Apocalypticism#Judaism

Religious views and movements often focus on cryptic revelations about a sudden, dramatic, and cataclysmic intervention of God in human history; the judgment of humankind; the salvation of the faithful elect; and the eventual rule of the elect with God in Heaven and/or in a renewed Earth.{{refn|"[https://www.cdamm.org/articles/apocalypticism Apocalypticism]." In James Crossley and Alastair Lockhart (eds.) Critical Dictionary of Apocalyptic and Millenarian Movements. 2021}} Arising originally in Zoroastrianism,{{refn|}} apocalypticism was developed more fully in Judaic, Christian, and Islamic eschatological speculations.{{refn|{{cite book |author-last=Lietaert Peerbolte |author-first=Bert Jan |year=2013 |chapter=How Antichrist Defeated Death: The Development of Christian Apocalyptic Eschatology in the Early Church |editor1-last=Krans |editor1-first=Jan |editor2-last=Lietaert Peerbolte |editor2-first=L. J. |editor3-last=Smit |editor3-first=Peter-Ben |editor4-last=Zwiep |editor4-first=Arie W. |title=Paul, John, and Apocalyptic Eschatology: Studies in Honour of Martinus C. de Boer |location=Leiden |publisher=Brill Publishers |series=Novum Testamentum: Supplements |volume=149 |pages=238–255 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MoKxIeOTkqYC&pg=PA238 |doi=10.1163/9789004250369_016 |isbn=978-90-04-25026-0 |issn=0167-9732 |s2cid=191738355}}{{cite journal |last=Crossley |first=James |date=September 2021 |title=The Apocalypse and Political Discourse in an Age of COVID |journal=Journal for the Study of the New Testament |location=Thousand Oaks, California |publisher=SAGE Publications |volume=44 |issue=1 |pages=93–111 |doi=10.1177/0142064X211025464 |doi-access=free |issn=1745-5294 |s2cid=237329082 }}{{cite web | title=Apocalypticism – theology | website=Encyclopedia Britannica | url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/apocalypticism | access-date=2019-05-31 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190531144449/https://www.britannica.com/topic/apocalypticism | archive-date=2019-05-31 | url-status=live }}{{cite web | last=Strauss | first=Mark | title=Ten Notable Apocalypses That (Obviously) Didn't Happen | website=Smithsonian | date=2009-11-12 | url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/ten-notable-apocalypses-that-obviously-didnt-happen-9126331/ | access-date=2019-05-31 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190531165827/https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/ten-notable-apocalypses-that-obviously-didnt-happen-9126331/ | archive-date=2019-05-31 | url-status=live }}}}

Apocalypticism is often conjoined with the belief that esoteric knowledge will likely be revealed in a major confrontation between good and evil forces, destined to change the course of history.Paul O. Ingram, Frederick John Streng. Buddhist-Christian Dialogue: Mutual Renewal and Transformation. University of Hawaii Press, 1986. pp. 148-149. Apocalypses can be viewed as good, evil, ambiguous or neutral, depending on the particular religion or belief system promoting them.{{refn|{{cite journal |author-last=Douglas |author-first=Christopher |date=December 2021 |title=Revenge Is a Genre Best Served Old: Apocalypse in Christian Right Literature and Politics |editor-last=Wilsey |editor-first=John D. |journal=Religions |location=Basel |publisher=MDPI |volume=13 |issue=1: The Historical Interaction between Nationalism and Christian Theology |page=21 |doi=10.3390/rel13010021 |doi-access=free |eissn=2077-1444 |s2cid=245562021|hdl=1828/14485 |hdl-access=free}}{{cite web | title=Primary Sources: Apocalypse! FRONTLINE | website=PBS | date=2015-11-18 | url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/apocalypse/primary/white.html | access-date=2019-05-31 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20000304005402/https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/apocalypse/primary/white.html | archive-date=2000-03-04 | url-status=live}}{{cite web | title=How religious and non-religious people view the apocalypse | website=Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists | date=2017-08-18 | url=https://thebulletin.org/2017/08/how-religious-and-non-religious-people-view-the-apocalypse/ | access-date=2019-05-31|author-first1=Émile P. |author-last1=Torres}}}} However, it is not exclusively a religious idea and there are end times or transitional scenarios based in modern science, technology, political discourse, and conspiracy theories.{{refn|{{cite journal |author1-last=Perry |author1-first=Samuel L. |author2-last=Whitehead |author2-first=Andrew L. |author3-last=Grubbs |author3-first=Joshua B. |date=Winter 2021 |title=Save the Economy, Liberty, and Yourself: Christian Nationalism and Americans' Views on Government COVID-19 Restrictions |editor-last=Baker |editor-first=Joseph O. |journal=Sociology of Religion |location=Oxford and New York |publisher=Oxford University Press |volume=82 |issue=4 |pages=426–446 |doi=10.1093/socrel/sraa047 |doi-access=free |issn=1759-8818 |pmc=7798614 |s2cid=231699494}}{{cite journal |author-last=Upchurch |author-first=H. E. |date=22 December 2021 |url=https://ctc.usma.edu/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/CTC-SENTINEL-102021.pdf |title=The Iron March Forum and the Evolution of the "Skull Mask" Neo-Fascist Network |url-status=live |editor1-last=Cruickshank |editor1-first=Paul |editor2-last=Hummel |editor2-first=Kristina |journal=CTC Sentinel |volume=14 |issue=10 |pages=27–37 |publisher=Combating Terrorism Center |location=West Point, New York |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211227044425/https://ctc.usma.edu/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/CTC-SENTINEL-102021.pdf |archive-date=27 December 2021 |access-date=19 January 2022}}}}

{{Main|Apocalyptic literature|Christian eschatology|Second Coming}}

{{Further|False prophet#Christianity|Jesus and Messianic prophecy|List of messiah claimants|List of people who claim to be Jesus Christ|Predictions and claims for the Second Coming of Christ|Unfulfilled Christian religious predictions}}

File:De Grebber-God Inviting Christ to Sit on the Throne at His Right Hand.jpg Inviting Christ to Sit on the Throne at His Right Hand, painting by Pieter de Grebber (1645). The Holy Spirit is visible as a dove at the top of the image.]]

Most scholars participating in the third quest for the historical Jesus believe that Jesus was an eschatological prophet who believed the "Kingdom of God" was coming within his own lifetime or within the lifetime of his contemporaries.Theissen, Gerd and Annette Merz. The historical Jesus: a comprehensive guide. Fortress Press. 1998. translated from German (1996 edition). Chapter 1. The quest of the historical Jesus. pp. 1–15.Ehrman, Bart D.. Jesus: Apocalyptic Prophet of the New Millennium. Oxford. 1999. p. 127.{{cite journal |last=Meier |first=John P. |author-link=John P. Meier |date=1999 |title=The Present State of the 'Third Quest' for the Historical Jesus: Loss and Gain |url=https://www.bsw.org/biblica/vol-80-1999/the-present-state-of-the-145-third-quest-146-for-the-historical-jesus-loss-and-gain/333/article-p482.html |access-date=2023-12-05 |journal=Biblica |volume=80 |page=482 }} Simultaneously, some of these scholars tend to see Jesus's predictions as mistakenSanders, E. P. The Historical Figure of Jesus. Penguin, 1993. Chapter 13, The Coming of the Kingdom. although some others view it from the perspective of the conditional nature of judgement prophecy.Christopher Hays. When the Son of Man Didn't Come. Fortress Press 2017.Mark Keown. "An Imminent Parousia and Christian Mission: Did the New Testament Writers Really Expect Jesus's Imminent Return?" in Christian Origins and the Establishment of the Early Jesus Movement, Brill 2017, pp. 242–263 A number of interpretations of the term "Kingdom of God" have thus appeared in its eschatological context, e.g., apocalyptic, realized or inaugurated eschatologies, yet no consensus has emerged among scholars.Familiar Stranger: An Introduction to Jesus of Nazareth by Michael James McClymond (2004) pp. 77-79Studying the Historical Jesus: Evaluations of the State of Current Research by Bruce Chilton and Craig A. Evans (1998) pp. 255-257 The major focus for Jesus's eschatological teachings in the Gospels is the Olivet Discourse in Mark 13, where "Jesus speaks as if Peter, James, and John will personally experience the parousia."John-Christian Eurell. "The Delay of the Parousia and the Changed Function of Eschatological Language". Journal of Early Christian History 2020. In the Gospel of Matthew, the major focus for Jesus's eschatological teachings is in Matthew {{bibleverse-nb|Matthew|24:36-51|NRSV}}. Many scholars point to Jesus' association with John the Baptist as confirmation for his apocalyptic intentions.According to Bart Ehrman, John's preparation for the end through baptismal forgiveness of sins is comparable to the sentiments of other apocalyptic movements of the late Second Temple period. Ehrman argues that in the synoptic Gospels, where Jesus is deliberate in beginning his preaching with John the Baptist, this is a reflection on the nature of his apocalyptic ministry.{{Cite book |last=Ehrman |first=Bart D. |title=The New Testament: a historical introduction to the early Christian writings |date=2008 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=9780195322590 |edition=4th |location=New York |oclc=83758783}}

Paul the Apostle states in his letters to the early Christian communities in Asia Minor that he expects to be alive when the end of the world comes, and this passage in 1 Thessalonians {{bibleverse-nb|1 Thessalonians|4:13-18|NRSV}} is often cited as proof, although its interpretation is disputed.J Andrew Doole. "Did Paul Really Think He Wasn't Going to Die? Paul, the Parousia, and the First Person Plural in 1 Thess 4:13–18". Novum Testamentum 2020. In contrast, other passages in the Pauline epistles are seen as describing the nearness of the parousia whether or not Paul himself will live to see it. However, these statements find tensions with other New Testament passages, conflicting with texts which form the basis for later Christian apocalyptic theology. This includes a passage from the apocalyptic discourse of Matthew 24, where Jesus states "only the Father" knows of the hour of the coming of the Son of Man. While later Christians favor Matthew 24 over Mark 13, modern critical scholars recognize this contradiction as evidence of shifting Christian belief. This is a shift that suggests the apocalyptic moment will occur at a later date, not in the lifetime of Jesus' followers.{{Cite book |last=Ehrman |first=Bart D.|title=The New Testament: a historical introduction to the early Christian writings |date=2008 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-532259-0 |oclc=673218782}} On the other hand, N.T. Wright observes that Paul's eschatology develops in his later epistles, after turbulent experiences in Ephesus, that he would probably not see the Second Coming in his lifetime. Wright argues that this shift was due to perspective and not belief.N.T. Wright (2018), Hope Deferred? Against the Dogma of Delay, page 58, University of St. Andrews

