Historiography and apocalypse

an intimate relationship?

Resumo

Apocalypse, often evoking images of fiery judgments and cataclysmic endings, is situated within religious, perhaps especially Christian, traditions. Recent literature analyzing how apocalyptic narratives are leveraged within religious contexts, especially stories of conquest, has emphasized facets of this role, both rhetorically and logically, in their construction and framing. I investigate several of these, in addition to a contemporary, secular example, to show how apocalyptic logic is leveraged within them. Specifically, the discursive and aesthetic constituents of these narratives appear connected to teleologies emplotted within a story-telling framework of prophecy-cum-apocalypse. I argue that this relationship is instrumental as it gives meaning to these stories, as histories. Apocalypse’s function within historicity has been recognized by such authors as Daniel Reff, Antonis Liakos, and Stephen O’Leary, and my argument leverages their important insights while going beyond them to suggest that apocalyptic historicity trades as much in beginnings as it does in endings, allowing for a more thorough, indeed intimate, integration of prophetic elements within historical narratives.