Apocalypticism and
Millennialism: A Select Bibliography for Research
by Loren L. Johns
►Particularly Recommended
The Origins of
Apocalypticism and the Apocalyptic Genre
Aune, David E. “The Apocalypse of John and Ancient Revelatory Literature.”
In The New Testament in Its Literary Environment, ed.
Wayne A. Meeks. Library of Early Christianity, vol. 8.
Philadelphia: Westminster, 1987. Pp. 226–252.
Charlesworth, James H. The New Testament Apocrypha and
Pseudepigrapha: A Guide to Publications, with Excursuses on Apocalypses.
Metuchen: Scarecrow, 1987.
►------, ed. The
Old Testament Pseudepigrapha, volume 1: Apocalyptic Literature and Testaments.
Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1983. A collection of Jewish
apocalypses written from 200 BCE to 200 CE.
Cohn, Norman. Cosmos, Chaos, and the World to Come:
The Ancient Roots of Apocalyptic Faith. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1995.
►Collins,
Adela Yarbro. “Early Christian Apocalypticism: Genre and Social
Setting.” Semeia: An Experimental Journal for Biblical Criticism,
no. 36. Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 1986. An attempt to define the origins of Christian apocalyptic
literature in both literary and historical terms.
►Collins, John J. “Apocalypse: The
Morphology of a Genre.” Semeia: An Experimental Journal for Biblical
Criticism, no. 14. Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 1979. A somewhat technical, yet classic, attempt to define the genre “apocalypse.”
►------. The Apocalyptic Imagination: An
Introduction to Jewish Apocalyptic Literature, 2d ed. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1998 (1984). A good
introduction to apocalyptic thought in its Second Temple context.
------. Apocalypticism
in the Dead Sea Scrolls. London: Routledge, 1997.
►------, ed. The
Encyclopedia of Apocalypticism, volume 1: The Origins
of Apocalypticism in Judaism and Christianity. New York: Continuum, 1998. This collection of
essays surveys the origin of apocalypticism—somewhat technical.
------. “Introduction:
Towards the Morphology of a Genre.” Semeia: An Experimental
Journal for Biblical Criticism, no. 14. Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 1979.
------, Adela Yarbro Collins, Paul D. Hanson, and A. Kirk Grayson. “Apocalypses
and Apocalypticism.” Anchor Bible Dictionary, ed. David Noel Freedman. New York: Doubleday,
1:279–92.
------, and James H. Charlesworth. Mysteries and Revelations: Apocalyptic
Studies since the Uppsala Colloquium. Journal for the Study
of the Pseudepigrapha Supplement Series, no. 9. Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1991.
Cook, Stephen L. Prophecy & Apocalypticism: The
Postexilic Social Setting. Minneapolis: Fortress, 1995.
Davies, William D., ed. The Background of
the New Testament and Its Eschatology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1964.
Dimant, Devorah. “Apocalyptic Texts at Qumran.” In Community of the Renewed Covenant,
the Notre Dame Symposium on the Dead Sea Scrolls, ed. Eugene Ulrich and
James VanderKam. Notre Dame, Ind.: University of Notre Dame, 1994. Pp. 175–91.
Evans, Craig A., and Peter W. Flint, eds. Eschatology, Messianism, and the Dead Sea Scrolls. Studies in the Dead Sea Scrolls and Related
Literature. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1997.
Hanson, Paul D. The Dawn of Apocalyptic, rev. ed. Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1979.
Hellholm, David. Apocalypticism in the Mediterranean
World and the Near
East:
Proceedings of the International Colloquium on Apocalypticism, Uppsala, August 12-17, 1979, 2d ed. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 1989.
►Koch,
Klaus. The Rediscovery of Apocalyptic. London: SCM, 1972 (1970). A challenge leveled to
continental New Testament scholarship on “apocalyptic.”
Kvanvig, H. S. Roots of Apocalyptic: The
Mesopotamian Background of the Enoch Figure and of the Son of Man. Neukirchen Vluyn:
Neuchirchener Verlag, 1988.
Murphy, Frederick J. “Introduction to Apocalyptic Literature.” In The New Interpreter’s Bible, ed. Leander E. Keck.
Nashville: Abingdon, 1996. Pp. 1–16.
Rowland, Christopher. The Open Heaven: A Study of
Apocalyptic in Judaism and Christianity. New York: Crossroad, 1982.
Smith, Jonathan Z. Imagining Religion: From Babylon to Jonestown. Chicago Studies in the
History of Judaism. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1988.
Stone, Michael E. “Apocalyptic Literature.” In Jewish
Writings of the Second Temple Period, ed. Michael E. Stone. Compendia Rerum Iudaicarum ad Novum Testamentum, section 2, volume 2. Assen: Van Gorcum, 1984. Pp. 383–441.