This view, generally known as "consistent eschatology", was influential during the early to the mid-20th century and continues to be influential today in proposed portraits of the historical Jesus. However, C. H. Dodd and others have insisted on a "realized eschatology", based on the belief that the ministry of Jesus had fulfilled prophetic hopes. Many conservative scholars have adopted the paradoxical position that the "Kingdom of God" describes a kingdom that is both "present" and "still to come", claiming Pauline eschatology as support.{{cite book |last1=Geddert |first1=T. J. |editor1-last=Green |editor1-first=Joel B. |editor2-last=McKnight |editor2-first=Scot |editor3-last=Marshall |editor3-first=I. Howard |title=Dictionary of Jesus and the Gospels: A Compendium of Contemporary Biblical Scholarship |date=1992 |publisher=InterVarsity Press |location=Downers Grove, Illinois |isbn=978-0-8308-1777-1 |chapter=Apocalyptic Teaching}}{{rp|208–209}}According to N.T. Wright, "the kingdom has already come with power, when Jesus was raised from the dead..." "The notion of God's already-launched kingdom appears explicitly in Rom 5:12-21, setting the tone for the whole of chapters 6, 7, and 8. The "reign" of death is contrasted in Rom 5:19 with the "reign" of "those who receive the abundance of grace;" and then, in v.21, with the reign of grace that has been inaugurated through Jesus." According to Wright, "these are clearly present realities with future consequences."N.T. Wright Hope Deferred? Against the Dogma of Delay. Early Christianity 2018 pp.59-60. While the notion of an apocalyptic Jesus remains a mainstream view among scholars, it has been challenged by proponents of other portraits. Scholars of the Jesus Seminar have rejected the historicity of Jesus' apocalyptic expectations, arguing that the evidence for it in the Gospels is largely tied to the discourses of Jesus on the "Son of Man", which they do not consider to be historical; they further attribute the apocalyptic expectations of the early Church as emerging from their belief in the resurrection of Jesus, where resurrection was tied to eschatological expectations in Jewish theology.John Dominic Crossan, The Historical Jesus: The Life of a Mediterranean Jewish Peasant (San Francisco: HarperCollins, 1991), 227–60.Marcus Borg, "A Temperate Case for a Non-eschatological Jesus," Forum, 2 (1986), pp. 81–102. Some argued that the earlier traditions in the Q Source and Gospel of Thomas showed that apocalyptic eschatology was not present in earlier layers of the Jesus tradition.Stephen J. Patterson, "The End of Apocalypse: Rethinking the Eschatological Jesus," Theology Today 52 (1995): 29–58 The approach by the Jesus Seminar is not short of many critics.Dale C. Allison, Constructing Jesus: Memory, Imagination, and History (London: SPCK, 2010), 116–136

File:Second Coming by G.Klontzas (16th c.).jpg, Eastern Orthodox icon on the Second Coming of Christ by Georgios Klontzas (c. 1580–1608), Hellenic Institute of Venice, Italy]]

Recent scholarship has re-evaluated the apocalyptic ideas in the early Christian gospels not as a literal timetable or prediction of the end times, but as relating to the destruction of the Jewish Temple in 70 AD, and the wider cosmic importance that the Temple had for Jews that would warrant apocalyptic language among diasporic Jewish communities in the Roman Empire.N. T. Wright, Jesus and the Victory of God (Minneapolis: Fortress, 1996), pp. 329–365Green, J.B., Brown, J., & Perrin, N. (2018). Dictionary of Jesus and the Gospels: A Compendium of Contemporary Biblical Scholarship. IVP.Kinman, B. (1999). Parousia, Jesus "A-Triumphal" Entry, and the Fate of Jerusalem. Journal of Biblical Literature, 118(2), 279-294, For ancient Jews, the Temple was treated as a symbolic or even literal meeting point between Heaven and Earth, thereby its destruction would have wider cosmic consequences. Similarly, apocalyptic language was used throughout the Hebrew Bible to describe political and historical catastrophes, and not the end of the world.J.E. Goldingay, Daniel (Dallas, Tex.: Word, 1989), 137-193J.J. Collins, Daniel, (Minneapolis: Fortress, 1993), 274-324N.T. Wright (2018), Hope Deferred? Against the Dogma of Delay, page 51-52, University of St. AndrewsJ. Klawans, Purity, Sacrifice, and the Temple: Symbolism and Supersessionism in the Study of Ancient Judaism (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006), 111-144 Thus, scholars such as R.T. France and N.T. Wright argue that the Gospels use apocalyptic language borrowed from the Old Testament to describe the destruction of the Temple in 70 AD, and passages such as Mark {{bibleverse-nb|Mark|13:26|NRSV}} concerning the "coming" of the Son of Man (as described in Daniel 7) are not about the Second Coming, but rather about the vindication and enthronement of the Son of Man at the Right Hand of God, where he is bestowed new authority with the Temple's destruction.R. T. France, The Gospel of Mark, New International Greek Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2002), 498–543N. T. Wright, Jesus and the Victory of God (Minneapolis: Fortress, 1996), pp. 329–365 This interpretation goes back to the 18th-century scholar John Gill that the "coming of the Son of Man" sayings in Matthew 24, for example, were allegory for God's judgement on the Jews for their rejection of Jesus as the Messiah and not his Second Coming, which is instead the subject in Matthew 25 for the far future.[http://biblehub.com/commentaries/gill/matthew/24.htm Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible] on Matthew 24, accessed 19 February 2017 Wright argues specifically that the apocalyptic imagery in Mark 13 was written as a vindication of Jesus, since "in some sense he is himself seen by the evangelists as the true temple."N.T. Wright, Hope Deferred? Against the Dogma of Delay. Early Christianity 2018 pp.78-79. Similarly, these and other scholars argue for a "now and not yet" approach to the Kingdom of God in the Gospels and Pauline epistles.N.T. Wright, Hope Deferred? Against the Dogma of Delay. Early Christianity 2018 pp.59-60.

Various Christian eschatological systems have developed among different Christian denominations throughout the history of Christianity, providing different frameworks for understanding the timing and nature of apocalyptic predictions.Goldsworthy, G. [http://www.beginningwithmoses.org/library/gospelrevelation.htm "The Gospel in Revelation – Gospel and Apocalypse"]

{{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061013045849/http://beginningwithmoses.org/library/gospelrevelation.htm |date=2006-10-13 }}, Paternoster Press, 1994, {{ISBN|0-85364-630-9}}. Some like dispensational premillennialism tend more toward an apocalyptic vision, while others like postmillennialism and amillennialism, while teaching that the end of the world could come at any moment, tend to focus on the present life and contend that one should not attempt to predict when the end should come, though there have been exceptions such as postmillennialist Jonathan Edwards, who estimated that the end times would occur around the year 2000.Tattersall, L. [http://perspective.org.au/sermonseries/84/revelation---letters-from-heaven "Letters from heaven – Bible talks from the book of Revelation"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060819202030/http://perspective.org.au/sermonseries/84/revelation---letters-from-heaven |date=2006-08-19 }}, Perspective Vol. 10 No. 3&4, 2003.

{{Main|List of dates predicted for apocalyptic events}}

{{Further|Early Middle Ages#Europe in 1000}}

File:Europe 1000.jpg, the Holy Roman Empire, Kievan Rus', and the Byzantine Empire in the Middle Ages (year 1000)]]

There is no current consensus among historians about widespread apocalypticism in the year 1000. Richard Landes, Johannes Fried, and others think there were widespread expectations, both hopes and fears.{{Cite journal|last=Landes|first=Richard|date=2000|title=The Fear of an Apocalyptic Year 1000: Augustinian Historiography, Medieval and Modern|journal=Speculum|volume=75|issue=1|pages=97–145|doi=10.2307/2887426|jstor=2887426|s2cid=162710417|issn=0038-7134}}{{Cite book|last=Duby|first=Georges|title=L'An Mil|date=1980|publisher=Gallimard|isbn=2-07-032774-4|location=[Paris]|oclc=28185855}}{{Cite journal|last=Wagar|first=W. Warren|date=1991|title=Hillel Schwartz. Century's End: A Cultural History of the Fin de Siècle from the 990s through the 1990s. New York: Doubleday. 1990. pp. 395. |journal=The American Historical Review|volume=96|issue=4|pages=1149|doi=10.1086/ahr/96.4.1149|issn=0002-8762}} The notion of a widespread expectation of the year 1000 first appeared during the Renaissance. Historians denounced it as a myth around 1900.{{Cite journal|last=Burr|first=George Lincoln|date=1901|title=The Year 1000 and the Antecedents of the Crusades|journal=The American Historical Review|volume=6|issue=3|pages=429–439|doi=10.2307/1833508|jstor=1833508|issn=0002-8762}}

There are many recorded instances of both fascination with the advent of the year 1000, and examples of apocalyptic excitement leading up to the year 1000, the most explicit and revealing examples provided by Rodulfus Glaber.

Specifically in Western Europe, during the year 1000, Christian philosophers held many debates on when Jesus was actually born and the debates continue to today.{{cite web | last=Castro | first=Joseph | title=When Was Jesus Born? | website=Live Science | date=2014-01-30 | url=https://www.livescience.com/42976-when-was-jesus-born.html | access-date=2019-05-31 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190620184534/https://www.livescience.com/42976-when-was-jesus-born.html | archive-date=2019-06-20 | url-status=live }} This caused confusion between the common people on whether or not the apocalypse would occur at a certain time. Because both literate and illiterate people commonly accepted this idea of the apocalypse, they could only accept what they heard from religious leaders on when the disastrous event would occur. Religious leader Abbo of Fleury believed that Jesus was born 21 years after year 1 which was commonly accepted by close circles of his followers. Abbot Heriger of Lobbes, argued that the birth of Jesus occurred not during the year 1 but rather during the 42nd year of the common era. Eventually many scholars came to accept that the apocalypse would occur sometime between 979–1042.{{cite journal |last1=Baghos |first1=Mario |title=Apocalypticism, the Year 1000, and the Medieval Roots of the Ecological Crisis |journal=Literature & Aesthetics |date=2006 |volume=26 |pages=83–102 |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/312057952 |access-date=4 June 2019}} Under the influence of the Sibylline Oracles and figures such as Otto III and Abbot Adso of Montier-en-Der many felt that the apocalypse would soon occur.{{Citation needed|date=May 2021}}

Some historians, such as Richard Landes, think there were extensive apocalyptic expectations at the approach of the year 1000 and again at the approach of 1000 anno passionis (1033).{{cite journal | journal=Speculum | volume=75 | issue=1 | pages=97–145 | jstor=2887426 | last1=Landes | first1=Richard | s2cid=162710417 | title=The Fear of an Apocalyptic Year 1000: Augustinian Historiography, Medieval and Modern | year=2000 | doi=10.2307/2887426 | url=https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/52a0/3e96863a38b7488d430a5548999c31ef06da.pdf | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200215021330/https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/52a0/3e96863a38b7488d430a5548999c31ef06da.pdf | archive-date=2020-02-15 }} Alessandro Barbero, on the other hand, claims that the fear of the year 1000 is a myth and there was no widespread apocalyptic sentiment. As evidence, he cites that on 31 December 999 Pope Sylvester II granted certain privileges and guarantees to the Abbey of Fulda, without any indication that either the pope or the abbot believed that the world was soon to end. Similarly, Barbero points out a document from 3 October 999 in which Otto III grants future concessions to Farfa Abbey. Another document in 999 shows two brothers taking a 29-year loan on lands of the abbey of San Marciano in Tortona, suggesting that even common people did not believe the world was ending.{{Cite book|last=Barbero|first=Alessandro|title=Medioevo: storia di voci, racconto di immagini|date=2015|publisher=GLF editori Laterza|others=Chiara Frugoni|isbn=978-88-581-1929-7|location=Roma|oclc=928760127}}{{Cite web|date=2020-03-09|title=Alessandro Barbero, storico di SuperQuark, e la paura dell'anno mille (che non c'è mai stata)|url=https://www.documentazione.info/alessandro-barbero-storico-di-superquark-e-la-paura-dellanno-mille-che-non-ce-mai-stata|access-date=2021-05-11|website=documentazione.info|language=it}}{{Cite web|title=InStoria – La paura dell'anno mille|url=http://www.instoria.it/home/paura_anno_mille_medioevo.htm|access-date=2021-05-11|website=www.instoria.it}} On the other hand, the fact that Otto III visited the tomb of Charlemagne, the emperor of the year 6000 (Annus Mundi) on Pentecost of the year 1000 suggests that even the man who appointed Sylvester pope, had his own views on the matter.

