thumb|right|[[Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, woodcut print from the Apocalypse of Albrecht Dürer (1497–1498), Staatliche Kunsthalle Karlsruhe]]
Apocalypticism is the religious belief that the end of the world is imminent, even within one's own lifetime. This belief is usually accompanied by the idea that civilization will soon come to a tumultuous end due to some sort of catastrophic global event.
Religious apocalypticism
Religious views and movements often focus on cryptic revelations about a sudden, dramatic, and cataclysmic intervention of a god in human history; the judgment of humankind; the salvation of the faithful elect; and the eventual rule of the elect with the god in a heaven and/or upon a renewed Earth. Arising originally in Zoroastrianism, Religious apocalypticism often involves themes such as God's judgment, salvation of the faithful, and the eventual establishment of a renewed world.
Esoteric aspects
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. Apocalypses can be viewed as good, evil, ambiguous or neutral, depending on the particular religion or belief system promoting them. 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.
Abrahamic religions
Christianity
thumb|270px|right|[[God the Father|God 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 coming arrival of the "Kingdom of God". Simultaneously, some of these scholars tend to see Jesus's predictions as mistaken although many others view it from the perspective of the conditional nature of judgement prophecy. Dale Allison draws parallels from the history of religions and the historical Jesus showing that contingent eschatology is often used as a dissonance reduction strategy when certain expectations or prophecies fail to materialize. Others have insisted on a "realized eschatology" that says Jesus' own ministry fulfilled prophetic hopes. Many conservative scholars argue the kingdom of god is both "present" and "still to come" in biblical passages. Such scholars take Jesus' statements of an imminent end as referring to the fall of Jerusalem in 70 AD.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. The focus for Jesus's eschatological teachings is the Olivet Discourse in the gospel of Mark and the teachings in Matthew . Many scholars point to Jesus' association with John the Baptist as confirmation for his apocalyptic intentions.
Malherbe writes that Paul the Apostle includes himself among those who will live to see the parousia in 1 Thessalonians , although this is disputed by J. Andrew Doole. In contrast, other passages in the Pauline epistles such as Philippians 4:5 are seen as describing the nearness of the parousia even if Paul himself will not live to see it. 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.
Most scholars of the mid-twentieth century and the third quest held to the view of a “consistent eschatology” where Jesus was an eschatological prophet who believed in a future coming of the “Kingdom of God". 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. 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. 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. The approach by the Jesus Seminar is not short of many critics.
thumb|300px|left|[[The Last Judgment (Klontzas)|The Last Judgment, Eastern Orthodox icon on the Second Coming of Christ by Georgios Klontzas (c. 1580–1608), Hellenic Institute of Venice, Italy]]
Some scholars argue the apocalyptic ideas in the early Christian gospels are not to be viewed as a literal timetable or prediction of the end times, but as relating to the destruction of the Jewish Temple in 70 CE. They argue that 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, it is argued that apocalyptic language was used throughout the Hebrew Bible to describe political and historical catastrophes, and not the end of the world. 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 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. Similarly, these and other scholars argue for a "now and not yet" approach to the Kingdom of God in the Gospels and Pauline epistles.
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. 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.
Year 1000
thumb|270px|upright|[[Western Europe, 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. The notion of a widespread expectation of the year 1000 first appeared during the Renaissance.
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. 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 and 1042. 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.
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). 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. 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.
Crusades
thumb|Peter the Hermit preaching the Crusade, [[Gustave Doré]]
From the outset, the Crusades were filled with apocalyptic expectation and prophecy, beginning with the preachings of figures like Peter the Hermit to inspire knights, nobles, and commoners to march to the Holy Land and take Jerusalem. Other leading figures of the People's Crusade, such as Volkmar and Emicho, were so filled with zealotry that they slaughtered Jewish inhabitants along their journey to the Levant. Emicho claimed that Christ appeared and ordered him to fulfill apocalyptic prophecy by marching on Constantinople, seizing Jerusalem, triggering the Second Coming, and beginning the end times struggle against the Antichrist. Leaders of the following Prince's Crusade, such as Raymond of Aguilers, understood their conquest of Jerusalem as being a victory of Christendom over the Saracen "pagans" and as a sign of the oncoming Apocalypse and Second Coming.
Christian chroniclers, such as Matthew of Edessa, illustrated the Crusades in an apocalyptic framework, connecting the Frankish rule with the fourth kingdom in Daniel's prophecy. Many other European writers emphasized the bloodiness during the massacre of Jerusalem as fulfilling the violent prophecies of Revelation. Joachim of Fiore and other millenarian thinkers perceived saw the Crusades as temporary, foreseeing the voluntarily conversion of the Islamic world over time.
Fifth Monarchy Men
The Fifth Monarchists or Fifth Monarchy Men were an extreme Puritan sect active from 1649 to 1660 during the Interregnum, following the English Civil Wars of the 17th century. 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.
Isaac Newton and the end of the world in 2060
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.
The two documents detailing this prediction are currently housed within the Jewish National and University Library in Jerusalem. is a small letter slip, on the back of which is written haphazardly in Newton's hand: