In an age shadowed by pandemics, climate catastrophe, authoritarian resurgence, and existential technological threats, The Bloomsbury Handbook of Apocalypticism and Millennialism offers a timely and indispensable exploration of how societies make sense of their Ends—and their hoped-for new beginnings. This ground-breaking volume gathers leading scholars to trace the evolution, meanings, and enduring potency of apocalyptic and millennial ideas across religious, secular, and cultural landscapes.
From ancient revelatory texts to contemporary political movements and popular culture, the book dissects how these concepts function not just as prophecies of doom, but as frameworks for resistance, renewal, and transformation. Through meticulous historical analysis and bold theoretical interventions, the contributors interrogate core debates—from the distinctions between apocalypticism and millennialism to their radical entanglements with justice, space, temporality, and morality.
This volume dismantles simplistic portrayals of End Times thinking, revealing instead its nuanced, world-shaping logic. Whether manifest in religious movements or global politics, apocalypse is no longer a marginal concern—it is the defining hermeneutic of our times.
Scholarly, provocative, and urgent, this Handbook is essential reading for researchers, students, and anyone seeking to understand how humanity envisions and enacts its endings, and potentially, new beginnings.
Introduction, Tristan Sturm (Queen’s University Belfast, UK) & Andrew Crome (Manchester Metropolitan University, UK) Part I: Traditions 1. Jewish, Matt Goldish (Ohio State University, USA) 2. Christian, Eugene V. Gallagher (Connecticut College, USA) 3. Islamic, David Cook (Rice University, USA) 4. African, Asonzeh Ukah (University of Cape Town, South Africa) 5. Japanese, Kurita Hidehiko (Tohoku University, Japan) 6. Chinese, Vincent Goossaert (Ecole pratique des hautes études, EPHE, PSL, France) 7. Russian, Victor A. Shnirelman (Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow) 8. Cargo Cults, Garry Trompf (University of Sydney, Australia) Part II: Theories 9. Critical Theory, Lee Quinby (CUNY, USA) 10. Political Theology, Thomas Lynch (University of Chichester, UK) 11. New Religious Movements, Alastair Lockhart (University of Cambridge, UK) & Eileen Barker (London School of Economics, UK) 12. Norman Cohn, Lorenzo Ferrari (University of Modena, Italy) 13. Postapocalyptic, Robert Folger (Heidelberg University, Germany) & Jenny Stümer (Heidelberg University, Germany) Part III: Themes 14. Themes, Tristan Sturm (Queen’s University Belfast, UK) & Andrew Crome (Manchester Metropolitan University, UK) 15. Popular Culture, Andrew Crome (Manchester Metropolitan University, UK) 16. Poetry, Michael Dunn (Heidelberg University, Germany) 17. Anthropocene, Stefan Skrimshire (University of Leeds, UK) 18. Women and Gender, Sarah Harvey (London School of Economics, UK) & Suzanne Newcombe (The Open University, UK) 19. Violence, Sean Durbin (Manchester Metropolitan University, UK) 20. Conspiracies, Susannah Crockford (University of Exeter, UK) 21. UFOs, Robert Pearson-Flaherty (Independent scholar, based in Korea) 22. Archaeology, David Anderson (Queen’s University Belfast, UK) & Maarten Blaauw (Queen’s University Belfast, UK) Part IV: Temporalities 23. Temporalities, Tristan Sturm (Queen’s University Belfast, UK) & Andrew Crome (Manchester Metropolitan University, UK) 24. Comprehensive, Lorenzo DiTommaso (Concordia University, Canada) 25. Passive/Preparatory, Crawford Gribben (Queen’s University Belfast, UK) 26. Preemptive, Michael Barkun (Syracuse University, USA) 27. Preventative/Radical, Tristan Sturm (Queen’s University Belfast, UK) Glossary, Tristan Sturm (Queen’s University Belfast, UK) & Andrew Crome (Manchester Metropolitan University, UK)
Tristan Sturm in Reader in Geography at Queen's University Belfast, UK. Andrew Crome is Senior Lecturer in Early Modern History at Manchester Metropolitan University, UK.
Reviews for The Bloomsbury Handbook of Apocalypticism and Millennialism
The study of apocalyptic ideas and millennial groups has a long history in Religious Studies, yet somehow always seems to remain highly topical. The Handbook of Millennialism and Apocalypticism demonstrates this with chapters on pop culture and contemporary social issues sitting alongside more traditional case studies. With sections devoted to intersections with different traditions, themes, temporal forms and theoretical approaches, this book will be a go-to for the classroom, whatever the future holds. * David G. Robertson, The Open University, UK * The Bloomsbury Handbook of Apocalypticism and Millennialism is a timely post-pandemic volume that charts the multifaceted and rapidly evolving discourses of apocalypse. Moving beyond theological or Eurocentric traditions, this stimulating collection offers comparative and interdisciplinary perspectives that will prove invaluable in helping researchers reimagine the field’s epistemic boundaries. * Stephen Joyce, Aarhus University, Denmark *