{{Main|Fifth Monarchists}}

The Fifth Monarchists or Fifth Monarchy Men were an extreme Puritan sect{{cite news|title=Pepys and Evelyn, chroniclers of the English Renaissance|url=https://www.economist.com/news/books-and-arts/21727878-two-diarists-who-painted-most-vivid-portrait-17th-century-england-pepys-and-evelyn|newspaper=The Economist|date=31 Aug 2017|access-date=31 May 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180215043148/https://www.economist.com/news/books-and-arts/21727878-two-diarists-who-painted-most-vivid-portrait-17th-century-england-pepys-and-evelyn|archive-date=15 February 2018|url-status=live}} active from 1649 to 1660 during the Interregnum, following the English Civil Wars of the 17th century.[https://archive.org/details/politicalactivi02browgoog Fifth Monarchy Men: Study in Seventeenth Century English Millenarianism by Bernard Capp] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190624204501/https://books.google.com/books?id=gnMaAAAAMAAJ&dq=Fifth+Monarchists&source=gbs_navlinks_s |date=2019-06-24 }} {{ISBN|0-571-09791-X}} They took their name from a prophecy in the Book of Daniel that four ancient monarchies (Babylonian, Persian, Macedonian, and Roman) would precede the kingdom of Christ. They also referred to the year 1666 and its relationship to the biblical Number of the Beast indicating the end of earthly rule by carnal human beings. They were one of a number of nonconformist dissenting groups that emerged around this time.

{{Main|Isaac Newton's occult studies}}

In late February and early March 2003, a large amount of media attention circulated around the globe regarding largely unknown and unpublished documents, evidently written by Isaac Newton, indicating that he believed the world would end no earlier than 2060. The story garnered vast amounts of public interest and found its way onto the front page of several widely distributed newspapers, including the UK's The Daily Telegraph, Canada's National Post, and Israel's Maariv and Yediot Aharonot, and was also featured in an article in the scientific journal Canadian Journal of History.{{cite journal | last = Snobelen | first = Stephen D | title = A time and times and the dividing of time: Isaac Newton, the Apocalypse and A.D. 2060 | journal = The Canadian Journal of History | volume = 38 (December 2003) | pages = 537–551 | url = http://www.isaac-newton.org/newton_2060.htm | access-date = 15 August 2007 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070825070542/http://www.isaac-newton.org/newton_2060.htm | archive-date = 25 August 2007 | url-status = live }}

The two documents detailing this prediction are currently housed within the Jewish National and University Library in Jerusalem. Both were believed to be written toward the end of Newton's life, circa 1705, a time frame most notably established by the use of the full title of Sir Isaac Newton within portions of the documents.

These documents do not appear to have been written with the intention of publication and Newton expressed a strong personal dislike for individuals who provided specific dates for the Apocalypse purely for sensational value. Furthermore, he at no time provides a specific date for the end of the world in either of these documents. See Isaac Newton's religious views for more details.

The first document, part of the Yahuda collection,Yahuda MS 7.3o, f. 8r is a small letter slip, on the back of which is written haphazardly in Newton's hand:

{{Blockquote|

Prop. 1. The 2300 prophetick days did not commence before the rise of the little horn of the He Goat.

2 Those day {{sic}} did not commence a[f]ter the destruction of Jerusalem & ye Temple by the Romans A.[D.] 70.

3 The time times & half a time did not commence before the year 800 in wch the Popes supremacy commenced

4 They did not commence after the re[ig]ne of Gregory the 7th. 1084

5 The 1290 days did not commence b[e]fore the year 842.

6 They did not commence after the reigne of Pope Greg. 7th. 1084

7 The diffence {{sic}} between the 1290 & 1335 days are a parts of the seven weeks.

Therefore the 2300 years do not end before ye year 2132 nor after 2370.

The time times & half time do n[o]t end before 2060 nor after [2344]

The 1290 days do not begin [this should read: end] before 2090 nor after 1374 [sic; Newton probably

means 2374]

}}

The second reference to the 2060 prediction can be found in a folio,Yahuda MS 7.3g, f.

13v in which Newton writes:

{{Blockquote|So then the time times & half a time are 42 months or 1260 days or three years & an half, recconing twelve months to a yeare & 30 days to a month as was done in the Calendar of the primitive year. And the days of short lived Beasts being put for the years of lived [sic for "long lived"] kingdoms, the period of 1260 days, if dated from the complete conquest of the three kings A.C. 800, will end A.C. 2060. It may end later, but I see no reason for its ending sooner. This I mention not to assert when the time of the end shall be, but to put a stop to the rash conjectures of fancifull men who are frequently predicting the time of the end, & by doing so bring the sacred prophesies into discredit as often as their predictions fail. Christ comes as a thief in the night, & it is not for us to know the times & seasons wch God hath put into his own breast.}}

Newton may not have been referring to the post 2060 event as a destructive act resulting in the annihilation of the globe and its inhabitants, but rather one in which he believed the world, as he saw it, was to be replaced with a new one based upon a transition to an era of divinely inspired peace. In Christian and Islamic theology this concept is often referred to as The Second Coming of Jesus Christ and the establishment of the Kingdom of God on Earth. In a separate manuscript,{{cite book | last=Snobelen | first=S. | title=Millenarianism and Messianism in Early Modern European Culture | chapter="The Mystery of this Restitution of All Things": Isaac Newton on the Return of the Jews | date=2001 | doi=10.1007/978-94-017-2282-7_7 | pages=95–118| isbn=9789048156641 }} Isaac Newton paraphrases Revelation 21 and 22 and relates the post 2060 events by writing:

{{Blockquote|A new heaven & new earth. New Jerusalem comes down from heaven prepared as a Bride adorned for her husband. The marriage supper. God dwells with men wipes away all tears from their eyes, gives them of ye fountain of living water & creates all thin things new saying, It is done. The glory & felicity of the New Jerusalem is represented by a building of Gold & Gemms enlightened by the glory of God & ye Lamb & watered by ye river of Paradise on ye banks of which grows the tree of life. Into this city the kings of the earth do bring their glory & that of the nations & the saints reign for ever & ever.

}}

{{Main|Great Disappointment|Millerism}}

File:William Miller.jpg, who led his followers to the Great Disappointment of 1844]]

The Great Disappointment in the Millerite movement was the reaction that followed Baptist preacher William Miller's proclamations that Jesus Christ would return to the Earth by 1844, what he called the Advent. His study of the Daniel 8 prophecy during the Second Great Awakening led him to the conclusion that Daniel's "cleansing of the sanctuary" was cleansing of the world from sin when Christ would come, and he and many others prepared, but October 22, 1844 came and they were disappointed.{{cite web|url=https://news.adventist.org/en/all-news/news/go/-/seventh-day-adventist-church-emerged-from-religious-fervor-of-19th-century/|title=Seventh-day Adventist Church emerged from religious fervor of 19th Century|date=4 October 2016|access-date=27 December 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160822071608/https://news.adventist.org/en/all-news/news/go/-/seventh-day-adventist-church-emerged-from-religious-fervor-of-19th-century/|archive-date=22 August 2016|url-status=live}}{{cite web|url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/apocalypse/explanation/amprophesy.html|title=Apocalypticism Explained – Apocalypse! Frontline|website=PBS|access-date=27 December 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170122215717/http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/apocalypse/explanation/amprophesy.html|archive-date=22 January 2017|url-status=live}}{{cite web|url=http://amazingdiscoveries.org/S-deception-Great-Disappointment_Advent_Miller|title=The Great Disappointment and the Birth of Adventism|access-date=27 December 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161125123916/http://amazingdiscoveries.org/S-deception-Great-Disappointment_Advent_Miller|archive-date=25 November 2016|url-status=live}}{{cite web|url=http://www.adventistreview.org/church-news/great-disappointment-remembered-170-years-on|title=Adventist Review Online – Great Disappointment Remembered 170 Years On|date=23 October 2014 |access-date=27 December 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161126033552/http://www.adventistreview.org/church-news/great-disappointment-remembered-170-years-on|archive-date=26 November 2016|url-status=live}}

These events paved the way for the Adventists who formed the Seventh-day Adventist Church. They contended that what had happened on October 22 was not Jesus's return, as Miller had thought, but the start of Jesus's final work of atonement, the cleansing in the heavenly sanctuary, leading up to the Second Coming of Christ.

{{Main|Seventh-day Adventist eschatology}}

The ideological descendants of the Millerites are the Seventh-day Adventists. They are a Protestant Christian denomination{{cite encyclopedia |editor1-last=Queen |editor1-first=Edward L. |editor2-last=Prothero |editor2-first=Stephen R. |editor3-last=Shattuck |editor3-first=Gardiner H. |year=2018 |orig-date=2001 |title=Seventh-day Adventist Church |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=u-_6P2rMy2wC&q=%22adventist+church+is+a+protestant%22&pg=PA913 |encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of American Religious History |volume=3 |location=Boston and New York |publisher=Infobase Publishing |series=Facts On File |edition=4th |page=913 |isbn=978-1-4381-4186-2 |oclc=1090391391}} which is distinguished by its observance of Saturday,More precisely, Friday sunset to Saturday sunset; see [http://biblicalresearch.gc.adventist.org/documents/sabbathbegin.pdf When Does Sabbath Begin?] on the Adventist website. {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110724224455/http://biblicalresearch.gc.adventist.org/documents/sabbathbegin.pdf |date=24 July 2011 }} the seventh day of the week in both the Jewish calendar, and calendars in use in the Christian world (such as the Gregorian calendar), as the Sabbath, and its emphasis on the imminent Second Coming (advent) of Jesus Christ. The denomination grew out of the Millerite movement in the United States during the mid-19th century and it was formally established in 1863.{{cite web |title=Seventh-day Adventists – The Heritage Continues Along |publisher=General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists |url=http://www.adventist.org/world_church/facts_and_figures/history/index.html.en |access-date=2007-01-17 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061206202842/http://www.adventist.org/world_church/facts_and_figures/history/index.html.en |archive-date=December 6, 2006 }} Among its founders was Ellen G. White, whose extensive writings are still held in high regard by the adherents of the Seventh-day Adventist Church.Ronald L. Numbers, Prophetess of health: a study of Ellen G. White (3rd ed. 2008) pp. xxiii–xxiv

{{Main|Mormon cosmology|Second Coming in Mormonism|Apocalyptic beliefs among Latter-day Saints}}

