From December 11–13, 2017, the International Consortium for Research in the Humanities (ICHR) at the University of Erlangen-Nürnberg brought together a group of international scholars to reflect on perceptions of the “end of time” in different eras and cultural contexts. The presentations explored the textual traditions related to apocalyptic or millenarian thought, but also the movements that aimed to put this thought into action. Special emphasis was placed on the relationship between apocalyptic and “normal” times as well as on the social and political ramifications of the end of time. In their introductory remarks, the convenors MICHAEL LACKNER (Erlangen) and KLAUS HERBERS (Erlangen) emphasized the novelty of the conference’s approach in bringing together scholars working on Europe, Byzantine, the Islamic World, Tibet, and China (with last-minute cancellations from scholars working on Africa and Japan) and expressed a hope that commonalities and differences might be identified across these different cultural settings.

The conference began with a talk by RICHARD LANDES (Boston) who made use of his long-standing engagement with millenarianism to clarify several of the main terms and concepts and make them available for further exploration during the following days. In particular, he distinguished between millennialism, eschatology and apocalypticism. For him, millennialism refers to the coming of a perfect society on earth – and is therefore always political – while eschatology signifies the complete end of history. Apocalyptic thought, on the other hand, more generally relates to the end of time, which can take many different forms. In his talk, he paid particular attention to the varieties of millennial movements, differentiating between particularistic and universalistic as well as progressive and restorative cases. He further elaborated on the reasons behind the emergence of such movements and pointed to the longer historical trends and the role of prophets, but also to specific dates with a special significance. What proved of particular benefit to the ensuing conference was Landes’ attempt to classify apocalyptic movements and describe the role of prophets within them. This provided a clear frame of reference for the following speakers, but also invited debate from the different cultural contexts from which the speakers drew their conclusions.

The conference was structured into five panels, the first of which provided overviews of end time thought from different regions and time periods. In his talk about the Latin Middle ages, Klaus Herbers pointed to the rich debate about biblical accounts of the apocalypse which could be applied to different times and related to differing historical precedents. Particularly influential was the doctrine of the four kingdoms found in the Book of Daniel, after which the apocalypse would come. However, to which worldly empire the last kingdom would refer and when it really would end was up for debate. By pointing out that apocalyptical theories were often voiced to highlight the need for reform and repentance, he formulated one of the recurring observations of the conference.

ROLF SCHEUERMANN (Erlangen) in turn provided insights into the Tibetan conception of different eons and the devolution of the Buddhist dharma, both of which are closely intertwined. He pointed to the pedagogical use of looming dystopia to force reform onto people, but also to how the devolution of Buddhist doctrine sparked translation projects to preserve Buddhism proper.

Concluding this panel, CHRISTIAN LANGE (Utrecht) spoke about the “presentist eschatology” in Sunnist Islam, based on which paradise and hell can be interpreted as blueprints for phenomena in this world. He focused on the spatial dimension of eschatology, explaining how Jerusalem and other cities were interpreted as paradise on earth and how this is reflected in architecture. Contrary to expectations, he argued that Muslim thinkers assumed an identity between these cities and the actual paradise; they were neither a stand-in nor an allegory.

The second panel on the second day of the conference approached the end of time through the concepts of cultural transfer, heterodoxy, and syncretism. VINCENT GOOSSAERT (Paris) showed that not only the Christian inspired apocalyptic movement of the Taiping but also its Confucian opponents took recourse to eschatological scenarios. Often, through texts transmitted through the Chinese practice of “spirit-writing”, opponents of the Taiping interpreted them both as punishment and as offering cause for reflection. Only a few could be saved, if they would repent and reform. Moreover, despite the overall loyalist tendency of these texts, they also raised questions about the responsibility of officials and the emperor with regard to the ongoing warfare.

In his talk, BRANDON DOTSON (Georgetown) engaged with millenarian thought in 9th and 10th century Tibetan manuscripts from Dunhuang. Based on a close reading of the text, he showed how different cultural traditions met in these texts to give shape to a complex set of assumptions about the end of the time and the following millennium.

