End-Time, Beliefs in

Varieties of End-Time Beliefs

Literature that reflects end-time beliefs that describe a final catastrophe resulting in the general destruction of life on Earth is generically, though somewhat imprecisely referred to as “apocalyptic” literature. However, the word apocalypse is simply an artifact of the Christian influence on world culture. The Book of Revelation (or the Apocalypse of Saint John) in the Christian Bible contains an end-time narrative in the ancient Near East tradition that the writer (or writers) inherited from the Hebrew Bible's Book of Daniel. The word revelation rendered in Greek is άπoκάλνΨιζ, or “apocalypse.” Based on the influence of this book on Christian and therefore Western literature, a text that follows the style or content of the Book of Revelation, whether written before, during, or after the closing of the Jewish and Christian canons, became referred to as “apocalyptic.” The Jewish-Christian form of apocalyptic literature properly includes particular identifying elements such as angelic visitation, numerology, catastrophe, judgment, and final punishments and rewards. Yet narratives that lack one or another apocalyptic element still have been considered apocalypses in the generic sense as long as they include catastrophic events that are to accompany the end-time.

Canonical and noncanonical end-time literature presents a diverse array of end-time beliefs, not all of which contain catastrophe and ultimate destruction. Zoroastrian Persia developed rich and complex end-time scenarios. Here the writers of scripture produced two apocalyptic narratives that provide examples from two decidedly different historical moments. The writers of the more ancient apocalypse recorded in the Greater Bundahisn described a general cataclysm that would result in general happiness. Mountains would empty themselves of molten lava enough to cover everything on a newly flattened Earth. “Followers of truth” would experience the molten rivers as a bath of warm milk. “Followers of evil” would experience them as molten rivers but with miraculous results: First, everyone would survive, and second, the experience would occasion a transformation not only of the entire earth but of all humankind. All would begin to speak the same language. All would become followers of truth. Worldwide apocalypse would be followed by worldwide bliss. This particular narrative developed during a time of relative strength and security in the Persian Empire. After the Roman conquest, however, Zoroastrian end-time narratives themselves became more menacing. Writers of the Oracles of Hystaspes revealed the catastrophe and chaos that would reign as the end-time drew near; but rather than a worldwide transformation resulting in a happy family of an egalitarian humanity, this end-time scenario resulted in a devastated Rome, an ascendant Asia, and rewards and punishments meted out by a just, mighty, and decidedly pro-Zoroastrian God.

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