to situate the United States within an apocalyptic milieu—whether positively, as the fulfillment of prophecies concerning eschatological Israel, or negatively, as the dark paradigm of eschatological Babylon—I will focus on what appears to be the dominant interpretation among premillennialist forecasters at present: the United States is not mentioned in biblical apocalypse scenarios because it has somehow been erased from the halls of geopolitical power prior to that time. Such a seemingly pessimistic approach, however, paradoxically allows its proponents significant freedom in predicting the future history of the American empire. As I will argue, premillennialism’s very failure to find the United States U.S. within the pages of Revelation invests the nation with chameleon-like agency, freeing it from the fatalism often implied in apocalyptic speculation—and creating the conceptual space for meaningful engagement with the political process.

An overview of the variety of textual differences that exist between the Apocalypse in Codex Sinaiticus and the book in modern critical editions, thereby offering a window into the book's early readership. There is also a YouTube link to the lecture version of this paper, which was recently delivered at Samford University for their Holley Hull Lecture Series: https://vimeo.com/878444925/a35492dd8b?share=copy&fbclid=IwAR10Iu7HKuAjjcEcDdxgfT7XKqe2F6W6Bwb1cVHafNO0Yz6g4VhsIhXHMz4

This book examines John Calvin’s sense of vocation.

1) It begins with an analysis of thinking on prophecy in early, medieval, and Reformation theology.

2) It finds Calvin within a non-mystical, non-apocalyptic prophetic tradition that focused on scriptural interpretation.

3) It argues Calvin believed his prophetic authority was the same as Isaiah and Jeremiah, and suggests that he may have held himself to be infallible in matters related to Christian doctrine.

4) It argues that starting from about 1555, Calvin began to conceive the idea of encouraging one of the French 'lesser magistrates' (the princes of the blood royal) to rise up in armed conflict against the sitting French king with the aim of taking the throne.

5) Thus, it argues that when that did happen in 1562 when Louis of Condé gathered troops in Orléans and declared their intentions to liberate King Charles IX from the evil councillors surrounding him, this had Calvin's fingerprints on it -- Calvin was to a significant degree responsible for this turn of events.

6) Calvin pursued this plan, I argue, as one of a number of approaches to winning France for the gospel. In this way, the volume explores Calvin's sense of vocation and the impact this had on his political thought.

This article provides an outline for a new interpretation of the trial of the Templars, with special attention to the texts written by the instigators of the case, namely, Philip the Fair and his ministers. The trial had everything to do with the growth of the French monarchy. With the “discovery” and repression of the “Templars' heresy,” the Capetian monarchy claimed for itself the mystic foundations of the papal theocracy. The Temple case was the last step of a process of appropriating these foundations, which had begun with the Franco-papal rift at the time of Boniface VIII. Being the ultimate defender of the Catholic faith, the Capetian king was now fully invested with a Christlike function that put him above the pope. What was at stake in the Templars' trial was the establishment of a royal theocracy.

The identity of the little horn power in Daniel 8 (and 7) is largely determined by the method of interpretation of that chapter, the book of Daniel as a whole, apocalyptic prophecies, and the entire Bible. The Maccabean thesis, which is built on preteristic interpretation method, believes that the little horn corresponds for a Seleucid king, Antiochus IV Epiphanes, who stood against the Jews in the second century BCE. There is also a view, that claims that the little horn in Daniel 7 is not the same little horn as in Daniel 8, as André Reis argues (André Reis, “A Response to Glifford Goldstein on the Little Horn on Daniel 8,” ResearchGate, April, 2018, accessed August 18, 2019, https://www.researchgate.net/publication/324758761_A_RESPONSE_TO_CLIFFORD_GOLDSTEIN_ON_THE_LITTLE_HORN_OF_DANIEL_8.). However, this interpretation has many problems. For example, it breaks the unity and apocalyptic-universal and end-time characteristics of the book of Daniel. Historicism, on the other hand, stands on these characteristics. As a matter of fact, the principles of Protestant biblical hermeneutics point to the direction of historicism, as will be shown when textual, lexical, and theological areas are researched.

