The aim of this thesis is to examine Octavia Butler’s novel Kindred as a work of post-apocalyptic literature that uses American slavery as its apocalyptic event. I will argue that Kindred critiques the use of linear time and the narratives of progress that are commonplace within the science fiction genre by focusing on an apocalypse from America’s historical past, instead of creating an apocalypse in an imagined future. To do this, I will examine how the novel challenges the reader’s understanding of time and history alongside another work of post-apocalyptic literature, Walter M. Miller Jr’s novel A Canticle for Leibowitz. I will also utilize apocalyptic theory to argue that Kindred should be considered a post-apocalyptic novel, and by comparing it to Butler’s other works of apocalyptic fiction. Ultimately, Kindred expands the possibilities of postapocalyptic fiction by demonstrating that we are already living in a post-apocalyptic reality. / Includes bibliography. / Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2021. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

In my dissertation I assert that Wilbur's poetry is not so much an attempt to balance spiritual and physical realities as an attempt to mine the richness that exists in the boundary between the two worlds. I also examine and comment on his poetry that exists in the space created by other apocalyptic interstices as well.

Bibliography: leaves 208-219. / Religious apocalyptic literature appears to have been written in response to a situation of crisis in which the believers found themselves. It is the catalyst which provided the energy which the society needed in order to withstand that crisis, and it did this by radically inverting the dimensions which make up a worldview, that is the dimensions of time and space, and the classification of groups, so that it reflects the possibility of a new order, a new heaven and a new earth. Since the nineteenth century, the Western world has seen itself in a constant state of crisis in terms of the rapid secularisation, industrialisation and urbanisation, and it would seem that the notion of an apocalypse is still relevant. But religious visions of the apocalypse do not seem to have relevance to the largely secular society they would have been addressing. Something new, immediate and drastic was needed, which would supply the society with the energy to withstand the crisis of a secular world. Science fiction as a literary genre arose in the late nineteenth century, and it would seem as if the new social situation generated a new symbolic vocabulary for ancient apocalyptic themes, in other words, science fiction appeared as an imaginative literary genre of mythic, apocalyptic dimensions to address this situation. In the same way as religious visions of the apocalypse, science fiction inverts the components of a worldview so that a new social order, a new heaven and a new earth are seen as possible. In order to explore this theme, science fiction is examined in the light of radical inversion of accepted worldviews, and the genre is divided into three historical periods in order to understand the conditions under which it was written, as well as the content of the material involved. These periods are: 1. Apocalypses of Expectation and Hope. The late nineteenth century and the early twentieth century; the beginnings of the genre in the crisis of rapid industrialisation, secularisation and urbanisation, using the works of Jules Verne and H G Wells. 2. Apocalypses of Irony and Despair. The nineteen twenties to the end of the Second World War; the crises of the two World Wars on a complacent world, using the works of Aldous Huxley and George Orwell. 3. Apocalypses of Destruction and Redemption. The nineteen fifties to the present; the crisis of nuclear power and thinking machines, using the works of Frank Herbert and Isaac Asimov. Also examined are the quasi-religious nature of science fiction, apocalypse as a cleansing agent of the universe, and the myths of noble survivors of post-apocalyptic literature and films. In the light of the above, it can be understood why science fiction can be seen as the functional equivalent to religious apocalyptic myth, but relevant to the largely secular Western world of the twentieth century.

This dissertation argues that Digital Natives, rather than employing novel ways of thinking (such as those suggested by Walter Ong's concept of Second Orality), are in fact employing a way of thinking that has always existed: repurposing. Ruth Oldenziel discusses how, historically, women used "a kind of mental quality" enabling them to re-use objects in novel ways to accomplish more of life's tasks. My research led me to investigate how a wide variety of people, especially historically marginalized people, used this kind of mental quality. This dissertation explores repurposing's real world uses as well as its uses in narratives, specifically dystopia and apocalyptic narratives. Within these narratives, repurposing plays a similar role to repurposing in the real world, filling the gap between a survival mode of life and a science/technology driven society. The last part of this dissertation explores the place of repurposing among a myriad of current concepts concerning creativity.