{{Further|List of prophecies of Joseph Smith|Revelation in Mormonism}}

Like many 19th-century American Restorationist Christian denominations, the Mormon tradition teaches that adherents are living shortly before the Second Coming of Christ.{{cite book|last1=Underwood|first1=Grant|author-link1=Grant Underwood|title=The Millenarian World of Early Mormonism|date=1999|orig-date=1993|publisher=University of Illinois Press. See also "Chapter 7: Apocalyptic Adversaries: Mormonism Meets Millerism"|location=Urbana|pages=26–36, 49–51, 63–72, 112–126|isbn=978-0252068263|url=https://www.press.uillinois.edu/books/catalog/48cbq6kr9780252068263.html|access-date=2019-04-09|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190513045007/https://www.press.uillinois.edu/books/catalog/48cbq6kr9780252068263.html|archive-date=2019-05-13|url-status=live}} The term "latter days" is used in the official names of several Mormon churches, including the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. LDS president Wilford Woodruff preached multiple times that many then-living adherents "would not taste death" before witnessing the return of Christ.{{cite book|editor1-last=Staker|editor1-first=Susan|title=Waiting for World's End: The Diaries of Wilford Woodruff|date=1993|publisher=Signature Books|location=Salt Lake City, Utah|isbn=978-0941214926|url=http://www.signaturebooks.com/product/waiting-for-worlds-end/|access-date=2019-04-09|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190624204452/http://www.signaturebooks.com/product/waiting-for-worlds-end/|archive-date=2019-06-24|url-status=live}} According to LDS Church teachings, the true gospel will be taught in all parts of the world prior to the Second Coming.[https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/nt/matt/24.14?lang=eng Matthew 24:14] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190715040141/https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/nt/matt/24.14?lang=eng |date=2019-07-15 }} KJV Church members believe that there will be increasingly severe wars, earthquakes, hurricanes, and other man-made and natural disasters prior to the Second Coming.{{Mormonverse|D&C|45:26}}

{{Main|Jehovah's Witnesses beliefs}}

{{Further|Eschatology of Jehovah's Witnesses|Unfulfilled Watch Tower Society predictions}}

The eschatology of Jehovah's Witnesses is central to their faith and religious beliefs. They believe that Jesus Christ has been ruling in heaven as king since 1914 (a date they believe was prophesied in Scripture), and that after that time a period of cleansing occurred, resulting in God's selection of the Bible Students associated with Charles Taze Russell to be his people in 1919. They also believe the destruction of those who reject their message{{cite journal|journal=The Watchtower|title=The House-to-House Ministry – Why Important Now?|date=July 15, 2008|pages=5–6}} and thus willfully refuse to obey GodYou Can Live Forever in Paradise on Earth, Watch Tower Bible & Tract Society, 1989, p. 155.Revelation – Its Grand Climax at Hand!, Watch Tower Bible & Tract Society, 1988, p. 6. will shortly take place at Armageddon, ensuring that the beginning of the new earthly society will be composed of willing subjects of that kingdom.

The group's doctrines surrounding 1914 are the legacy of a series of emphatic claims regarding the years 1799,The Watchtower, March 1, 1922, p. 73, "The indisputable facts, therefore, show that the 'time of the end' began in 1799; that the Lord's second presence began in 1874." 1874, 1878,{{cite journal |journal=The Herald of the Morning |title=Our Faith |url=http://www.watchtowerdocuments.com/downloads/1874-1876_Herald_of_the_Morning.pdf |date=September 1875 |page=52 |access-date=2008-05-29 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080512062421/http://www.watchtowerdocuments.com/downloads/1874-1876_Herald_of_the_Morning.pdf |archive-date=2008-05-12 }} 1914,The Watchtower, [http://www.mostholyfaith.com/bible/Reprints/Z1894JUL.asp#R1677 July 15, 1894, p. 1677] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190401210133/http://www.mostholyfaith.com/bible/Reprints/Z1894JUL.asp#R1677 |date=April 1, 2019 }}: "We see no reason for changing the figures—nor could we change them if we would. They are, we believe, God's dates, not ours. But bear in mind that the end of 1914 is not the date for the beginning, but for the end of the time of trouble." 1918September 1, 1916 The Watchtower, pp. [http://www.mostholyfaith.com/bible/Reprints/Z1916SEP.asp#Z264:2 264–265] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090713214204/http://www.mostholyfaith.com/bible/Reprints/Z1916SEP.asp#Z264:2 |date=2009-07-13 }} and 1925Millions Now Living Will Never Die, 1920, p. 97, "Based upon the argument heretofore set forth, then, that the old order of things, the old world, is ending and is therefore passing away, and that the new order is coming in, and that 1925 shall mark the resurrection of the faithful worthies of old and the beginning of reconstruction, it is reasonable to conclude that millions of people now on the earth will be still on the earth in 1925. Then, based upon the promises set forth in the divine Word, we must reach the positive and indisputable conclusion that millions now living will never die." made in the Watch Tower Society's publications between 1879 and 1924. Claims about the significance of those years, including the presence of Jesus Christ, the beginning of the "last days", the destruction of worldly governments and the earthly resurrection of Jewish patriarchs, were successively abandoned.{{Cite book | last = Holden | first = Andrew | title = Jehovah's Witnesses: Portrait of a Contemporary Religious Movement | publisher = Routledge | year = 2002 | page = [https://archive.org/details/jehovahswitnesse00andr/page/n14 1] | isbn = 0-415-26609-2 | url = https://archive.org/details/jehovahswitnesse00andr | url-access = registration }} In 1922 the society's principal journal, Watch Tower, described its chronology as "no stronger than its weakest link", but also claimed the chronological relationships to be "of divine origin and divinely corroborated...in a class by itself, absolutely and unqualifiedly correct""The Strong Cable of Chronology", Watch Tower, July 15, 1922, p. 217, "The chronology of present truth is, to begin with, a string of dates... Thus far it is a chain, and no stronger than its weakest link. There exist, however, well established relationships among the dates of present-truth chronology. These internal connections of the dates impart a much greater strength than can be found in other [secular, archeological] chronologies. Some of them are of so remarkable a character as clearly to indicate that this chronology is not of man, but of God. Being of divine origin and divinely corroborated, present-truth chronology stands in a class by itself, absolutely and unqualifiedly correct." and "indisputable facts", while repudiation of Russell's teachings was described as "equivalent to a repudiation of the Lord".The Watchtower, May 1, 1922, p. 132, "To abandon or repudiate the Lord's chosen instrument means to abandon or repudiate the Lord himself, upon the principle that he who rejects the servant sent by the Master thereby rejects the Master. ... Brother Russell was the Lord's servant. Then to repudiate him and his work is equivalent to a repudiation of the Lord, upon the principle heretofore announced."

The Watch Tower Society has stated that its early leaders promoted "incomplete, even inaccurate concepts".Jehovah's Witnesses – Proclaimers of God's Kingdom (Watch Tower Society, 1993), chapter 10. The Governing Body of Jehovah's Witnesses says that, unlike Old Testament prophets, its interpretations of the Bible are not inspired or infallible.Revelation – It's Grand Climax, Watch Tower Bible & Tract Society, 1988, p. 9.{{Cite book| title = Reasoning From the Scriptures | year = 1985 | url = https://archive.org/details/reasoningfromscr00inte | url-access = registration | publisher = Watchtower Bible and Tract Society | chapter = False Prophets | page = [https://archive.org/details/reasoningfromscr00inte/page/n140 137]}}{{Cite journal| title = To Whom Shall We Go but Jesus Christ? | journal= Watchtower | date = March 1, 1979 | page = 23 }} Witness publications say that Bible prophecies can be fully understood only after their fulfillment, citing examples of biblical figures who did not understand the meaning of prophecies they received. Watch Tower publications often cite Proverbs 4:18, "The path of the righteous ones is like the bright light that is getting lighter and lighter until the day is firmly established" (NWT) to support their view that there would be an increase in knowledge during "the time of the end", as mentioned in Daniel 12:4. Jehovah's Witnesses state that this increase in knowledge needs adjustments. Watch Tower publications also say that unfulfilled expectations are partly due to eagerness for God's Kingdom and that they do not call their core beliefs into question.Why have there been changes over the years in the teachings of Jehovah's Witnesses?,"Jehovah's Witnesses", Reasoning From the Scriptures, 1989, Watchtower Bible and Tract Society, p. 205"Allow No Place for the Devil!", The Watchtower, March 15, 1986, p. 19"Keep in Step With Jehovah's Organization", Watchtower, January 15, 2001, p. 18.

{{Main|Christadelphians}}

For Christadelphians, Armageddon marks the "great climax of history when the nations would be gathered together "into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon", and the judgment on them would herald the setting up of the Kingdom of God."The Christadelphian: Vol. 107, 1970, pp. 555–556. After this Christadelphians believe that Jesus will return to the earth in person to set up the Kingdom of God in fulfilment of the promises made to Abraham and David.{{cite book | last =Wilson | first =Shiela | title =The End of the World: Horror Story – or Bible Hope? | publisher =CMPA | location =Birmingham| url =http://www.christadelphia.org/pamphlet/endworld.htm | access-date =2019-06-04 | archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20191009063250/http://www.christadelphia.org/pamphlet/endworld.htm | archive-date =2019-10-09 | url-status =live }}{{cite book | last =Scott | first =Malcolm | title =Christ is Coming Again! | publisher =Printland Publishers | location =Hyderabad | url =http://www.christadelphia.org/pamphlet/p_coming.htm | isbn =81-87409-34-7 | access-date =2019-06-04 | archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20191009063325/http://www.christadelphia.org/pamphlet/p_coming.htm | archive-date =2019-10-09 | url-status =live }} This includes the belief that the coming Kingdom will be the restoration of God's first Kingdom of Israel, which was under David and Solomon.{{cite book|last=Morgan |first=Tecwyn |title=Christ is Coming! Bible teaching about his return |publisher=CMPA |location=Birmingham, UK |url=http://www.thechristadelphian.com/pamphlets/standardseries/christiscoming.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120112085508/http://www.thechristadelphian.com/pamphlets/standardseries/christiscoming.html |archive-date=12 January 2012 }}{{cite book | last =Hughes | first =Stephen | title =The Kingdom of Heaven on Earth! | publisher =Printland Publishers | location =Hyderabad | url =http://www.christadelphia.org/pamphlet/p_kingdom.htm | isbn =81-87409-55-X | access-date =2019-06-04 | archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20181017163744/http://www.christadelphia.org/pamphlet/p_kingdom.htm | archive-date =2018-10-17 | url-status =live }}{{cite book|last=Owen |first=Stanley |title=The Kingdom of God on Earth: God's plan for the world |publisher=CMPA |location=Birmingham, UK |url=http://www.thechristadelphian.com/pamphlets/standardseries/kingdomofgod.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120112084009/http://www.thechristadelphian.com/pamphlets/standardseries/kingdomofgod.html |archive-date=12 January 2012 }} For Christadelphians, this is the focal point of the gospel taught by Jesus and the apostles.

