Comments on: Apocalyptic Thought Is Making a Comeback, Baby!

By: Entering the Mystery: “The ‘Lost’ Decade” and My Brain » kata ta biblia

Sat, 22 May 2010 05:09:54 +0000

[...] to apocalyptic thought in my research, not to mention why people seem to be paying more and more attention to the topic generally speaking (e.g., see this upcoming conference). What I consider my “bad [...]

By: Alan Bandy

Alan Bandy — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 21:21:15 +0000

No doubt, Patrick. Apocalypticism spans across the spectrum of the NT and Second Temple Literature. My interest in it began when I realized how little attention it had in comparison with Jesus and Pauline studies. What I thought would be a stroll on a scenic path has turned into an expedition through the Grand Canyon. Each corner I round explodes with new vistas full of revolutionary possibilities.

Thanks for this post.

Alan

By: Patrick George McCullough

Patrick George McCullough — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 04:47:21 +0000

Thanks, Colin. One of the things that I love about studying apocalyptic thought is that it forces me to span so many different areas typically removed from one another. Though I fancy myself a New Testament scholar primarily, I also can’t neglect texts in the Hebrew Bible, Pseudepigrapha, later Christian origins. I also have to move beyond texts to try to understand social theory. It’s such a complicated subject.

In response to my own comment in response to Rob, I suppose I can see how many would be daunted by the scope and complicated nature of apocalyptic writings and thought. But the mind-numbing challenge of it is what keeps me going.

By: Patrick George McCullough

Patrick George McCullough — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 04:43:20 +0000

I’m with you Rob. Frankly, I don’t understand why the aversion to apocalyptic topics in the past. I mean, I understand that many people are embarrassed by it, but scholars oughtta move past that.

By: Patrick George McCullough

Patrick George McCullough — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 04:41:14 +0000

Interesting comment I received in Facebook:

“I wonder also how much of this is just ‘in the air’ since we’re still close to 2000 and now even closer to 2012, and on top of that we’re going through one of the most difficult periods of this nation’s history.”

Something to think about. I have always felt that I got into apocalyptic simply by reading 1 Enoch in a class taught by James VanderKam. It’s so cool!

By: Colin Toffelmire

Colin Toffelmire — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 18:36:19 +0000

Feel free to add me to that list Pat (though it’s more of a side hobby than a main interest these days). I know a lot of people working in the apocalyptic literature these days, but lots of them also push back against the definitions of apocalyptic lit, suggesting that they are artificial modern contructs. The idea is that no matter how different Enoch or Daniel is from Isaiah, the authors of the so-called apocalypses thought of themselves as prophets like Isaiah and Jeremiah and so on. I don’t mind the definitions as an heuristic device, but the point is an important one I think.

Oh, and Rob’s comment is totally correct, and pushes back the other direction into OT/HB studies as well. You gotta know that 2nd Temple lit front to back.

By: Apocalypticism: Foundational to Future NT Scholarship « Jesus and Empire

Apocalypticism: Foundational to Future NT Scholarship « Jesus and Empire — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 02:40:28 +0000

[...] 19, 2009 by robgreid I was quite pleased to read a salient point offered by Pat McCullough, namely, that apocalyptic scholarship is experiencing a resurgence, perhaps more than is presently [...]

By: robgreid

robgreid — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 02:30:55 +0000

In my view, Apocalypticism is where it is at! If you don’t know Second Temple Jewish Apocalyptic and the socio-political, indeed heavily imperial context in which it arises, I would argue you have little chance of recovering the Zeitgeist of first century Palestinian Judaism, much less make coherent formulations regarding the world in which the NT texts are negotiating! But, I’m certainly not biased or anything