------. “Lists of
Revealed Things in the Apocalyptic Literature.” In Magnalia Dei: The Mighty Acts of God: Essays on
the Bible and Archaeology in Memory of G. E. Wright, ed. F. M. Cross, W. E.
Lemke, and Patrick D. Miller. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1976. Pp. 414–452.
VanderKam, James C., and William Adler. The Jewish
Apocalyptic Heritage in Early Christianity. Compendia Rerum Iudaicarum ad Novum Testamentum, section III, volume 4. Assen: Van
Gorcum,
1996.
Apocalypticism and the Historical Jesus
►Allison, Dale C. Jesus of Nazareth: Millenarian Prophet. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1998.
Borg, Marcus J. Jesus in Contemporary Scholarship. Valley Forge, Pa.: Trinity Press International, 1994.
Ehrman, Bart D. “Jesus, the Apocalyptic Prophet,” chap. 15 in The New Testament: A Historical Introduction to
the Early Christian Writings. New York: Oxford University Press, 1997. Pp. 203–232.
Jewett, Robert. Jesus Against the
Rapture: Seven Unexpected Prophecies.
Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1979.
Riches, J. K. “Apocalyptic—Strangely
Relevant.” In Templum Amicitiae: Essays on the Second Temple Presented to Ernst Bammel, ed. William Horbury. Journal for the Study
of the New Testament Supplement Series, no. 48. Sheffield: JSOT Press, 1991. Pp. 237–63.
Sanders, E. P. The
Historical Figure of Jesus. London: Allen Lane, 1993.
Schweitzer, Albert. The Quest of the
Historical Jesus. New York: Macmillan,
1968 (1906).
Silberman, Lou. “Apocalyptic Revisited: Reflections on the
Thought of Albert Schweitzer.” Journal
of the American
Academy
of Religion 44 (1976):
489–501.
Interpretation of the
Book of Revelation
Aune, David E. “The
Apocalypse of John and the Problem of Genre.” Semeia 36 (1986) 65–96.
►Barr, David L. Tales of the End: A Narrative Commentary on
the Book of Revelation. Santa Rosa,
Cal.: Polebridge Press, 1998. A helpful and
insightful commentary on Revelation that is not too technical from a
narrative-literary approach.
►------. “Towards an Ethical Reading of The Apocalypse: Reflections on John’s
Use of Power, Violence, and Misogyny.” Presented at the 1997
annual meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature. One
of the best essays on the problem of ethics, or really metaethics,
in Revelation.
------. “Using Plot to Discern Structure
in John’s Apocalypse.” Proceedings
of the Eastern
Great Lakes
and Mid-West Biblical Societies
15 (1995): 23–33.
Bauckham, Richard. The Climax of Prophecy: Studies on the
Book of Revelation. Edinburgh: T & T Clark, 1993.
------. The Theology
of the Book of Revelation. New Testament Theology.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993.
►Boesak, Allan A. Comfort and Protest:
The Apocalypse from a South African Perspective. Philadelphia: Westminster, 1987. A liberationist
(though not nonviolent) reading of the Apocalypse.
►Boring,
M. Eugene. Revelation. Interpretation: A Bible Commentary for
Teaching and Preaching. Louisville: John Knox, 1989. One
of the best commentaries for pastors available in the English language.
►Caird,
G. B. A Commentary on the Revelation of St. John the Divine. Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson, 1966. An excellent older
commentary, though Caird wrongly assumes a situation of persecution and
suffering.
Carey, Greg. Elusive Apocalypse: Reading Authority in the Revelation to John. Studies in American
Biblical Hermeneutics, vol. 15. Macon, Ga.: Mercer University Press, 1999.
Charles, R. H. A Critical and
Exegetical Commentary on the Revelation of St. John. The International Critical Commentary,
two volumes. Edinburgh: T & T Clark, 1920.
Chevalier, Jacques M. A Postmodern Revelation: Signs of
Astrology and the Apocalypse. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1997.
►Collins,
Adela Yarbro. Crisis & Catharsis: The Power of
the Apocalypse. Philadelphia: Westminster, 1984. A modern
classic. I would question the author’s “perceived crisis”
thesis, but still an important work.
Eller, Vernard. The Most Revealing Book of the Bible:
Making Sense Out of Revelation. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1973. Full
text available online at http://www.hccentral.com/eller7/index.html.
►Ellul, Jacques.
Apocalypse: The Book of Revelation. New York: Seabury Press, 1977. A
philosophical approach to Revelation.
Fiorenza, Elisabeth Schüssler. “The Followers
of the Lamb: Visionary Rhetoric and Socio-Political Situation.” Semeia
36 (1986) 147–174.