{{Main|Realized eschatology}}

Realized eschatology is a Christian eschatological theory popularized by J. A. T. Robinson, Joachim Jeremias, Ethelbert Stauffer (1902–1979),{{Cite web |url=http://www.etsjets.org/files/JETS-PDFs/13/13-1/13-1-pp053-063_jets.pdf |title=Charles M. Horne, "Eschatology: The Controlling Thematic in Theology," 60 |access-date=2019-06-03 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190803055217/https://www.etsjets.org/files/JETS-PDFs/13/13-1/13-1-pp053-063_jets.pdf |archive-date=2019-08-03 |url-status=live }} and

C. H. Dodd (1884–1973), that holds that the eschatological passages in the New Testament do not refer to the future, but instead refer to the ministry of Jesus and his lasting legacy.{{cite book|title=A Theology of the New Testament|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eIdkM00EdlAC|page=56|author1=George Eldon Ladd|author1-link=George Eldon Ladd|author2=Donald Alfred Hagner|publisher=Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing|date=1993|isbn=0802806805|access-date=2019-06-03|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190624204514/https://books.google.com/books?id=eIdkM00EdlAC&printsec=frontcover|archive-date=2019-06-24|url-status=live}}{{cite book | author = McKim, Donald K. | date = 2014 | title = Westminster Dictionary of Theological Terms | page = 106 | edition = 2nd | location = Louisville, KY | publisher = Presbyterian Publishing | isbn = 978-1611643862 | url = https://books.google.com/books?isbn=1611643864 | access-date = April 3, 2017 }} Eschatology is therefore not the end of the world but its rebirth instituted by Jesus and continued by his disciples, a historical (rather than transhistorical) phenomenon. Those holding this view generally dismiss end times theories, believing them to be irrelevant; they hold that what Jesus said and did, and told his disciples to do likewise, are of greater significance than any messianic expectations.{{Cite web |url=https://bible.org/seriespage/22-johns-problem-jesus-luke-718-35 |title=John's Problem with Jesus |access-date=2019-06-03 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190603193234/https://bible.org/seriespage/22-johns-problem-jesus-luke-718-35 |archive-date=2019-06-03 |url-status=live }}

{{See also|2011 end times prediction}}

American Christian radio host Harold Camping stated that the Rapture and Judgment Day would take place on May 21, 2011,{{cite news |title=A Conversation With Harold Camping, Prophesier of Judgment Day |url=https://nymag.com/daily/intel/2011/05/a_conversation_with_harold_cam.html |newspaper=New York Magazine |date=May 11, 2011 |access-date=October 13, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110518220328/http://nymag.com/daily/intel/2011/05/a_conversation_with_harold_cam.html |archive-date=May 18, 2011 |url-status=live }}{{cite news |title=Harold Camping is at the heart of a mediapocalypse |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2011-may-21-la-me-rapture-20110521-story.html |newspaper=Los Angeles Times |date=May 21, 2011 |access-date=October 13, 2011 |first=Christopher |last=Goffard |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110602060425/http://articles.latimes.com/2011/may/21/local/la-me-rapture-20110521 |archive-date=June 2, 2011 |url-status=live }} and that the end of the world would take place five months later on October 21, 2011, based on adding the 153 fish of John 20 to May 21.{{Cite web | url=http://www.lamblion.us/2011/03/harold-camping-end-time-scenario.html | title=Harold Camping: End-Time Scenario | access-date=2019-05-31 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190531180819/http://www.lamblion.us/2011/03/harold-camping-end-time-scenario.html | archive-date=2019-05-31 | url-status=live }}{{cite web |url = http://www.ebiblefellowship.com/may21/index.html |title = May 21, 2011 – Judgment Day!; October 21, 2011 – The End of the World |publisher = Ebiblefellowship.com |date = May 21, 1988 |access-date =November 29, 2010| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20101028050127/http://ebiblefellowship.com/may21/index.html| archive-date= October 28, 2010 | url-status= live}} The Rapture, as indicated in 1 Thessalonians 4:17 ({{Lang|grc-latn|harpagēsometha}} {{Gloss|we shall be raptured/taken up}}, rapture derivable from the Latin translation {{Lang|la|rapiemur}}) is the taking up of believers to a meeting in the air with the Lord Jesus, but for Camping the rapture was also associated with the End of the World.

Camping, who was then president of the Family Radio Christian network, claimed the Bible as his source and said May 21 would be the date of the Rapture and the day of judgment "beyond the shadow of a doubt".{{cite news |title = End of Days in May? Believers enter final stretch |url = http://www.nbcnews.com/id/40885541 |newspaper = Associated Press, cited at NBC News |date = January 23, 2011 |access-date =May 9, 2011}}{{dead link|date=August 2024|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}} Camping suggested that it would occur at 6 pm local time, with the Rapture sweeping the globe time zone by time zone,{{cite news |last = Amira |first = Dan |title = A Conversation With Harold Camping, Prophesier of Judgment Day |url = https://nymag.com/daily/intel/2011/05/a_conversation_with_harold_cam.html |access-date =May 21, 2011 |newspaper = New York |date = May 11, 2011| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20110518220328/http://nymag.com/daily/intel/2011/05/a_conversation_with_harold_cam.html| archive-date= May 18, 2011 | url-status= live}}{{Cite web |url=http://www.slate.com/blogs/blogs/scocca/archive/2011/05/16/countdown-to-armageddon-maybe-the-world-will-end-friday-night-or-sunday-morning.aspx |title=Scocca: Countdown to Armageddon: Maybe the World Will End Friday Night (or Sunday Morning) |access-date=2019-05-31 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110602015818/http://www.slate.com/blogs/blogs/scocca/archive/2011/05/16/countdown-to-armageddon-maybe-the-world-will-end-friday-night-or-sunday-morning.aspx |archive-date=2011-06-02 }} while some of his supporters claimed that around 200 million people (approximately 3% of the world's population) would be raptured.{{cite web |title = Judgment Day |url = http://www.familyradio.com/graphical/literature/judgment/judgment.html |publisher = Family Radio |access-date = May 16, 2011 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110608095448/http://www.familyradio.com/graphical/literature/judgment/judgment.html |archive-date = June 8, 2011 |df = mdy-all }} Camping had previously claimed that the Rapture would occur in September 1994.

The vast majority of Christian groups, including most Protestant and Catholic believers, did not accept Camping's predictions;{{cite web |url = http://relijournal.com/christianity/may-21st-the-new-christian-doomsday/ |title = May 21st, The New Christian Doomsday |publisher = ReliJournal |date = May 6, 2011 |access-date = May 11, 2011 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110519093240/http://relijournal.com/christianity/may-21st-the-new-christian-doomsday/ |archive-date = May 19, 2011 }} some explicitly rejected them,{{cite web |url = http://www.gracevalley.org/Letter_to_Harold_Camping_True_Prophet_Or_False.pdf |title = Letter to Harold Camping (Family Radio) True Prophet or False? |access-date = May 10, 2011 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20101222183254/http://gracevalley.org/Letter_to_Harold_Camping_True_Prophet_Or_False.pdf |archive-date = December 22, 2010 |df = mdy-all }}{{cite web |url = http://www.christianpost.com/news/billboards-marking-jesus-return-in-may-misguided-says-nt-scholar-48083/ |title = Billboards Marking Jesus' Return in May 'Misguided,' Says NT Scholar |date = 16 December 2010 |access-date = May 10, 2011 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110722143608/http://www.christianpost.com/news/billboards-marking-jesus-return-in-may-misguided-says-nt-scholar-48083/ |archive-date = July 22, 2011 |url-status = live }}{{cite news |url = https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/on-faith/post/end-times-theology-an-insiders-guide/2011/05/10/AFCsXAiG_blog.html |title = End times theology: an insider's guide |date = May 10, 2011|newspaper = The Washington Post|access-date =May 10, 2011 |first=Brian D. |last=McLaren | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120111102343/http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/on-faith/post/end-times-theology-an-insiders-guide/2011/05/10/AFCsXAiG_blog.html | archive-date = January 11, 2012}}{{cite web |url = https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/22578/catholic-scholar-dismantles-may-21-judgment-day-claims |title = Catholic scholar dismantles May 21 Judgment Day claims |author = Marianne Medlin |date = May 20, 2011 |publisher = Catholic News Agency |access-date = May 20, 2011 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110522015630/http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/catholic-scholar-dismantles-may-21-judgment-day-claims/ |archive-date = May 22, 2011 |url-status = live }} citing Bible passages including the words of Jesus stating "about that day or hour no one knows" (Matthew 24:36). An interview with a group of church leaders noted that all of them had scheduled church services as usual for Sunday, May 22.[http://www.nbc29.com/story/14665758/church-leaders-across-denominations-reflect-on-the-end-of-days Church Leaders Across Denominations Reflect on Camping's Prediction] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190531180824/https://www.nbc29.com/story/14665758/church-leaders-across-denominations-reflect-on-the-end-of-days |date=2019-05-31 }} NBC29, May 17, 2011. Retrieved May 18, 2011.

Following the failure of the prediction, media attention shifted to the response from Camping and his followers. On May 23, Camping stated that May 21 had been a "spiritual" day of judgment, and that the physical Rapture would occur on October 21, 2011, simultaneously with the destruction of the universe by God.[https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/americas/radio-host-says-rapture-actually-coming-in-october/article2032209/ Radio host says Rapture actually coming in October] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110529011135/http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/americas/radio-host-says-rapture-actually-coming-in-october/article2032209/ |date=2011-05-29 }} – Globe and Mail. May 23, 2011. Retrieved May 23, 2011.{{cite news | url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-13516796 | work=BBC News | title=Rapture: Harold Camping issues new apocalypse date | date=24 May 2011 | access-date=September 23, 2011 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110902022258/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-13516796 | archive-date=2 September 2011 | url-status=live }} However, on October 16, Camping admitted to an interviewer that he did not know when the end would come.{{cite news |title=Harold Camping Exclusive: Family Radio Founder Retires; Doomsday 'Prophet' No Longer Able to Work |url=http://global.christianpost.com/news/harold-camping-exclusive-family-radio-founder-retires-doomsday-prophet-no-longer-able-to-work-59222/ |newspaper=The Christian Post |date=October 24, 2011 |access-date=October 25, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111026172548/http://global.christianpost.com/news/harold-camping-exclusive-family-radio-founder-retires-doomsday-prophet-no-longer-able-to-work-59222/ |archive-date=October 26, 2011 }}

In March 2012, Camping "humbly acknowledged" in a letter to Family Radio listeners that he had been mistaken, that the attempt to predict a date was "sinful", and that critics had been right in pointing to the scriptural text "of that day and hour knoweth no man". He added that he was searching the Bible "even more fervently [...] not to find dates, but to be more faithful in our understanding."[http://charismanews.com/us/32958-harold-camping-admits-rapture-prediction-was-sinful-statement Letter from Harold Camping to the "Family Radio Family"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120310001154/http://charismanews.com/us/32958-harold-camping-admits-rapture-prediction-was-sinful-statement |date=2012-03-10 }}, reproduced at Charisma News, March 7, 2012

