Apocalypticism

Apocalypticism is the religious belief that there will be an apocalypse, a term which originally referred to a revelation of God's will, but now usually refers to belief that the world will come to an end time very soon, even within one's own lifetime. This belief is usually accompanied by the idea that civilization, as we know it, will soon come to a tumultuous end with some sort of catastrophic global event such as war. Apocalypticism is often conjoined with esoteric knowledge that will likely be revealed in a major confrontation between good and evil forces, destined to change the course of history. Apocalypses can be viewed as good, evil, ambiguous or neutral, depending on the particular religion or belief system promoting them. They can appear as a personal or group tendency, an outlook or a perceptual frame of reference, or merely as expressions in a speaker's rhetorical style.

Jewish apocalypticism:

Jewish apocalypticism holds a doctrine that there are two eras of history, the present era which is ruled over by evil, and a coming era to be ruled over by God. At the time of the coming era, there will be a messiah which will deliver the faithful into the new era. Due to incidents arising very early on in Jewish history, predictions about the time of the coming of the Jewish messiah was highly discouraged. This was so as to prevent people from losing faith when the predictions did not come true during the lifespan of a believer.
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.

Christian apocalypticism:

Christian apocalypticism is based on Jewish apocalypticism, and therefore holds consistent with the doctrine of two eras. John the Baptist, Jesus Christ, and the Apostles were all apocalypticists who preached to their followers that the world would end within their own lifetimes. The apocalyptic preaching of John the Baptist and the Apostles is well known and accepted as historical by religious and secular scholars due to extensive extra-biblical historical accounts of their lives. However, the apocalyptic message of Jesus as expressed in the synoptic gospels is much less well known. Jesus' apocalyptic teachings are usually not emphasized in Christian religious education. However, some secular scholars believe that Jesus' apocalyptic teachings were the central message Jesus intended to impart, more central even than his messianism.
Various Christian eschatological systems have developed, providing different frameworks for understanding the timing and nature of apocalyptic predictions. 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 attempted to calculate the precise timing of the end times.

Jesus' apocalypticism:

The gospels portray Jesus as an apocalyptic prophet, described by himself and by others as the Son of Man – translated as the Son of Humanity – and hailing the restoration of Israel. Jesus himself, as the Son of God, a description also used by himself and others for him, was to rule this kingdom as lord of the Twelve Apostles, the judges of the twelve tribes.
Albert Schweitzer emphasized that Jesus was an apocalyptic prophet, preparing his fellow Jews for the imminent end of the world. In fact, Schweitzer saw Jesus as a failed, would-be Messiah whose ethic was suitable only for the short interim before the apocalypse. Many historians concur that Jesus was an apocalyptic prophet, most notably Paula Fredriksen, Bart Ehrman, and John P. Meier. E. P. Sanders portrays Jesus as expecting to assume the "viceroy" position in God's kingdom, above the Twelve Disciples, who would judge the twelve tribes, but below God. He concludes, however, that Jesus seems to have rejected the title Messiah, and he contends that the evidence is uncertain to whether Jesus meant himself when he referred to the Son of Man coming on the clouds as a divine judge (see also Daniel's Vision of Chapter 7), and further states that biblical references to the Son of Man as a suffering figure are not genuine.
However, the prevailing popular exegesis is not that Jesus was a failed would-be Messiah, nor an apocalypicist. One interpretation is that he didn't expect a world-ending apocalypse within his own life time, but rather a "personal apocalypse", i.e., the end of his own life. Although there is little, if any, Biblical corroboration of the 'personal apocalypse' interpretation. The 'personal apocalypse' theory caveat could be interpreted as a rebuttal in that Jesus never predicted an actual apocalypse at all. Jesus' cryptic style of presentation called for the listener to interpret the words he spoke in any way they desired. 'Personal apocalypse' could refer to the metaphorical apocalypse of the Book of Revelation in that the battle between good and evil wages daily within the hearts and souls of those who believe and will only end the day that individual's life comes to an end. Most Christian believers and theologians, however, interpret the Book of Revelation, which was written by John of Patmos and not Jesus Christ himself, to mean an actual, literal apocalypse with very little backing to support that claim other than Bibical references.
One account supporting the interpretation of Jesus' apocalypticism is at the crucifixion. After there is no apocalypse upon his crucifixion as he believed there would be, he asks on the Cross, "Why hast thou forsaken me?" The disciples then have to change their interpretation of Jesus' message as portrayed in Acts of the Apostles
The preaching of John was, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand" (Mat. 3:2), and Jesus also taught this same message (Mat 4:17; Mark 1:15). Additionally, Jesus spoke of the signs of "the close of the age" in the Olivet Discourse in Mat 24 (and parallels), near the end of which he said, "[T]his generation will not pass away until all these things take place" (v. 34). Interpreters have understood this phrase in a variety of ways, some saying that most of what he described was in fact fulfilled in the destruction of the Temple in the Roman Siege of Jerusalem (see Preterism), and some that "generation" should be understood instead to mean "race" (see NIV marginal note on Mat 24:34) among other explanations.