►------. The Book of Revelation: Justice
and Judgment. Philadelphia: Fortress, 1985.
►------. Revelation: Vision of a Just
World. Proclamation Commentaries. Minneapolis: Fortress, 1991. Excellent
especially for its introduction, which lays out the need for a
rhetorical-critical approach to the interpretation of Revelation.
►Grimsrud,
Ted. Triumph of the
Lamb: A Self-Study Guide to the Book of Revelation. Scottdale, Pa.: Herald Press, 1987. A
good study guide for the congregational study of Revelation.
Hellholm, David. “The Problem of
Apocalyptic Genre and the Apocalypse of John.” Semeia, no. 36. Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 1986.
Pp. 13–64.
►Kraybill,
J. Nelson. Imperial
Cult and Commerce in John’s Apocalypse. Journal for the Study
of the New Testament Supplement Series, no. 132. Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1996. Ph.D.
dissertation on the role of the imperial cult and business life in the ethical
background of the Apocalypse.
Michaels, J. Ramsey. Interpreting
the Book of Revelation. Guides to New Testament
Exegesis. Grand
Rapids:
Baker Book House, 1992.
►Murphy, Frederick J. Fallen
Is Babylon: The Revelation to John. The New Testament in Context. Harrisburg, Pa.: Trinity Press International, 1998. An excellent commentary.
Muse, Robert L. The Book of Revelation:
An Annotated Bibliography. New York: Garland Publishing, 1996. (See review by Georg S. Adamsen at http://sunsite.auc.dk/Revelation/reviews/muse.html.)
Pippin, Tina. Death and Desire: The Rhetoric of
Gender in the Apocalypse of John. Literary Currents in
Biblical Interpretation. Louisville: Westminster/John Knox, 1992.
------. “Eros and the End: Reading for Gender in
the Apocalypse of John.” Semeia 59 (1992) 193–210.
------. “The
Heroine and the Whore: Fantasy and the Female in the Apocalypse of John.” Semeia, An Experimental Journal for Biblical Criticism, no. 60:
Fantasy and the Bible. Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 1992.
Pp. 67-82.
Reddish, Mitchell G. Revelation. Smyth & Helwys Bible Commentary. Macon, Ga.: Smyth & Helwys,
2001.
Rowland, Christopher C. “The Apocalypse: Hope, Resistance and the Revelation of
Reality.”
Ex Auditu 6 (1990): 129–144.
►------. “The Book of
Revelation.” In The New Interpreter’s Bible, vol. 12. Nashville: Abingdon, 1998. Pp. 501–743. An excellent commentary.
Sleeper, C. Freeman. The Victorious Christ: A Study of the Book of Revelation. Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 1996.
Thompson, Leonard L. The Book of Revelation: Apocalypse and
Empire. New
York:
Oxford University Press, 1990.
------. Revelation.
Abingdon New Testament Commentaries. Nashville: Abingdon, 1998.
Wainwright, Arthur W. Mysterious Apocalypse: Interpreting the Book of Revelation.
Nashville: Abingdon, 1993.
Weber, Hans-Ruedi.
The Way of the Lamb: Christ in the Apocalypse, Lenten Meditations. Geneva: WCC Publications, 1988.
The History of Apocalypticism,
Dispensationalism, and Millennialism in Western Christianity
Bloch,
Ruth H. Visionary Republic: Millennial Themes in American Thought, 1756-1800.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1985.
►Boyer,
Paul. When Time Shall Be No More: Prophecy Belief in Modern American
Culture. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1992. Probably the best survey of the
history of millennial thought and “prophecy” in American church
history.
►Clouse,
Robert G., Robert N. Hosack, and Richard V. Pierard.
The New Millennium Manual: A Once and Future Guide. Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 1999. A
more popular version (with many illustrations) of the above book.
Cohn, Norman. The Pursuit of the Millennium:
Revolutionary Millenarians and Mystical Anarchists of the Middle Ages, 2d ed. New York: Oxford University Press, 1990.
Doan, Ruth Alden. The Miller Heresy: Millenarianism and
American Culture. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1987.
Emmerson, Richard K., and Bernard McGinn, eds. The
Apocalypse in the Middle Ages. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1992.
Emmerson, Richard K., and Ronald B. Herzman. The Apocalyptic
Imagination in Medieval Literature. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1992.
Fuller, Robert. Naming the
Antichrist: An American Obsession. New York: Oxford University Press, 1995.
Gwyn, Douglas. Apocalypse of the Word: The
Life and Message of George Fox (1624–1691). Richmond, Ind.: Friends United Press, 1986.