{{Main|David Meade (author)}}

David Meade is the pen name of an American end-times conspiracy theorist and book author who has yet to disclose his real name. Meade, who describes himself as a "Christian numerologist",{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2017/01/05/will-the-mysterious-shadow-planet-nibiru-obliterate-earth-in-october-no/|title=Will the mysterious shadow planet Nibiru obliterate Earth in October? No.|last1=Guarino|first1=Ben|date=7 January 2017|newspaper=The Washington Post|publisher=Nash Holdings LLC|access-date=31 May 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170924001754/https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2017/01/05/will-the-mysterious-shadow-planet-nibiru-obliterate-earth-in-october-no/|archive-date=24 September 2017|url-status=live}} claims to have attended the University of Louisville, where he "studied astronomy, among other subjects",{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/acts-of-faith/wp/2017/09/20/the-christian-numerologist-whose-biblical-doomsday-claim-has-some-nervously-eyeing-sept-23/|title=The man whose biblical doomsday claim has some nervously eyeing Sept. 23|last1=Phillips|first1=Kristine|date=20 September 2017|newspaper=The Washington Post|publisher=Nash Holdings LLC|access-date=31 May 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170923081540/https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/acts-of-faith/wp/2017/09/20/the-christian-numerologist-whose-biblical-doomsday-claim-has-some-nervously-eyeing-sept-23/|archive-date=23 September 2017|url-status=live}}{{cite web|url=http://www.newsweek.com/end-world-david-meade-668820|title=Who Is David Meade? The World Is Ending Saturday, According to This Catholic-Raised Blogger|last1=Glum|first1=Julia|date=22 September 2017|publisher=Newsweek Media Group|periodical=Newsweek|access-date=31 May 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190531184230/https://www.newsweek.com/end-world-david-meade-668820|archive-date=31 May 2019|url-status=live}} but, because his real name is unknown, The Washington Post reported that the university could not confirm whether he had ever been a student there. He is also a writer, researcher and investigator who has written and self-published at least 13 books.{{Cite web|url=https://www.foxnews.com/science/doomsday-writer-david-meade-who-is-he/|title=Doomsday writer David Meade: Who is he?|date=22 September 2017|work=Fox News|access-date=31 May 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180831024802/http://www.foxnews.com/science/2017/09/22/doomsday-writer-david-meade-who-is.html|archive-date=31 August 2018|url-status=live}} He made appearances and interviews on Coast to Coast AM, The Washington Post, Glenn Beck Program, YouTube with pastor Paul Begley, and the Daily Express. He is best known for making numerous predictions, which have passed, regarding the end times, including that a hidden planet named Nibiru (sometimes known as Planet X) would destroy the Earth.

Meade predicted that planet Nibiru would collide with Earth on September 23, 2017, destroying it.{{Cite web|url=http://wjla.com/news/offbeat/the-world-is-ending-on-september-23-according-to-a-biblical-prophecy|title=The world is ending on September 23, according to a biblical prophecy|last1=Karangu|first1=Jessie|date=20 September 2017|website=WJLA-TV|publisher=Sinclair Broadcast Group|access-date=31 May 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190531184223/https://wjla.com/news/offbeat/the-world-is-ending-on-september-23-according-to-a-biblical-prophecy|archive-date=31 May 2019|url-status=live}} After his prediction failed, he revised the apocalypse to October, where he stated that the seven-year tribulation would possibly start followed by a millennium of peace.{{Cite magazine|url=https://time.com/4955640/doomsday-world-end-david-meade/|title=David Meade Said the World Was Going to End Last Weekend. Now He Says It's Really Happening in October|last1=Gajanan|first1=Mahita|date=25 September 2017|publisher=Time Inc.| magazine=Time (magazine)|access-date=31 May 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170925162955/http://time.com/4955640/doomsday-world-end-david-meade/|archive-date=25 September 2017|url-status=live}} In 2018, Meade again made several predictions for that year, for instance, that North Korea becoming a superpower in March 2018 and that Nibiru would destroy the Earth in spring.{{citation needed|date=May 2023}} Meade announced that the apocalypse would begin in March 2018, but he did not predict the exact date.{{citation needed|date=May 2023}} After March 2018 passed, he moved the apocalypse to April 23, 2018, in which he also predicted the Sun, Moon, Jupiter, and Virgo will signal the rapture, and that Nibiru would destroy the Earth that day.{{Cite news|url=http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=12031291|title=Conspiracy theorists claim end of world is coming April 23 when Nibiru appears|last1=MacDonald|first1=Cheyenne|date=12 April 2018|newspaper=The New Zealand Herald|access-date=31 May 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190624204452/https://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=12031291|archive-date=24 June 2019|url-status=live}} However, before that date he said that reports that he predicted the end on 23 April were "fake news", but that the rapture—but not the end of the world—would take place on an unspecified date between May and December 2018.

{{Main|Branch Davidians}}

The Branch Davidians (also known as The Branch) are a religious group that originated in 1955 from a schism among the Shepherd's Rod/Davidians. The Branch group was initially led by Benjamin Roden. Branch Davidians are most associated with the Waco siege of 1993, which involved David Koresh. There is documented evidence (FBI negotiation transcripts between Kathryn Shroeder and Steve Schneider with interjections from Koresh himself) that David Koresh and his followers did not call themselves Branch Davidians.{{cite web|url=https://digital.library.txstate.edu/bitstream/handle/10877/1958/507.pdf?sequence=1|title=United States Department of the Treasury: Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco & Firearms (Tape #126 Transcription)|date=March 13, 1993|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190624204503/https://digital.library.txstate.edu/bitstream/handle/10877/1958/507.pdf?sequence=1|archive-date=June 24, 2019|url-status=live}} In addition, David Koresh, through forgery, stole the identity of the Branch Davidian Seventh-day Adventists for the purpose of obtaining the Mount Carmel Center property.{{Cite book|title=Waco Untold, How David Koresh Stole the Identity of The Branch Davidians|last=Mitchell|first=Douglas|publisher=Ten Strings Publishing|year=2018|isbn=978-0-9998026-0-1|location=US}} The doctrinal beliefs of the Branch Davidians differ on teachings such as the Holy Spirit and his nature, and the feast days and their requirements. Both groups have disputed the relevance of the other's spiritual authority based on the proceedings following Victor Houteff's death. From its inception in 1930, the Davidians/Shepherd's Rod group believed themselves to be living in a time when biblical prophecies of a final divine judgment were coming to pass as a prelude to Christ's Second Coming.

In the late 1980s, Koresh and his followers abandoned many Branch Davidian teachings. Koresh became the group's self-proclaimed final prophet. "Koreshians" were the majority resulting from the schism among the Branch Davidians, but some of the Branch Davidians did not join Koresh's group and instead gathered around George Roden or became independent. Following a series of violent shootouts between Roden's and Koresh's group, the Mount Carmel compound was eventually taken over by the "Koreshians". In 1993, the ATF and Texas Army National Guard raided one of the properties belonging to a new religious movement centered around David Koresh that evolved from the Branch Davidians for suspected weapons violations. It is unknown who shot first, but the ATF surrounded and tried to invade the home of the Branch Davidians. This raid resulted in a two-hour firefight in which four ATF agents were killed; this was followed by a standoff with government agents that lasted for 51 days. The siege ended in a fire that engulfed the Mount Carmel compound which led to the deaths of 76 Branch Davidians inside.Dick J. Reavis, The Ashes of Waco: An Investigation (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1995), [https://books.google.com/books?id=-k34va6Lx3UC&pg=PA13 p. 13] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170318082254/https://books.google.com/books?id=-k34va6Lx3UC&pg=PA13 |date=2017-03-18 }}. {{ISBN|0-684-81132-4}}{{cite book |title= The Branch Davidians of Waco: The History and Beliefs of an Apocalyptic Sect |url= https://global.oup.com/academic/product/the-branch-davidians-of-waco-9780199245741?cc=au&lang=en&#.UFG2XbJlRK4 |author1= Newport, Kenneth G.C. |date= 2006 |publisher= Oxford University Press |isbn= 978-0199245741 |access-date= 25 November 2012 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20190624204447/https://global.oup.com/academic/product/the-branch-davidians-of-waco-9780199245741?cc=au&lang=en&#.UFG2XbJlRK4 |archive-date= 24 June 2019 |url-status= live }}

{{Main|Islamic eschatology}}

{{Further|Al-Masih ad-Dajjal|False prophet#Islam|Occultation (Islam)|Signs of the appearance of Mahdi}}

Islamic eschatology is the aspect of Islamic theology concerning ideas of life after death, matters of the soul, and the "Day of Judgement," known as {{Lang|ar-latn|Yawm al-Qiyāmah}} ({{langx|ar|يوم القيامة}}, {{IPA|ar|jawmu‿l.qijaːma|IPA}}, "the Day of Resurrection") or Yawm ad-Dīn ({{lang|ar|يوم الدين}}, {{IPA|ar|jawmu‿d.diːn|lIPA}}, "the Day of Judgment").{{citation needed|date=January 2020}} The Day of Judgement is characterized by the annihilation of all life, which will then be followed by the resurrection of the dead and judgment by God. It is not specified when {{Lang|ar-latn|al-Qiyamah}} will happen, but according to prophecy elaborated by hadith literature, there are major and minor signs that will foretell its coming.{{cite web|url=http://www.inter-islam.org/faith/Majorsigns.html|title=Major Signs before the Day of Judgment|publisher=Shaykh Ahmad Ali|access-date=2019-06-03|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160710214058/http://www.inter-islam.org/faith/Majorsigns.html|archive-date=2016-07-10}}{{cite web|url=http://www.inter-islam.org/faith/Signs-Of-Qiyaamah.htm|title=Signs of Qiyaamah|website=Inter-Islam|date=2001|access-date=2019-06-03|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160623002119/http://www.inter-islam.org/faith/Signs-Of-Qiyaamah.htm|archive-date=2016-06-23}} Multiple verses in the Qur'an mention the Last Judgment.{{cite book|title=Last Judgment|last=Hasson|first=Isaac|publisher=Encyclopaedia of the Qurʾān|doi = 10.1163/1875-3922_q3_EQCOM_00105}}

The main subject of Surat al-Qiyama is the resurrection. The Great Tribulation is described in the hadith and commentaries of the ulama, including al-Ghazali, Ibn Kathir, Ibn Majah, Muhammad al-Bukhari, and Ibn Khuzaymah.{{cite book|title=Qiyama|last=Gardet|first=L.|publisher=Encyclopaedia of the Qurʾān}}{{Cite quran|74|38|s=ns}} The Day of Judgment is also known as the Day of Reckoning, the Last Day, and the Hour (al-sā'ah).{{cite quran|71|18|s=ns}}{{cite quran|31|34|s=ns}}{{cite quran|74|47|s=ns}}{{cite quran|2|8|s=ns}}

Unlike the Quran, the hadith contains several events, happening before the Day of Judgment, which are described as several minor signs and twelve major signs. During this period, terrible corruption and chaos would rule the earth, caused by the Masih ad-Dajjal (the Antichrist in Islam), then Jesus will appear, defeating the Dajjal and establish a period of peace, liberating the world from cruelty. These events will be followed by a time of serenity when people live according to religious values.{{cite book|title=Portents And Features Of The Mahdi's Coming|last=Yahya|first=Harun|date=2010|publisher=Global Publishing. Kindle Edition.}}

Similarly to other Abrahamic religions, Islam teaches that there will be a resurrection of the dead that will be followed by a final tribulation and eternal division of the righteous and wicked.{{cite web|url=http://www.oxfordislamicstudies.com/article/opr/t125/e588?_hi=1&_pos=2|title=Eschatology – Oxford Islamic Studies Online|date=2008-05-06|publisher=Oxfordislamicstudies.com|access-date=2017-07-03|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170730134104/http://www.oxfordislamicstudies.com/article/opr/t125/e588?_hi=1&_pos=2|archive-date=2017-07-30|url-status=dead}} Islamic apocalyptic literature describing Armageddon is often known as fitna, Al-Malhama Al-Kubra (The Great Massacre) or ghaybah in Shī'a Islam. The righteous are rewarded with the pleasures of Jannah (Paradise), while the unrighteous are punished in Jahannam (Hell).