Images of pregnant women and women in childbirth play an important role in first-century apocalyptic literature. The embodied experience of labor pains and parturition captured the imaginations of male authors of apocalyptic eschatology as they envisioned how the eschaton might occur. These writers, while often critical of the present state of the world, were not isolated from it; rather, as active participants in the broader culture, their visions and fantasies are best understood within the literary and material context of the Roman Empire. Imperial and apocalyptic arguments alike employ discourses of gender, power, and futurity, engaging the reproductive body as a fundamental point of connection between humanity and the divine and between the present and future. At the same time, votive offerings and uterine amulets related to pregnancy and childbearing further illustrate the centrality of fecundity and childbearing to women and their families. Reproduction was a cultural imperative achieved, at least in part, by means of appeals to the divine. Medical writers also addressed successful pregnancy, in this case by associating feminine anatomical inferiority with the ability to become pregnant. Together, this evidence serves as a framework for this study of apocalyptic images of pregnancy and childbirth in the writings of Paul, the book of Revelation, and 4 Ezra. Each of these works employs images of pregnancy and childbirth to assert the power of God over humanity and creation, to emphasize the appropriate societal regulation of women’s bodies, and to describe the end of the known world. The reproductive bodies of women become the ground upon which claims of divine authority and human futurity are made and disputed.

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The focus of this study is revelation at the limits of communication. It considers the way in which (biblical) apocalyptic literature prominently figures the interconnection between liminality, revelation, and representation. The methodology asserts an indissoluble association between theology, philosophy and literature. As such it is interdisciplinary. A preliminary theory (and theology) of liminality interweaves the theological and philosophical contributions of, amongst others, Karl Barth, Graham Ward, Jürgen Moltmann and Jacques Derrida, thereby initiating a revised perspective on the constitution of literary apocalyptic text production and interpretation. Theorising the limen begins to describe the Trinitarian economy at work in Christian apocalyptic processing of scripture. I begin with the idea that revelation (apokalypsis) is the experience of the limen itself (in a coincidence of opposites). Thus the limen (as an actively divine space) incorporates that which stands on both sides, in vertical and horizontal, linear and cyclical, spatial and temporal movements. I then propose that apocalyptic literature re-presents this complex economy in which the end is rehearsed simultaneously as limit, threshold, and rupture. Theologically, this complicates inter-relational notions of ‘apocalyptic’ and eschatology, and stimulates a debate on a metaphysics of violence in communication (between God, man and Creation). I conclude that, at the extreme limit of human understanding (where words fail), those with faith in God’s love are opened out to revelation in the apocalyptic textual performance of the liminal economy, and thus to hope and forgiveness. Stressing the importance of reading apocalyptically, I begin to demonstrate the relationship between Christian-canonical narratives and the broader western literary canon, the critical process having invited an exploration of those literary characteristics (of tone, mode and genre) shared by (biblical, modern and postmodern) texts. An important principle in the literary analyses is the association between apocalyptic text production and hermeneutics. Christopher Rowland’s description of a ‘visionary mode’ explains how this process works. Thus the preliminary theory leads into a close reading of recent Russian and American works by Mikhail Bulgakov and Thomas Pynchon. These are compared to, and worked through, Mark’s and John’s gospels and the Book of Revelation. The interpretative approach widens the often self-limiting study of apocalyptic literature, and broadens theological debate on revelation. Thus it begins to show how the rhetoric of apocalyptic makes belief compelling.

This thesis uses principles from Burke's Rhetoric of Identification to examine how apocalyptic prophecies foster and maintain an apocalyptic group identity. Jehovah's Witnesses were used as a sample apocalyptic group because they comprise a group with a heavy textual and symbolic focus on the apocalypse.

