The Dove and the Dragon: A Cultural History of the Apocalypse
Digital Verbum Edition
Overview
No Western religious concept has been as socially, culturally, economically, and politically significant as that of the apocalypse. Neither heaven and hell, nor sin and salvation, nor even God and the devil have merited the attention of billions of people in the manner that belief in the end of the world has. Apocalyptic thinking is riven by a fruitful--and at times dangerous--binary between the hopes for a coming millennium when all shall be perfected or of a fiery deluge when the earth shall be destroyed.
The Dove and the Dragon is the first comprehensive history of Western apocalypticism. Ed Simon introduces a new system for classifying movements concerned with the end of history, between hopeful, millennial “doves” and violent, apocalyptic “dragons.” This framing connects a seemingly disparate phenomenon, from medieval millennialism to modern Marxism, Reformation apocalypticism to contemporary techno-utopianism. Expected groups are considered, but unexpected phenomena are interpreted through the lens of apocalypticism as well to argue that those that have often been classified as “secular” still take part in this ancient theological category.
This new way of interpreting history gives sense to the full scope of apocalypticism as a series of movements and as a genre, including not just religion and theology, but politics, philosophy, and pop culture as well. The Dove and the Dragon promises to be the standard introduction for years to come.
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- Presents a unique framework that distinguishes “doves”—hopeful, millennial movements—from “dragons”—violent, destructive apocalypses.
- Allows for a new understanding of both religious and secular phenomena through the lens of apocalyptic expectation.
- Provides an expansive and integrated historical overview, showing how apocalyptic ideas have shaped religion, politics, philosophy, and popular culture.
- Introduction: The Eternal Prelude to Armageddon
- In the Beginning Was the End: Judaism and the Prophets
- Hell Followed with Him: Early Christianity and the Church Fathers
- The First Millennium Approaches: Islam and Christianity in the Early Middle Ages
- The Broken Seal: Mystical Millenarians of the Middle Ages
- Rebirthing the End: Renaissance Humanism and Reformation Apocalypticism
- The Whores of Babylon: Apocalypse in the Early Modern Period
- Visions of the Last Judgment: Rationalizing the Apocalypse
- A Terrible Swift Sword: Armageddon in the Nineteenth Century
- Ending All Over Again: Modernity, Secularism, and Apocalypse
- Hoofbeats of the Horsemen: The Future and Apocalypse?
- Epilogue: Monsters of the Anthropocene
Ed Simon is the prolific cultural historian for our apocalyptic age, and his latest work is as ambitious as it is intimate. From the Dead Sea Scrolls to medieval Cathars and Fraticelli to the fiery rhetoric of modern politics, The Dove and the Dragon unfurls a tapestry of ideas where angels whisper and prophets roar. It’s a lucid and learned encyclopedia that leaves you at once awed and grounded—a reminder that every era, not just ours, is fraught with crises and hope.
—Andrew Hui, author of The Study: The Inner Life of Renaissance Libraries
Intellectual history at its finest, this book traces the evolution of an idea that underpins the vexing moment we are living in, from the Zoroastrians to the evangelicals of today. Whether you support Trumpism or are aghast at it, you will never see the movement the same way after reading this book.
—Rick Shenkman, founder of the History News Network, and author of Political Animals: How Our Stone-Age Brain Gets in the Way of Smart Politics
In this ambitious volume, Simon considers a religious concept that has “merited the attention of billions”: the end of the world. Simon is the perfect guide for such an expansive subject. His schema for apocalyptic thinking—the dove and the dragon—is a brilliant lens through which to engage a massive subject. Simon demonstrates that apocalypticism is neither fringe thinking nor historical footnote; he expertly reveals that wonder and worry over the end of time fuels religion, literature, art, and politics.
—Nick Ripatrazone, culture editor, Image journal, and author of Longing for an Absent God