{{Main|Jewish eschatology}}

{{Further|False prophet#Judaism|List of Jewish messiah claimants}}

Moses of Crete, a rabbi in the 5th century, claimed to be the Jewish Messiah and promised to lead the people, like the ancient Moses, through a parted sea back to Palestine. His followers left their possessions and waited for the promised day, when, at his command, many cast themselves into the sea, some finding death, others being rescued by sailors.Donna Kossy, Kooks {{ISBN?}}{{page needed|date=May 2023}}

{{Main|Ancient Norse religion}}

{{Further|Norse mythology|Ragnarök}}

File:Edda.jpg written by Snorri Sturluson (13th century), showing the Ancient Norse Gods Odin, Heimdallr, Sleipnir, and other figures from Norse mythology]]

Ragnarök is an important eschatological event in the Ancient Norse religion and its mythology, and has been the subject of scholarly discourse and theory in the history of Germanic studies and is attested primarily in the Poetic Edda, compiled in the 13th century from earlier traditional sources and the Prose Edda, composed in the 13th century by the Icelandic scholar, lawspeaker, and historian Snorri Sturluson. In the Prose Edda and in a single poem in the Poetic Edda, the event is referred to as {{lang|non|Ragnarök}} or {{langnf|non|Ragnarøkkr|term1=Fate of the Gods |term2=Twilight of the Gods|paren=left}}, respectively), a usage popularised by 19th-century composer Richard Wagner with the title of the last of his Der Ring des Nibelungen operas, Götterdämmerung (1876), which is "Twilight of the Gods" in German. There are various theories and interpretations of Ragnarök.

Rudolf Simek theorizes that the survival of Líf and Lífþrasir at the end of Ragnarök is "a case of reduplication of the anthropogeny, understandable from the cyclic nature of the Eddic eschatology". Simek says that Hoddmímis holt "should not be understood literally as a wood or even a forest in which the two keep themselves hidden, but rather as an alternative name for the world-tree Yggdrasill. Thus, the creation of mankind from tree trunks (Askr, Embla) is repeated after the Ragnarök as well". Simek says that in Germanic regions, the concept of mankind originating from trees is ancient, and additionally points out legendary parallels in a Bavarian legend of a shepherd who lives inside a tree, whose descendants repopulate the land after life there has been wiped out by plague (citing a retelling by F. R. Schröder). In addition, Simek points to an Old Norse parallel in the figure of Örvar-Oddr, "who is rejuvenated after living as a tree-man (Ǫrvar-Odds saga 24–27)".{{cite book|last=Simek|first=Rudolf|author-link=Rudolf Simek|date=2007|others=translated by Angela Hall|title=Dictionary of Northern Mythology|publisher=D.S. Brewer|isbn=978-0-85991-513-7}}{{rp|189}}

Theories have been proposed about the relation between Ragnarök and the 9th-century Old High German epic poem Muspilli about the Christian Last Judgment, where the word {{Lang|goh|Muspille}} appears, and the 9th-century Old Saxon epic poem Heliand about the life of Christ, where various other forms of the word appear. In both sources, the word is used to signify the end of the world through fire.{{rp|222–224}} Old Norse forms of the term also appear throughout accounts of Ragnarök, where the world is also consumed in flames, and, though various theories exist about the meaning and origins of the term, its etymology has not been solved.{{rp|222–224}}

Parallels have been pointed out between the Ragnarök of Norse religion and the beliefs of other related Proto-Indo-European peoples. Subsequently, theories have been put forth that Ragnarök represents a later evolution of a Proto-Indo-European belief along with other cultures descending from the Proto-Indo-Europeans. These parallels include comparisons of a cosmic winter motif between the Norse Fimbulwinter, the Iranian Bundahishn and Yima.{{sfn|Mallory|Adams|1997|pages=182–183}} Víðarr's stride has been compared to the Vedic god Vishnu in that both have a "cosmic stride" with a special shoe used to tear apart a beastly wolf.{{cite book|last1=Mallory|first1=J. P.|author-link=J. P. Mallory|last2=Adams|first2=Douglas Q.|author2-link=Douglas Q. Adams|date=1997|title=Encyclopedia of Indo-European Culture|publisher=Taylor & Francis|isbn=1-884964-98-2|title-link=Encyclopedia of Indo-European Culture}}{{rp|182–183}} Larger patterns have also been drawn between "final battle" events in Indo-European cultures, including the occurrence of a blind or semi-blind figure in "final battle" themes, and figures appearing suddenly with surprising skills.{{rp|182–183}}

Hilda Ellis Davidson theorizes that the events in Völuspá occurring after the death of the gods (the sun turning black, steam rising, flames touching the heavens, etc.) may be inspired by the volcanic eruptions on Iceland. Records of eruptions on Iceland bear strong similarities to the sequence of events described in Völuspá, especially the eruption at Laki that occurred in 1783.{{cite book|last=Davidson|first=H. R. Ellis|author-link=Hilda Ellis Davidson|date=1990|title=Gods and Myths of Northern Europe|publisher=Penguin Books|isbn=0-14-013627-4}}{{rp|208–209}} Bertha Phillpotts theorizes that the figure of Surtr was inspired by Icelandic eruptions, and that he was a volcano demon.{{rp|208–209}} Surtr's name occurs in some Icelandic place names, among them the lava tube Surtshellir, a number of dark caverns in the volcanic central region of Iceland.{{cite journal |last1=Patel |first1=Samir S. |title=The Blackener's Cave: Viking Age outlaws, taboo, and ritual in Iceland's lava fields |journal=Archaeology |date=2017 |volume=70 |issue=3 |page=36 |issn=0003-8113}}

Parallels have been pointed out between a poem spoken by a jötunn found in the 13th-century þáttr Bergbúa þáttr ("the tale of the mountain dweller"). In the tale, Thórd and his servant get lost while traveling to church in winter, and so take shelter for the night within a cave. Inside the cave they hear noises, witness a pair of immense burning eyes, and then the being with burning eyes recites a poem of 12 stanzas. The poem the being recites contains references to Norse mythology (including a mention of Thor) and also prophecies (including that "mountains will tumble, the earth will move, men will be scoured by hot water and burned by fire"). Surtr's fire receives a mention in stanza 10. John Lindow says that the poem may describe "a mix of the destruction of the race of giants and of humans, as in Ragnarök" but that "many of the predictions of disruption on earth could also fit the volcanic activity that is so common in Iceland."{{cite book|last=Lindow|first=John|author-link=John Lindow|date=2001|title=Norse Mythology: A Guide to Gods, Heroes, Rituals, and Beliefs|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KlT7tv3eMSwC|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=0-19-515382-0|access-date=2019-06-03|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190624204500/https://books.google.com/books?id=KlT7tv3eMSwC|archive-date=2019-06-24|url-status=live}}{{rp|73–74}}

In late 2013 and early 2014, English-language media outlets widely reported that Ragnarök was foretold to occur on 22 February 2014.{{cite web |last1=Richards |first1=Chris |title=Will the world END next week? Viking apocalypse 'Ragnarok' due to arrive on February 22 |url=https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/weird-news/viking-apocalypse-2014-ragnarok-due-3153959 |publisher=Daily Mirror |date=17 February 2014 |access-date=3 June 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190602021113/https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/weird-news/viking-apocalypse-2014-ragnarok-due-3153959 |archive-date=2 June 2019 |url-status=live }} Apparently patterned after the 2012 phenomenon, the claim was at times attributed to a "Viking Calendar". No such calendar is known to have existed, and the source was a "prediction" made to media outlets by the Jorvik Viking Centre in York, England, intended to draw attention to an event that the institution was to hold on that date. The Jorvik Viking Centre was criticized for misleading the public to promote the event. In a 2014 article on the claims, philologist Joseph S. Hopkins perceives the media response as an example of a broad revival of interest in the Viking Age and ancient Germanic topics.{{cite journal |last=Hopkins |first=Joseph S. |year=2014 |url=https://www.academia.edu/7751817 |format=PDF |title=The 'Viking Apocalypse' of 22nd February 2014: An Analysis of the Jorvik Viking Center's Ragnarök and Its Media Reception |journal=RMN Newsletter |volume=8 |publisher=University of Helsinki |pages=7–12 |issn=2324-0636 |access-date=1 March 2022}}

{{Main|2012 phenomenon}}

The 2012 phenomenon was a range of eschatological beliefs that cataclysmic or otherwise transformative events would occur on or around 21 December 2012.Sources:

• {{cite web |last1=Defesche |first1=Sacha |title=The 2012 Phenomenon |url=http://www.skepsis.no/the-2012-phenomenon/ |publisher=Skepsis |date=June 17, 2008 |access-date=May 31, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190531180136/http://www.skepsis.no/the-2012-phenomenon/ |archive-date=May 31, 2019 |url-status=live }}
• {{cite news |last1=MacDonald |first1=G. Jeffrey |title=Does Maya calendar predict 2012 apocalypse? |url=https://usatoday30.usatoday.com/tech/science/2007-03-27-maya-2012_n.htm |newspaper=USA Today |date=2011 |access-date=2019-05-31 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190427013446/https://usatoday30.usatoday.com/tech/science/2007-03-27-maya-2012_n.htm |archive-date=2019-04-27 |url-status=live }}
• {{cite journal | author = Robert K. Sitler |date=February 2006 | title = The 2012 Phenomenon: New Age Appropriation of an Ancient Mayan Calendar |journal=Nova Religio: The Journal of Alternative and Emergent Religions |volume=9 |issue=3 |pages=24–38 |doi=10.1525/nr.2006.9.3.024 | issn = 1092-6690|oclc=357082680}} This date was regarded as the end-date of a 5,126-year-long cycle in the Mesoamerican Long Count calendar,{{cite web |url=http://yucalandia.com/science-health-issues/2012-maya-calendar-mystery-and-logic-vs-thors-day-worship-the-sun-day-et-al/ |title=2012 Maya Calendar Mystery and Math, Surviving Yucatan |publisher=Yucalandia.com |date=2012-11-16 |access-date=25 December 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170729051827/https://yucalandia.com/science-health-issues/2012-maya-calendar-mystery-and-logic-vs-thors-day-worship-the-sun-day-et-al/ |archive-date=29 July 2017 |url-status=live }} and as such, festivities to commemorate the date took place on 21 December 2012 in the countries that were part of the Maya civilization (Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador), with main events at Chichén Itzá in Mexico, and Tikal in Guatemala.{{cite news|url=http://www.nacion.com/2012-12-21/AldeaGlobal/miles-llegan-a-chichen-itza-con-la-esperanza-de-una-nueva-era-mejor.aspx|title=Miles llegan a Chichén Itzá con la esperanza de una nueva era mejor|language=es|trans-title=Thousands arrive to Chichén Itzá with the hope of a new better era|agency=Agence France-Presse|work=La Nación (Costa Rica)|date=21 December 2012|access-date=22 December 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121221202223/http://www.nacion.com/2012-12-21/AldeaGlobal/miles-llegan-a-chichen-itza-con-la-esperanza-de-una-nueva-era-mejor.aspx|archive-date=21 December 2012|df=dmy-all}}{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/22/world/americas/doomsday-fizzles-but-many-hail-a-new-era.html|title=As Doomsday Flops, Rites in Ruins of Mayan Empire|author=Randal C. Archibold|work=The New York Times|date=21 December 2012|access-date=22 December 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121222013244/http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/22/world/americas/doomsday-fizzles-but-many-hail-a-new-era.html|archive-date=22 December 2012|url-status=live}}{{cite news|title=End Of The World 2012? Not Just Yet|author=Mark Stephenson|work=Huffington Post|url=https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/21/end-of-the-world-2012_n_2344389.html|access-date=22 December 2012|date=21 December 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121221192604/http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/21/end-of-the-world-2012_n_2344389.html|archive-date=21 December 2012|url-status=live}}