The goal of this paper is to bring the following contributions: It establishes a chiastic structure for Daniel 7-12, which thematic peaks are Christ and the Day of Atonement. It offers answers for André Reis' grammatical, lexical, textual, and theological arguments for Antiochus Epiphanes being the little horn in Daniel 8. It shows that when the little horn continues the philosophical and spiritual legacy or continuum of the king of the north, it establishes the little horn's coming from the cardinal point of north, without the little horn needing to come from one of the four horns of the goat.

The thesis statement: This research argues that Antiochus IV Epiphanes cannot be the little horn of Daniel 7 and/or 8 because: (1) The historicist view for the origin of the little horn is the most probable; (2) Epiphanes was not great enough and the preeminent in the land for the proportions of the little horn, but Rome was preeminent in its imperial stage, and was and is preeminent in its papal stage; (3) the time prophecies of Daniel do not fit into the reign of this Seleucid king; (4) Epiphanes did not rise at the latter period of the Seleucid kingdom; (5) the book of Daniel is mainly a universal book, and Christocentric interpretation model leads to that conclusion; (6) because the book is universal in scope, the little horn grants universal proportions, which are also seen in history; (7) it is more probable that the little horn comes from one of the four winds (the northern wind) than one of the four horns, because the little horn continues the philosophical and spiritual legacy or continuum of the king of the north; and (8) the “abomination of desolation”, ultimately, has a spiritual and end-time meaning, which is fulfilled in history.

Seit langen wird dem kalabresischen Abt Joachim von Fiore († 1202) eine geradezu ungeheure Wirkung auf die abendländische Geistesgeschichte zugeschrieben. Karl Löwith, Jakob Taubes, Eric Voegelin und andere sahen in ihm den „Vordenker“ der neuzeitlichen Ideologien, ja selbst der Totalitarismen des 20. Jahrhunderts. Doch die ideengeschichtliche Forschung kümmerte sich wenig darum, was tatsächlich in den Schriften Joachims steht. Das wird mit dieser Studie nachgeholt. Sie zieht die populären Joachim-Bilder in Zweifel. Nicht als antiklerikaler Revolutionär, zurückgezogener Mystiker oder dunkler Prophet des Dritten Reiches zeigt sich der Abt, sondern als innovativer Gesellschaftstheoretiker. Er beteiligte sich aktiv an den politischen Auseinandersetzungen seiner Zeit und stand den Mächtigen als Ratgeber zur Seite. Sein Verfassungsentwurf für das „Dritte Zeitalter des Heiligen Geistes“, der von Matthias Riedl in kommentierter Übersetzung vorgelegt wird, ist nicht weniger faszinierend als die Utopien eines Morus, Campanella oder Fourier. Joachim von Fiore, so belegt dieses Buch, formuliert zum ersten Mal die Idee des Fortschritts, im Sinne einer geschichtlich-sozialen Höherentwicklung und Vollendung der Menschheit.

Orthographic variation within the manuscripts of the Greek NT is seldom a cause célèbre beyond the ranks of diehard textual critics. Even among these most will concede that orthographic irregularities amount to little more than evidence of scribal incompetency or inconsistency in their spelling practices. To find the same word both spelled correctly and misspelled with a single manuscript b the same scribe is not uncommon. It approaches the  norm. The critical editions of our Greek NTs have therefore opted, on good grounds, to exclude textual variants displaying non-standardized spelling. To include them would make it impossible for anyone to use the critical apparatuses in a meaningful way. The deluge of senseless errors would drown out variants of demonstrable textual significance.

The publication of Josef Schmid's landmark work on the textual history of the Apocalypse seemingly established the Andreas Text Type as a fourth-century product. The primary evidence for Schmid's claim came from the fourth-century corrections of the Apocalypse in Codex Sinaiticus, corrections which bore a close resemblance to the Andreas text of the Apocalypse. Schmid's reconstruction, however, is flawed. The fourth-century corrections he identified are actually from the seventh-century. The data supporting a fourth-century Andreas text type does not exist. Schmid's widely influential error appears to have been based on a misreading of Milne and Skeat's "Scribes and Correctors of the Codex Sinaiticus."

