Finalist for the 2017 Foreword INDIES Book of the Year Award in the Religion category In this series of essays, Thomas J. J. Altizer explores the Christian epic as the site of modern revolutionary apocalyptic reenactments and renewals of the original apocalypse enacted by Jesus Christ and primitive Christianity. Beginning with the pivotal seventeenth-century figures Milton and Spinoza, Altizer analyzes the apocalyptic visions of key figures of modernity, including Blake, Hegel, Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, and Joyce, often juxtaposing them to surprising and illuminating effect. These revolutionary moments stand in opposition to what Altizer calls the pathological modern counterrevolution that dominates the world today, which is an effect of a new postmodernity and of a progressive dissolution of historical consciousness. Through his analysis of modern apocalyptic moments and thinkers, this book becomes an elegant and accessible guide to Altizer's own apocalyptic vision and his ultimate project of the total and comprehensive reconstruction of theology.

Recipe for the apocalypse: * Four parts Horsemen of the Apocalypse * Three drops of bathtub LSD * A handful of sexual perverts * Garnish with a bunch of really hot pissed-off militant lesbians * Add a splash of savior approved Red Bull Shake or stir, just don't upset junk-monkey Phil in the process. Serve to the demons that are currently invading the Earth. You think you know how the world ends? You don't know shit!

The final book of the Bible, Revelation prophesies the ultimate judgement of mankind in a series of allegorical visions, grisly images and numerological predictions. According to these, empires will fall, the "Beast" will be destroyed and Christ will rule a new Jerusalem. With an introduction by Will Self.

History as Apocalypse is a reenactment of the history of the Western consciousness from the Homeric and Biblica revolutions through Finnegans Wake. This occurs through a historical, literary, and theological analysis of the Christian epic tradition. While attention is focused primarily upon Dante, Milton, Blake, and Joyce, the Classical and Biblical foundations of the Christian epic are explored with the intention of discovering an organic unity in the evolution of the Western consciousness. Our primary epics are identified as revolutionary breakthroughs, not only as transformations of consciousness but also records of social revolutions. The Christian epic is both a consequence and a primary embodiment of the decisive historical revolutions, revolutions culminating with the ending of our historical evolution.

Offers a profound vision of the Christian epic as the site of the modern apocalyptic reenactment of the original apocalypse. In this series of essays, Thomas J. J. Altizer explores the Christian epic as the site of modern revolutionary apocalyptic reenactments and renewals of the original apocalypse enacted by Jesus Christ and primitive Christianity. Beginning with the pivotal seventeenth-century figures Milton and Spinoza, Altizer analyzes the apocalyptic visions of key figures of modernity, including Blake, Hegel, Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, and Joyce, often juxtaposing them to surprising and illuminating effect. These revolutionary moments stand in opposition to what Altizer calls the pathological modern counterrevolution that dominates the world today, which is an effect of a new postmodernity and of a progressive dissolution of historical consciousness. Through his analysis of modern apocalyptic moments and thinkers, this book becomes an elegant and accessible guide to Altizer’s own apocalyptic vision and his ultimate project of the total and comprehensive reconstruction of theology. “This is an indispensable work of closure coming from one of contemporary theology’s most lucid, original, rebellious, provocative, and passionate voices. Altizer’s most central and tenaciously held convictions are distilled into this essential testament.” — William Franke, author of Secular Scriptures: Modern Theological Poetics in the Wake of Dante “This book is vintage Altizer: a vast and profound vision of the transformations of interiority, conceptions of the world, and the idea/image of God throughout the time of Western culture. Altizer is an incredible and amazing writer and thinker. I found myself stopped dead in my tracks, left to ponder anew everything that I thought I knew. His intuitions and insights are so penetrating and enlightening that they evoke sheer wonder at the marvel of his accomplishment.” — David E. Klemm, coauthor of Religion and the Human Future: An Essay on Theological Humanism

In this book James Kallas analyzes the four most popular ways in which Christians have dealt with the book of Revelation. He agrees in part with those who espouse the “end of history” view, conceding that the epistle is futuristic in its confession of the hope of Christ’s return, but denying that it is only a discussion of the last days of the world. He repudiates as unscriptural and blasphemous the “all of history” view which uses the book to calculate specific timetables of human events. Underscoring the timeless character of God’s promises to his suffering people, a premise of the “above history” view, Kallas emphasizes that the Word is addressed to all men of all times. He fully confirms the “in that history” view which stressed that Revelation must first be understood in terms of its original readers—the Christians of Asia Minor—and its historical background. Documenting his conclusions with biblical and historical examples, Kallas reviews the origins and style of apocalyptic writing. He explains that the theme of such literature, the conflict between God and Satan on a massive scale, was produced by the despair of God’s people in troubled times. He discusses the immediate purpose of Revelation, describing its symbolic language as a camouflaged message of hope from an imprisoned apostle to Christians suffering severe persecution at the hands of Rome. Only then does he carefully evaluate John’s message for Christians today.