Various astronomical alignments and numerological formulae were proposed as pertaining to this date. A New Age interpretation held that the date marked the start of a period during which Earth and its inhabitants would undergo a positive physical or spiritual transformation, and that 21 December 2012 would mark the beginning of a new era.{{cite journal |author=Benjamin Anastas |date=1 July 2007 |title=The Final Days |url=http://ksuweb.kennesaw.edu/~tkeene/apwhAnastasThe%20(Mayan)%20Final%20Days.htm |format=reproduced online, at KSU |journal=The New York Times Magazine |location=New York |page=Section 6, p. 48 |access-date=18 May 2009 |ref=Anastas2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190331194404/http://ksuweb.kennesaw.edu/~tkeene/apwhAnastasThe%20(Mayan)%20Final%20Days.htm |archive-date=31 March 2019 |url-status=live }} Others suggested that the date marked the end of the world or a similar catastrophe. Scenarios suggested for the end of the world included the arrival of the next solar maximum, an interaction between Earth and the supermassive black hole at the center of the galaxy,{{cite web| title = 2012: Shadow of the Dark Rift| publisher = NASA| url = http://www.nasa.gov/topics/earth/features/2012-alignment.html| year = 2011| access-date = 28 October 2012| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20121208062109/http://www.nasa.gov/topics/earth/features/2012-alignment.html| archive-date = 8 December 2012| url-status = live}} or Earth's collision with a mythical planet called Nibiru.

Scholars from various disciplines quickly dismissed predictions of concomitant cataclysmic events as they arose. Professional Mayanist scholars stated that no extant classic Maya accounts forecast impending doom, and that the idea that the Long Count calendar ends in 2012 misrepresented Maya history and culture,Milbrath 1999, p. 4David Stuart, The Order of Days: The Maya World and the Truth about 2012, Harmony Books, 2011{{cite web|url=http://www.anthro.psu.edu/faculty_staff/docs/Webster_GermanyMaya.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100215032307/http://www.anthro.psu.edu/faculty_staff/docs/Webster_GermanyMaya.pdf |archive-date=15 February 2010 |title=The Uses and Abuses of the Ancient Maya |author=David Webster |publisher=Penn State University |location=The Emergence of the Modern World Conference, Otzenhausen, Germany |date=25 September 2007 |access-date=14 October 2009 |df=dmy }} while astronomers rejected the various proposed doomsday scenarios as pseudoscience,{{cite web|title=SI do not ♥ pseudo-science|first=Mike|last=Brown|url=http://www.mikebrownsplanets.com/2008/02/i-do-not-pseudo-science.html|year=2008|access-date=12 December 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090329230846/http://www.mikebrownsplanets.com/2008/02/i-do-not-pseudo-science.html|archive-date=29 March 2009|url-status=live}}{{cite web|title=Nibiru and Doomsday 2012: Questions and Answers|url=http://astrobiology.nasa.gov/ask-an-astrobiologist/intro/nibiru-and-doomsday-2012-questions-and-answers|publisher=NASA: Ask an Astrobiologist|author=David Morrison|year=2012|access-date=12 December 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130811134015/http://astrobiology2.arc.nasa.gov/ask-an-astrobiologist/intro/nibiru-and-doomsday-2012-questions-and-answers|archive-date=11 August 2013}} easily refuted by elementary astronomical observations.{{cite web | title = 2012: Beginning of the End or Why the World Won't End?|publisher=NASA | url = http://www.nasa.gov/topics/earth/features/2012.html | year = 2009|access-date=26 February 2011| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20110222054800/http://www.nasa.gov/topics/earth/features/2012.html| archive-date= 22 February 2011 | url-status= live}}

{{Main|UFO religion|Ufology}}

{{Further|Ancient astronauts in popular culture|Elder race|UFO conspiracy theories}}

UFO religions sometimes feature an anticipated end-time scenario in which extraterrestrial beings will bring about a radical change on Earth and/or "lift" the religious believers to a higher plane of existence. One such religious group's failed expectations of such an event, the Seekers, served as the basis for the classic social psychology research on cognitive dissonance conducted by the American psychologists Leon Festinger, Henry Riecken, and Stanley Schachter and published in their book When Prophecy Fails: A Social and Psychological Study of a Modern Group That Predicted the Destruction of the World (1956).{{cite journal |last=Dawson |first=Lorne L. |date=October 1999 |title=When Prophecy Fails and Faith Persists: A Theoretical Overview |url=https://online.ucpress.edu/nr/article-pdf/3/1/60/302991/nr_1999_3_1_60.pdf |journal=Nova Religio: The Journal of Alternative and Emergent Religions |publisher=University of California Press |location=Berkeley |volume=3 |issue=1 |pages=60–82 |doi=10.1525/nr.1999.3.1.60 |doi-access=free |issn=1092-6690 |lccn=98656716 |s2cid=144984626 |access-date=20 September 2021}} Some adherents of UFO religions believe that the arrival or rediscovery of alien civilizations, technologies, and spirituality will enable human beings to overcome current ecological, spiritual, political, and social problems on planet Earth. Issues such as hatred, war, bigotry, poverty, and so on are said to be resolvable through the use of superior alien technology and spiritual abilities. Such belief systems are also described as millenarian in their outlook.{{Citation |last=Partridge |first=Christopher Hugh |year=2003 |title=UFO religions |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-0-415-26323-8 |page=274 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Aqhdas-u1UgC}}{{cite journal |last=Grünschloß |first=Andreas |author-link=Andreas Grünschloß |date=December 1998 |title=«When we enter into my Father's spacecraft». Cargoistic hopes and millenarian cosmologies in new religious UFO movements |url=https://archiv.ub.uni-marburg.de/ep/0004/article/view/3771/3587 |journal=Marburg Journal of Religion |publisher=University of Marburg |volume=3 |issue=2 |pages=1–24 |doi=10.17192/mjr.1998.3.3771 |issn=1612-2941 |access-date=6 October 2024}} In the late 1990s, religious scholar Andreas Grünschloß applied the term "cargoism" to adherents of UFO religions regarding their millenarian beliefs about the arrival of intelligent aliens on technologically advanced spacecrafts on planet Earth, in comparison to the Melanesian islanders's faith in the return of John Frum carrying the cargo with him on the islands.

{{Main|Zoroastrian cosmology}}

{{Further|Frashokereti}}

The Zoroastrian eschatological ideas are only alluded to in the surviving texts of the Avesta, and are known of in detail only from the texts of Zoroastrian tradition, in particular in the 9th-century text Bundahishn. The accompanying story, as it appears in the {{Lang|pal-latn|Bundahishn}} (GBd 30.1ff), runs as follows:{{citation|last=Boyce|first=Mary|author-link=Mary Boyce|title=Zoroastrians: Their Religious Beliefs and Practices|year=1979|location=London|publisher=Routledge & Kegan Paul|isbn=978-0-415-23902-8|pages=27–29|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=a6gbxVfjtUEC|access-date=2019-06-03|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190624210023/https://books.google.com/books?id=a6gbxVfjtUEC&printsec=frontcover|archive-date=2019-06-24|url-status=live}}. At the end of the "third time" (the first being the age of creation, the second of mixture, and the third of separation), there will be a great battle between the forces of good ({{Lang|pal-latn|yazata}}) and those of evil ({{Lang|pal-latn|daeva}}), in which the good will triumph. On Earth, the Saoshyant will bring about a resurrection of the dead in the bodies they had before they died. This is followed by a last judgment through ordeal. The {{Lang|pal-latn|yazata}} Airyaman and Atar will melt the metal in the hills and mountains, and the molten metal will then flow across the earth like a river. All mankind—both the living and the resurrected dead—will be required to wade through that river, but for the righteous ({{Lang|pal-latn|ashavan}}) it will seem to be a river of warm milk, while the wicked will be burned. The river will then flow down to hell, where it will annihilate Angra Mainyu and the last vestiges of wickedness in the universe.{{citation|last=MacKenzie|first=D.N. (David Neil)|title=A Concise Dictionary of Pahlavi|year=1971|location=London|publisher=Oxford University Press|pages=33}}.

The narrative continues with a projection of Ahura Mazda and the six Amesha Spentas solemnizing a final act of worship ({{Lang|pal-latn|yasna}}), and the preparation of parahaoma from "white haoma". The righteous will partake of the {{Lang|pal-latn|parahaoma}}, which will confer immortality upon them. Thereafter, humankind will become like the Amesha Spentas, living without food, without hunger or thirst, and without weapons (or possibility of bodily injury). The material substance of the bodies will be so light as to cast no shadow. All humanity will speak a single language and belong to a single nation without borders. All will share a single purpose and goal, joining with the divine for a perpetual exaltation of God's glory.{{citation|last=Taylor|first=Richard P.|title=Death and Afterlife: A Cultural Encyclopedia|publisher=ABC-CLIO|year=2000|page=312}}

Although {{Lang|pal-latn|frashokereti}} is a restoration of the time of creation, there is no return to the uniqueness of the primordial plant, animal and human; while in the beginning there was one plant, one animal and one human, the variety that had since issued would remain forever. Similarly, the host of divinities brought into existence by Ahura Mazda continue to have distinct existences, "and there is no prophecy of their re-absorption into the Godhead".

{{Portal|Politics|Religion|Society}}

{{Div col|colwidth=30em}}

• 1975 in Prophecy!
• Anti-nuclear movement
• Antichrist
• Apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction
• Apocalyptic literature
• Apocalypse of Abraham
• Apocalypse of Paul
• Apocalypse of Peter
• Apocalypse of Pseudo-Ezra
• Apocalypse of Pseudo-Methodius
• Apocalypse of Zerubbabel
• Climate apocalypse
• Cult
• Anti-cult movement
• Christian countercult movement
• Doomsday cult
• New religious movement
• Dark forest hypothesis
• Dispensationalism
• Essenes
• Global catastrophic risk
• Gog and Magog
• List of dates predicted for apocalyptic events
• List of messiah claimants
• List of people claimed to be Jesus
• Mutual assured destruction
• Order of the Solar Temple
• Peoples Temple
• Premillennialism
• Preterism
• Preppers
• Sabbateans
• Singularitarianism
• Ultimate fate of the Universe
• Unfulfilled Christian religious predictions
• When Prophecy Fails
• White Minaret

{{div col end}}

{{Reflist|30em}}

{{Theology}}

{{Doomsday}}

{{Authority control}}

Category:Eschatology

Category:Religious terminology