►Johns, Loren L., ed. Apocalypticism
and Millennialism: Shaping a Believers Church Eschatology for the Twenty-First
Century. Scottdale, Pa.: Herald Press,
2000. An eclectic collection of essays on the biblical background, historical
expressions, theological issues, and pastoral challenges related to
apocalypticism in the life of the church.
Kaplan, Jeffrey. Radical Religion in America: Millenarian Movements from the Far Right
to the Children of Noah. Syracuse, N.Y.: Syracuse University Press, 1997.
Klaassen, Walter. Living at
the End of the Ages: Apocalyptic Expectation in the Radical Reformation.
Washington, D.C.: University Press of America, 1992.
Kyle, Richard. The Last Days Are Here
Again: A History of the End Times. Grand Rapids: Baker, 1998.
Lamy, Philip. Millennium Rage: Survivalists, White
Supremacists, and the Doomsday Prophecy. New York: Plenum Press, 1996.
Landes, Richard Allen. Relics, Apocalypse, and the Deceits
of History: Ademar of Chabannes,
989–1034. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1995.
McGinn, Bernard. “Apocalypticism in Middle Ages: Historiographical Sketch.” Mediaeval Studies 37 (1975), ed. Virginia Brown. Toronto: Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval
Studies.
------. The Encyclopedia of
Apocalypticism, volume 2: Apocalypticism in Western History and Culture. New York: Continuum, 1998.
Numbers, Ronald L., and Jonathan M. Butler, The
Disappointed. Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1993.
Patrides, C. A., and Joseph Wittreich, eds. The
Apocalypse in English Renaissance Thought and Literature: Patterns, Antecedents
and Repercussions. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1984.
Reavis, Dick J. The Ashes of Waco: An Investigation. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1995.
Reeves, Marjorie. Joachim of Fiore and the Prophetic Future: A
Study in Medieval Millennialism.
London: Sutton
Publishing, 1999.
Reston, James, Jr. The Last Apocalypse: Europe at the year 1000 A.D. New York: Doubleday,
1998.
Stone, Jon R. A Guide to the End of the World:
Popular Eschatology in America: The Mainstream Evangelical Tradition. Religious Information
Systems, Vol. 12. Garland Publishing, 1993.
Tuveson, Ernest. Redeemer Nation: The Idea of America's Millennial Role. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1968.
►Wagner, Donald E. Anxious for
Armageddon: A Call to Partnership for Middle Eastern
and Western Christians. Scottdale,
Pa.: Herald Press, 1995. One
of the best book-length treatments of the history of Christian Zionism …
along with a direct critique.
►Webber, Tim. “How
Evangelicals Became Israel’s Best Friend.”
Christianity Today, October 5, 1998. A brief history and
critique of Christian Zionism.
Webber, Timothy P. Living
in the Shadow of the Second Coming. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1987.
Wright, Stuart A., ed., Armageddon in Waco.
Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1995.
Eschatology, Ethics, and
Millennialism in Practical Theology Perspective
Altizer, Thomas J. J. “Apocalypticism
and Modern Thinking,”
Journal for Christian Theological Research [http://apu.edu/~CTRF/articles/1997_articles/altizer.html]
2:2 (1997).
Aukerman, Dale. Reckoning with Apocalypse: Terminal
Politics and Christian Hope. New York: Crossroad, 1993.
►Boesak, Allan A. Comfort and Protest: The Apocalypse from South
African Perspective. Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1987. A
liberationist (though not nonviolent) reading of the Apocalypse.
►Cahill, Lisa Sowle.
Love Your Enemies: Discipleship,
Pacifism, and Just War Theory. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1994. A
survey of the pacifism-just war debate throughout the last 2,000 years, with
particular attention to the role of eschatology in that debate.
Callen, Barry L. Faithful in the Meantime: A
Biblical View of Final Things and Present Possibilities. Nappanee, Ind.: Evangel Publishing House, 1997.
►Clouse, Robert
G., Robert N. Hosack, and Richard V. Pierard.
The New Millennium Manual: A Once and Future Guide. Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 1999. A popular version
(with many illustrations) of the history and development of apocalyptic thought
in the life and thought of the Christian church in America.
Dellamora, Richard, ed. Postmodern Apocalypse: Theory and
Cultural Practice at the End. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1995.
Erickson, Millard J. A Basic Guide to Eschatology: Making
Sense of the Millennium. Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 1998.
►Ewert, David. And Then Comes
the End. Scottdale, Pa.: Herald Press, 1980. An
evangelical treatment of eschatology in practical theology perspective.
►Grenz, Stanley J. The Millennial Maze: Sorting Out
Evangelical Options. Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity
Press, 1992. A good analysis of the variety of contemporary
expressions of millennialism theologically.
►Grimsrud, Ted. “Peace Theology and the Justice of
God in the Book of Revelation,̶