Apocalyptic Vision

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How should a Christian apocalyptic imagination, which construes God's redemptive actions through the arresting visions and hyperbolic words of biblical apocalyptic writings, shape our discipleship?

Early Christians, steeped in the apocalyptic imagination of post-exilic Judaism, saw themselves as a community of pilgrims. Barry Harvey urges us to celebrate this vision through worship and service.

Reviewing the Apostle Paul's use of apocalyptic imagery to decry the mistreatment of the natural world, Harry Hahne challenges "a popular misperception that apocalypses are world-denying." Susan Garrett interprets the scary cast of fallen characters-Satan, demons, and other nefarious beings-that we encounter in apocalyptic writings.

If handled with care, apocalyptic theology helps "demythologize our own institutions and deflate human pretensions and arrogance," Scott Lewis, S.J., notes. Yet, much religious violence is inspired by apoca- lyptic images of cosmic warfare. Thomas Kidd reviews how some gloss biblical apocalypses with morbid scenarios of Islam's demise. "Essential religious differences give no one, Muslim or Christian, the right to harm, insult, or demonize the other," he counsels.

Christian Reflection is an ideal resource for discipleship training in the church. Multiple copies are available for group study at $3.00 per copy.

The study guides and lesson plans integrate Bible study, prayer, and worship to explore the centrality of apocalyptic imagination in the Christian life. The study guides can be used in a series or individually. You may download and reproduce them for personal or group use.