Mémoire présenté par :
Erwan MOREAU
en vue de l'obtention du diplôme de :
MASTER 2 RECHERCHE
Domaine : Sciences humaines et sociales
Mention : Ethnologie-Sociologie
Spécialité : SOCIOLOGIE
Préparé sous la direction de M. Jean Bruno RENARD, professeur de Sociologie
Juin 2014
Mention obtenue : très bien


Abstract (French) :

Le synonyme le plus proche du terme "monstre" est l'expression « contre-nature » (Aristote, Saint Augustin, Canguilhem, Lascault, Cuny Le Callet, Valton, etc.). Sentence paradoxale s'il en est quand on sait qu'au niveau biologique, il est entendu que rien de ce que produit la Nature ne peut voir le jour indépendamment du respect de ses lois et qu'il est le propre de l'imagination de pouvoir y créer des exceptions.

Mais parallèlement à la Nature, objet de la biologie et de la physique, se trouve une autre « nature » : la « connaissance ordinaire » (Aristote employait pour sa part le terme de « cours ordinaire », « ὡς ἐπὶ τὸ πολύ » en parlant du statut contre-nature du monstre), cette « chose que l'organisme construit dans le but de créer un ordre dans le flux de l'expérience »

Ainsi, tout monstre peut être traduit comme étant ce qui apparaît contraire à une  « connaissance ordinaire », à une réalité sensible, dans son acception la plus large, c'est-à-dire orientée vers l'esthétique (le plus couramment rattaché à une vision anthropocentrée) et/ou vers l'éthique (intolérance idéologique).

Aussi par le partage des affects que met en œuvre une communauté d'esprits (religieuse, laïque, révolutionnaire, impérialiste, etc.), des éléments « contre-nature » peuvent apparaître à un niveau macrosociologique. Éléments émergeant de l'esprit gnostique et de son succédané l'esprit dogmatique, chacun ayant pour spécificité de mettre en exergue le dualisme entre bien et mal, connaissance et ignorance les entraînant ainsi vers l'ère de la déliquescence, de la décadence, en somme vers les temps eschatologiques et leurs abominations monstrueuses.


Abstract (English) :

The best synonym for the word ‘monster’ is the expression ‘unnatural’’ (Aristote, Saint Augustin, Canguilhem, Lascault, Cuny Le Callet, Valton, etc.). That is a paradoxical sentence - if any - when we know that biologically speaking nothing produced by Nature can exist regardless of the respect of its laws. It is among the characteristics of imagination to create exceptions.

But parallel to the Nature as objet of biology and physic is another kind of ‘nature’: the ‘ordinary knowledge’. (Artistote named it the ‘ordinary course’ (ὡς ἐπὶ τὸ πολύ) to mention the unnatural aspect of monster), this ‘thing that is produced by the organism to create an order within the experience’s flow’.

Then any monster can be understood as what appears in contrary to an ‘ordinary knowledge’, a ‘sensitive reality’ in every sense, that is to say aesthetics- (mostly associated to an anthropocentred vision) and/or ethicspositioned (ideological intolerance).

And the sharing of affections made by a minds’ community (religious, lay, revolutionary or imperialist, etc.) can reveal some ‘unnatural’ elements at the level of macrosociology. Elements that are emerging from the Gnostic spirit and its substitute: the dogmatic spirit. Each specifically brings out the dualism between good and evil, knowledge and ignorance that leads towards the decay, decline age - in other words towards eschatological times and their monstrous abominations.