Lastly, JULIA EVA WANNENMACHER (Bern) discussed the perception of Christians and Muslims in Joachim of Fiore’s (1135-1202) apocalyptic eschatology. By devising a progressive theory of history and integrating biblical evidence, Joachim understood Mohammed as the deviser of a heresy and the persecutor of Christians. His eschatology was useful in clarifying the current political developments, as its publication was contemporaneous with Saladin’s invasion of Jerusalem. These events were thus provided with a specific meaning and integrated into an eschatological narrative.

The third panel in the afternoon of day two of the conference turned to the practices and figures related to the end of time. CHRISTINE MOLLIER (Paris) discussed apocalypticism and messianism in early Daoist sources. These sources paint the picture of a “chosen people”, living in an ideal egalitarian society awaiting the advent of a messianic figure. She pointed to the context of intense religious competition in which these ideas were devised and the interchange with other religious traditions, especially Buddhism, shaped them.

Following this, MATTHIAS KAUP (Berlin) discussed satanic eschatology in two tracts of the “Anonymous Bambergensis”. These tracts provide a fascinating glimpse into the medieval conceptions of the Antichrist who is pictured as being “like God” only in exactly opposite ways. Thus, the tracts describe an “infernal trinity”, but also present Satan as a mole, indicating the author’s hope for the eventual failure of Satan’s activities in the world.

The third and final day of the conference began with the fourth panel which engaged with the textual dimension of the end of time. GAELLE BOSSEMAN (Paris) presented her study of Beatus of Liebana and his understanding of the apocalypse. In his apocalyptic texts, which were composed in the North of Iberia, Beatus develops an allegorical understanding of the apocalypse and the millennium which serves as a moral discourse of penitence. To this end, he provides numerous calculations, indicating the symbolical value of numbers, which prove both that the end of time will come and that its exact timing cannot be predicted. Through this device, he wanted to prevent people from preparing for the end of time at the very last minute rather than permanently changing their ways

Following Bosseman, HANS-CHRISTIAN LEHNER (Erlangen) charted the debates among medieval historiographers concerning the apocalypse. He showed how, from 1100 onward, apocalyptic thought was integrated into a “salvific history”. Based on biblical sources, history was interpreted as an “ensemble of signs”, understood within an apocalyptic framework. Thereby, historical events gained meaning for the present as signs of the end of time and could be used to urge people to act righteously.

WOLFRAM BRANDES (Frankfurt am Main) continued with a talk about the Byzantine calculations of the end of time contained in numerous apocryphal sources. These apocalyptic scenarios are similarly based on biblical accounts and tend to revolve around Constantinople. Calculations based on, for example, the account of Genesis are used to make predictions and interpret present developments, such as the Ottoman expansion.

In the last talk of the panel, ZHAO LU (Berlin) turned the debate to Chinese apocrypha in the first two centuries CE. He showed how the utopian concept of a “great peace” (taiping) emerged in the first century CE as a powerful tool for legitimizing the political rule but also as a flexible answer to contemporary crises. The “great peace” was imagined as being gradually achieved, thus accommodating political fears of radicalism while offering an appealing vision of social harmony and political stability.

The last panel finally explored the relationship between the end of time and modernity, indicating both how new apocalyptic visions continue to emerge as well as how traditional apocalypticism was transformed in the wake of modern ideas. RUDOLF WAGNER (Heidelberg) showed how Chinese reformers around the turn of the 19th century voiced their fears about the end of the Chinese race and nation in the wake of social-Darwinist struggle. He pointed out that the writings of these reformers can be understood as a secular eschatology, with the nation-state supplanting paradise as the eschaton. Building on growing knowledge about contemporaneous cases of nations that lost their independence, such as Poland and Egypt, the reformers tried to use new media forms to urge their fellow citizens to take action and prevent the imminent doom of China.

JÖRN THIELMANN (Erlangen) discussed how radical Islam since the 19th century adapted apocalyptic scenarios to a modernizing context. There emerged a narrative of Islam being under threat which could be linked to apocalyptic texts in the prophetic tradition. Jihadists could understand themselves as a select group, fighting the “enemies” of Islam. Profiting from the lack of a central theological authority in Islam, it was often individuals who had been trained in the modern way who depicted themselves as the saviors of Islam in an apocalyptic setting.