Year 1000:

There are a few recorded instances of apocalypticism leading up to the year 1000. However they mostly rely on one source, Rodulfus Glaber.

Domesday Book:

When William the Conqueror, initiated a census of his conquered land, the "Domesday Book", as it was called, was interpreted by the many of the English as being the "Book of Life" written of in Revelation. The belief was that when the book was completed, the end of the world would come.

Fifth Monarchy Men:

The Fifth Monarchy Men were active from 1649 to 1661 during the Interregnum, following the English Civil Wars of the 17th century. They took their name from a belief in a world-ruling kingdom to be established by a returning Jesus in which prominently figures the year 1666 and its numerical relationship to a passage in the Biblical Book of Revelation indicating the end of earthly rule by carnal human beings.
Around 1649, there was great social unrest in England and many people turned to Oliver Cromwell as England's new leader. The Parliamentary victors of the First English Civil War failed to negotiate a constitutional settlement with the defeated King Charles I. Members of Parliament and the Grandees in the New Model Army, when faced with Charles's perceived duplicity, reluctantly tried and executed him.

Isaac Newton and the end of the world in 2060:

Isaac Newton proposed that the world would not end until the year 2060, based largely on his own study and deciphering of Bible codes.

Millerites and Seventh-day Adventists:

The Millerites were the followers of the teachings of William Miller who, in 1833, first shared publicly his belief in the coming Second Advent of Jesus Christ in roughly the year 1843.

The ideological descendants of the Millerites are the Seventh-day Adventists, who are distinguished among Christian denominations for their emphasis on the imminent second coming of Jesus Christ.

Apocalypticism in Islam:

Prophet Muhammad prophesied of an Islamic leader, or Mahdi (Al-Mahdi literally translates to the "Guided One") who will rise against the notion of globally corrupt materialism, advocate justice and identify the true Messiah whom the Judaic and Christian scriptures are familiar with.

Apocalypticism in contemporary culture:

Apocalypticism is a frequent theme of literature, film and television.

Y2K:

Apocalypticism was especially evident with the approach of the millennial year 2000, in which some predicted a massive computer crash which would throw global commerce and financial systems into chaos. These predictions did not come true, although a few remarkable isolated events did occur due to the glitches in computer coding on which these predictions focused.

Mayan calendar 2012:

The 2012 doomsday prediction is a present-day cultural meme proposing that cataclysmic and apocalyptic events will occur on December 21, 2012. This idea has been disseminated by numerous books, Internet sites and by TV documentaries with increasing frequency since the late 1990s. The forecast is based primarily on what is claimed to be the end-date of the Mesoamerican Long Count calendar, which is presented as lasting 5,125 years and as terminating on December 21 or 23, 2012, along with interpretations of assorted legends, scriptures, numerological constructions and prophecies.