Two trends regarding the Messianic figure were present during the Second Temple Period: in one, the Messiah will restore the previous glories to Israel and reign over all nations; in the other, the Messiah will bring change with signs, judgment and a better future as never seen before (Day of the Lord). However, there is little evidence surrounding these beliefs during this period, only made clear in the DSS and Songs of Solomon. Extra-biblical texts on the restorative notion are Ben Sira and Songs of Solomon, while Assumptions of Moses, Sybilline Oracles, Parables of Enoch and Jubilees reflect the utopian notion. In the Qumran Scrolls a combination of both of these views is present, but with additions and differences from other Jewish groups. This view is present in The Rule of the Community, Damascus Document, Florilegium, and the Aramaic Apocalypse (Pseudo-Daniel), while the Day of the LORD in the Scroll of the War, Rule of the Congregation, Rule of Blessings and the Messianic Apocalypse. What do the writings say about them? Were they all unanimous theologically? Clearly and very important to the Qumran Scrolls are the bi-messianism (one priestly and one royal) or even tri, judgment, and the emphasis on sanctity and purity for/in the End of Days.

This paper explores the theme of the Father and Son working, even on the seventh day of creation, the Day of Rest, against the background of conflicting claims concerning the meaning of the Sabbath in the Priestly and Deuteronomistic codes. This is the basis for reflection on the possibility of elaborating a theology of work and rest in labour relations.

Christopher Buck, “Bahāʾīs.” Encyclopaedia of the Qurʾān: Supplement. Ed. Jane McAuliffe. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill. (Published December 1, 2016.)

Having arisen out of Islamic historical context and milieu, the Bahāʾī religion has certain Islamicate elements, yet the Bahāʾī Faith exhibits certain other features that phenomenologically are supra-Islamicate and socially and institutionally distinctive in character. For instance, Islamic doctrine adheres to a belief in successive revelations, beginning with Adam, and culminating with the Prophet Muḥammad as the “Seal of the Prophets.” In Bahāʾī teachings, the idea of successive revelations is invested with a teleology that transforms it into “progressive revelation” where the succession of Messengers throughout the history of religions is not only sequential but cumulative, coefficient with the social evolution of humanity. As humankind advances socially, so does the corresponding need for guidance and laws suited to the exigencies of the day and age. Here, “progressive” conveys the notion of a “fuller” and “more advanced” repository of divine guidance (by way of revelatory sacred texts), without making a claim of intrinsic superiority.

A Bahāʾī theology of pluralism, with special reference to Islam, may be based on a statement by Shoghi Effendi, “Guardian” of the Bahāʾī Faith (1921–57): “Unequivocally and without the least reservation it proclaims all established religions to be divine in origin, identical in their aims, complementary in their functions, continuous in their purpose, indispensable in their value to mankind.” (S. Effendi, World Order, p. 58). This, of course, applies as much to Islam as to other religions.

Islamic prophetology is anchored in the received interpretation of Q. 33:40, which is widely believed to establish Muḥammad as the final prophet (see prophets and prophethood). In what is perhaps his most significant exegetical maneuver, Bahā’u’llāh relativizes that claim in order to supersede it, refocusing the reader’s attention a mere four verses later (Q. 33:44) on the eschatological attainment to the presence of God (liqāʾ Allāh) on the last day (see eschatology):

*** Even as the Lord of being hath in His unerring Book (Qurʾān), after (baʿd az) speaking of the “Seal” in His exalted utterance: “Muḥammad is the Apostle of God and the Seal of the Prophets” (Q. 33:40), hath revealed unto all people the promise (vaʾda) of “attainment unto the divine Presence (liqāʾyi khudā).” To this attainment to the presence of the immortal King testify the verses of the Book, some of which We have already mentioned (vide par. 148: Q. 29:23, 2:46, 2:249, 18:111, 13:2). The one true God is My witness! Nothing more exalted or more explicit than “attainment unto the divine Presence” hath been revealed in the Qurʾān. (va khudā-yi vāḥid shāhid-i maqāl ast kih hīch amrī a’ẓam az liqā’ va asraḥ-ī az ān dar furqān zikr nayāftih.) Well is it with him that hath attained thereunto, in the day wherein most of the people, even as ye witness, have turned away therefrom. ***

