The Encyclopedia of Apocalypticism: Volume 1: The Origins of Apocalypticism in Judaism and Christianity

by Bernard McGinn (Editor), John J. Collins (Editor)

Hailed as the best scholarship in its field, this survey traces apocalypticism's role in Western history from its origins to the close of the third millennium.

Continuum congratulates Joan J. Collins on being the recipient of the 1999 Choice Outstanding Academic Book Award




Praise for the
"...clear, rich, and provocative...it gathers available but widely scattered insights and interpretations into one convenient work....by virtue of it's general excellence and its breadth, this encyclopedia is certainly going to be indispensable for apocalyptic research specialists, and it will be extremely useful for graduate students and advanced undergraduates, as well as a growing, if still small, category of 'general readers' attracted to the topic by the approach of the millennial year."
-Religious Studies Review, July 2000

"This splendid collection of essays explores religiously inspired conceptions of the end of history ... Addressing critical aspects of Western apocalypticism, the authors identify and define their topics carefully, develop independent interpretations, and supply excellent supporting annotated bibliographies. This superb encyclopedia represents the best current scholarship ... it richly deserves wide distribution."
- Choice

"An indispensable resource for anyone interested in studying the origin, development, and continuing impact of apocalyptic thought and writings in Judaism, Christianity and Islam."
- America

"This multi-volume set, a masterfully conceived work covering the vast historical literature of apocalypticism, will ... utterly delight the serious scholar ... Those truly interested in a comprehensive exposition of apocalypticism will find treasures in this great work."
- Library Journal

"Edited by first-rate scholars ... this work is certain to dominate the field for decades. It is rich, learned, fascinating and unsettling."
- Arnold Jacob Wolr, author of Apocalyptic for the Millennium

"Excellent....an essential tool for the study of ancient apocalyptic." -Religious Studies Review, April 2001

Genres: Religion, Reference

516 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 2000

About the author

Bernard McGinn, the Naomi Shenstone Donnelley Professor Emeritus at the University of Chicago Divinity School, is widely regarded as the preeminent scholar of mysticism in the Western Christian tradition. He has also written extensively on Jewish mysticism, the history of apocalyptic thought, and medieval Christianity.

A cum laude graduate of St. Joseph's Seminary and College in Yonkers, NY, he earned a doctorate in theology from the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome in 1963 and a PhD in history from Brandeis University in 1970. After teaching theology for a year at The Catholic University of America, he joined the Chicago faculty in 1969 as an instructor in theology and the history of Christianity and was appointed a full professor nine years later. Dr. McGinn was named to the Donnelley chair in 1992. He retired in 2003.

The recent recipient of a Mellon Foundation Emeritus Grant, he also has held a Fulbright-Hays Research Fellowship, an American Association of Theological Schools research award, two research fellowships for work at the Institute for Advanced Study at Hebrew University in Jerusalem, a research fellowship at the Institute for Ecumenical and Culture Research at St. John's University, and a Lily Foundation Senior Research Fellowship.

Dr. McGinn has delivered invited lectures at some one hundred colleges and universities in North America, Europe, and Israel. He is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and of the Medieval Academy of America.  Past-president of the International Society for the Promotion of Eriugenean Studies, the American Society of Church History, and the American Catholic Historical Association, he is member of the board of The Eckhart Society. He served as editor-in-chief of the Paulist Press series Classics of Western Spirituality and currently serves as a member of the editorial boards of Cistercian Publications, The Encyclopedia of World Spirituality, The Collected Works of Bernard Lonergan, and Spiritus.