The last talk of the conference was delivered by JÜRGEN GEBHARDT (Erlangen), who proposed a comparative analysis of the ideas and semantics of modern millennialism. He described the phenomenon of modern millennialism as being marked by a combination of typical features: the teleological reading of history that is the belief in the progressive movement toward an ultimate goal of perfection, linked with the utopian image of an idealized final state of humanity.

The conference ended with a concluding discussion, during which the convenors and participants highlighted some of the unifying threads of the previous talks. Especially striking was the prominent use of apocalyptic scenarios to urge people toward repentance and reinforce social mores to which the participants attested across a wide range of cases. It seems plausible that such an interpretation of apocalyptic ideas is closely related to the social background of the writers, many of whom were drawn from the social elites. In addition, it seems important whether the end of time is interpreted on an individual or a collective level. In the former case, self-reform might be an appropriate consequence while, in the latter, collective action might follow. With regard to the millennium, the presentations showed that it matters greatly whether the eventual utopia is envisioned on earth or in the other world. The “Taiping” may be one of the most radical examples of a movement that imagined their paradise on earth and the way of realizing it as a violent struggle between radically opposing forces. However, it was also pointed out that the strict Western separation between the sacred and the profane cannot be readily applied to other contexts, such as China. Other important transcultural factors related to the end of time were the role of prophets as well as textual evidence – often from canonical sources – based on which apocalyptic scenarios can be interpreted. Apart from the obvious differences concerning the sources used – whether the Bible, the Koran or the Confucian canon – the presentations highlighted the ingenious strategies of reading and interpreting canonical texts in reference to apocalyptic scenarios. The participants expressed their hope that the exploration of the end of time would continue across different eras and cultural contexts, and in a more systematic way compared to some of the above-mentioned aspects. A publication is planned.

Conference Overview:

Welcoming Address and Introduction:

Michael Lackner (Erlangen) and Klaus Herbers (Erlangen)

Keynote Lecture:

Richard Landes (Boston): Apocalyptic Millennialism: The Most Powerful, Volatile, Imaginary Force in Human History

Panel 1: Overviews of the End of Times in Different Eras and Areas

Klaus Herbers (Erlangen): End of Times: Christian Perspectives on History, Eschatology, and Transcendence in the Latin Middle Ages

Rolf Scheuermann (Erlangen): Tibetan Buddhist Dystopian Narratives and their Pedagogical Dimension

Christian Lange (Utrecht): Presence, not likeness: Presentist eschatology in Muslim topography, architecture and ritual

Panel 2: The End of Times as Cultural Transfer, Heterodoxy, and Syncretism?

Vincent Goossaert (Paris): Competing Eschatological Scenarios during the Taiping War, 1851-1864

Brandon Dotson (Georgetown): Millenarianism in the Tibetan Dunhuang Manuscripts

Julia Eva Wannenmacher (Bern): Mohammed, Mahdi, Antichrist: Christians and Muslims in Joachim of Fiore's Apocalyptic Eschatology

Panel 3: Practices, Rituals, and Figures of the End of Times

Christine Mollier (Paris): Eschatology and Messianism in Early Medieval China: The First Apocalypses

Matthias Kaup (Berlin): The Infernal Trinity Does the Mole – Satan’s Eschatological Activity in the Two Tracts De principe mundi and De semine scriptorium of the Anonymous Bambergensis

Panel 4: Texts and Commentaries about the End of Times

Gaelle Bosseman (Paris): Beatus of Liebana and the Spiritualized Understanding of Apocalypse in Medieval Iberia

Hans-Christian Lehner (Erlangen): The End of Time in Medieval Historiography

Wolfram Brandes (Frankfurt am Main): Byzantine Calculations of the End of Times (CE 500, 800, 1000, 1496)

Zhao Lu (Berlin): Making the Great Peace Up: Chinese Apocrypha in the First Two Centuries CE

Panel 5: The End of Times and Modernity

Rudolf Wagner (Heidelberg): Facing the Modernity of the Others: Eschatological Fears for the Nation and the Race in China, 1895-1920

Jörn Thielmann (Erlangen): The Final Struggle: The “Islamic State” and the Enacting of the End of Time

Jürgen Gebhardt (Erlangen): The Messianic Quest for the Earthly Paradise in the Modern World