*** And yet, through the mystery of the former (avval) verse, they have turned away from the grace promised by the latter (thānī), despite the fact that “attainment unto the divine Presence” in the “Day of Resurrection” (liqāʾ dar yawm-i qiyām) is explicitly stated in the Book (Qurʾān). (Bahā’u’llāh, the Kitāb-i-Īqān, trans. Shoghi Effendi, Pars. 181–182; parenthetical references added; id. Īqān, Pars. 181–182). ***

In this pivotal passage, when Bahā’u’llāh relates back to “verses of the Book, some of which We have already mentioned,” a quick search of the Īqān shows that, in par. 148, Bahā’u’llāh cites Q. 29:23, 2:46, 2:249, 18:111, 13:2. Yet in this passage, Bahā’u’llāh also alludes to a Qurʾānic announcement of the “attainment unto the divine Presence” in the “Day of Resurrection” (liqāʾ dar yawm-i qiyām) that comes “after” (baʿd az) the “Seal” verse.

Shoghi Effendi, in his dual role as authorized translator and interpreter of Bahāʾī scriptures, provides a word-for-word, literal translation in rendering the Persian so: “And yet, through the mystery of the former.” Then Shoghi Effendi inserts one word for amplification: “verse” (not in the original Persian). This subtle, yet highly significant, gloss disambiguates the text, narrowing the reading from an episodic sequence of prophetic/eschatological events (“Seal of the Prophets” followed by “Divine Presence”) to a textual, qurʾānic sequence, i.e. of a pair verses descriptive of this same sequence. This makes perfect sense since the preposition “after” (baʿd az) can also mean “next.”

An attractive hypothesis (with strong evidence shy of conclusive proof) is that Bahā’u’llāh intended this pair of verses, Q. 33:40 and Q. 33:44, to be read together. Indeed, the very next verse after the “Seal” verse that refers to the eschatological encounter with God is Q. 33:44, which reads: “Their greeting the Day they meet Him will be, “Peace.” And He has prepared for them a noble reward” (Sahih International). A Shīʿī rendering is: “On the day when they will be brought into the presence of their Lord, their greeting to each other will be, ‘Peace be with you.’ God has prepared an honorable reward them” (Muḥammad Sarwar).

The notion that the ancient Maya used astronomical and/or astrological observations to prophesy that December 21, 2012, will bring physical catastrophes, a radical transformation of human consciousness, or other changes to effect the beginning of a "New Age" is an unanticipated and unintentional consequence of speculation about ancient Maya cosmology by credentialed academic scholars. The 2012 phenomenon (Sitler 2006) has also grown as a result of its interpretation through the lens of speculative metaphysics by individuals with both academic and nonacademic backgrounds .
This article provides a historical review of key
ideas and authors who contributed to the emergence
of mythology about 2012.

Gershom Scholem in Deutschland
Zwischen Seelenverwandtschaft und Sprachlosigkeit
Hrsg. v. Gerold Necker, Elke Morlok u. Matthias Morgenstern

Die Biographie des in Berlin geborenen und ab 1923 in Jerusalem lebenden Kabbala-Forschers Gershom Gerhard Scholem ist von den Katastrophen und Umbrüchen des 20. Jahrhunderts geprägt. Im Horizont des für Scholem ambivalenten deutsch-jüdischen Verhältnisses nehmen die Autoren des Bandes seinen Werdegang im Kaiserreich und in der Weimarer Republik in den Blick sowie die Bedeutung, die er als israelischer Gesprächspartner für die Zeitgeschichte der Bundesrepublik Deutschland hatte. Die Beziehungen zu Walter Benjamin und Hannah Arendt, zu dem Theologen Otto Michel und dem Verleger Siegfried Unseld dokumentieren auf unterschiedlichen Ebenen Scholems Verbindung zu Deutschland, die ihn auch bei persönlicher Lyrik und sogar bei seiner wissenschaftlichen Prosa zur jüdischen Mystik begleitete.

This paper contests the thesis that "spirit" in Zulu Zion can be simply equated with "power," on the one hand, or can simply be subsumed under the worldwide phenomenon of modern Pentecostalism. The holist and communal aspects of uMoya and its dynamic interaction with Christian faith are explored in the light of archival and field research into some Zulu (and Swathi) Zionist churches.

This paper includes notes on the prophets of Yahuah as described in the book of Chronicles. It is then part of the field of cult prophets. It addresses the issue of the Chronicler classifying Levite Musicians as prophets and the implications of this defining element.

ABSTRACT: This essay uses the method of historiographical criticism to reexamine the frameworks used to research the relationship between apocalypse and violence. Its focus is the presentation of Anabaptist rule at Münster in the mid-1530s. New religions scholars and historians alike often cite this case as evidence of how millenarian prophecy can lead believers to violent actions. The essay demonstrates that this view is based largely on anti-Anabaptist and anti-sectarian propaganda that has its origins in the medieval and early modern eras. Partly because of the popularity of Norman Cohn's The Pursuit of the Millennium (1957), which translated older polemical interpretations of religious outsiders into a modern scholarly form, hostile assumptions about Anabaptist violence have found their way into academic debates today. The essay shows that the distorting effects of these kinds of assumptions are not limited at all to the case of Anabaptist Münster, but in fact shape unhelpfully the way scholars conceptualize more generally the relationship between dissenting "sects" and established "churches." "Thinking outside the cages" of polemically derived conceptualizations can form the basis for cross-disciplinary research on believers under siege.

This paper explores aspects of the background to John's Gospel in the Sinai tradition of the giving of the Law. Noone can see God and live, yet not only does Moses receive the Law, but he and the elders of Israel are described as seeing God. This conundrum is solved by John through Jewish mystical traditions of the Angel of the Presence, which are applied to Jesus as the Word.

This essay tracks the ways Wilhelm Bousset broke new ground in tracking the Apocalypse's textual history and in particular how he influenced Josef Schmid's landmark work, Studien zur Geschichte des griechischen Apokalypse-Textes," which to this day remains the standard text-critical work on John's Apocalypse. The essay also notes the ways in which Bousset continues to exert an influence in the 21st century, despite considerable theoretical, methodological, and artifactual advances.

Ο μοναχός Κύριλλος Λαυριώτης από την Πάτρα ανήκε σε ένα ελληνικό ρεύμα σκέψης που αναπτύχθηκε κατά την Οθωμανοκρατία το οποίο πρέσβευε ότι η Συντέλεια των αιώνων πλησίαζε - γεγονός που θα σηματοδοτούσε το τέλος της «αιχμαλωσίας» του Γένους και την απαρχή της αιώνιας βασιλείας του εν Χριστώ. Υπό το πνεύμα αυτό έγραψε ένα ογκώδες υπόμνημα στην Αποκάλυψη του Ιωάννη από το 1792 μέχρι το 1826 για να υποστηρίξει ότι η εκκλησία και το βασίλειο της Ιβηρίας, δηλαδή της σημερινής Γεωργίας, δικαιούνται τον εσχατολογικό ρόλο του ιδρυτή και ηγεμόνα της χιλιετούς βασιλείας του Θεού που έμελλε να ιδρυθεί μετά την ήττα του Αντίχριστου / Σουλτάνου. Σύμφωνα με τον Α. Αργυρίου, η περίπτωσή του Κύριλλου Λαυριώτη είναι ξένη προς την ελληνική παράδοση ερμηνείας της Αποκάλυψης : από τον 17ο -19ο αι. δεν υπάρχει άλλος ερμηνευτής που να αποδίδει εσχατολογικό ρόλο στην εκκλησία ή το βασίλειο της Ιβηρίας και να θεωρεί την καταγωγή του Βασιλιά-Λυτρωτή, γεωργιανή. Συνδιαλεγόμενο με την προβληματική αυτή το άρθρο προσεγγίζει κριτικά τις θέσεις του Αστέριου Αργυρίου προτείνοντας τη διάκριση της χρησμολογικής/μεσσιανικής γραμματείας από την αποκαλυπτική/εσχατολογική γραμματεία των χρόνων της Οθωμανοκρατίας.