The goal of this thesis was to analysis the Islamic State’s apocalyptic nature by studying both classic Islamic eschatology and the Islamic State’s online magazine Dabiq. In order to conduct this research, I separated my thesis into two separate angles of approach. The first angle (chapters one & two) exclusively looked at Islamic eschatology, classic apocalyptic texts, shifts in how literature was written over time, and on examples of modern messianic revolutions occurring. In this way, I attempted to emphasize how extra-Qur’anic texts have played a large part in providing details for what Islamic eschatology entails. I also looked at modern examples of messianic movements, including in Mecca and Sudan. I concluded by analyzing the shift modern apocalyptic literature underwent beginning in the late 20th century. This highlighted how apocalyptic literature stated focusing on the actions of Western forces—much like the Islamic State has done today. The second angle of approach derived from the final chapters. I looked at the foundation and development of the Islamic State beginning in the early 21st century with Al-Qaeda in Iraq. I proceeded to emphasize how messianic speculation influenced the actions and strategies of Islamic State in Iraq and later ISIS. The final chapter, the crux of my thesis, was an analysis of the Islamic State’s written primary source, Dabiq. I researched all thirteen issues of the magazine for evidence of apocalyptic nature existing.I highlighted how Dabiq is filled with apocalyptic references and classic apocalyptic hadiths. The objective of this thesis was to provide a multifaceted analysis of the Islamic State. It attempted to approach the Islamic State from two different angles to show why apocalyptic thought first arises, how it has led to revolution, and how the Islamic State mirrors those cases. With the Islamic State, a wide variety of interpretations have formed on what it wants and what it is fighting for. Whereas religious motivation has often been dismissed, I used this thesis to emphasize that both religious and apocalyptic motivation have been one of many influences behind the formation and development of the Islamic State.

Thesis (MPhil)--Stellenbosch University, 2012. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The aim of this thesis is to investigate the possible influence of Persian religion on dualism in Jewish apocalyptic literature, with particular attention to 1 Enoch. Many studies have been conducted on Jewish apocalyptic, although relatively few studies concentrate on Persian religious influence. One of the main reasons for this is the problematic dating of Persian sources, all of which appear to date to a later period than the Jewish apocalyptic texts they are suspected of influencing. Scholars who believe in the antiquity of the traditions underlying the Persian texts, such as Boyce, Otzen and Silverman, tend to be positive about the possibility of influence, whereas scholars such as Hanson and VanderKam insist that the origins of apocalyptic traditions can be found within Jewish religion and Mesopotamian culture, respectively. The dualism between God and evil plays a central role in Jewish apocalyptic. This basic dualism manifests itself in various dualities and on four levels. Firstly, on the cosmic level God is pitted against an agent of darkness (Satan/Belial/Mastema/Azazel) and good angels oppose fallen angels or demons. Secondly, in the physical universe God manifests in order, whereas evil shows itself in every area where God’s order is transgressed. Thirdly, on an anthropological-ethical level, mankind is divided into the righteous and the wicked according to the path each individual chooses within himself. Finally, on an eschatological level, the evils of the present age are contrasted with a glorious future that will begin when the messiah has appeared and the final judgment, which is sometimes linked with a resurrection, has taken place. In order to calculate when this new age will dawn, apocalyptic writers divide history into periods. Each of the abovementioned aspects finds a parallel in Persian religious thought, which revolves around the dualism between Ahura Mazda/Spenta Mainyu and Angra Mainyu/Ahriman. Each of the dualistic principles is supported by a host of divine beings and the battle involves nature and mankind, who are expected to choose a side. There is a strong messianic expectation, as well as a well-developed concept of a final judgment that involves resurrection, and the periodization of history is fundamental to the religion. This thesis attempts to trace the development of the abovementioned concepts in Jewish thinking, depending mainly on the Hebrew Bible as representative of ancient Israelite religion. Where discrepancies between Jewish apocalyptic and the ancient religion become evident, the possibility of Persian influence is considered. The investigation will show that each of the abovementioned aspects of the dualism between God and evil in Jewish apocalyptic contain traces of what might be the influence of Persian religion. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die doel van hierdie tesis is om die moontlike invloed van Persiese godsdiens op die dualisme in Joodse apokaliptiek te ondersoek, met spesifieke verwysing na die Ethiopic Book of Enoch. ‘n Groot aantal studies is reeds uitgevoer rondom Joodse apokaliptiek, alhoewel relatief min daarvan fokus op die invloed van Persiese godsdiens. Een van die hoofredes hiervoor is die probleme rondom die datering van Persiese tekste, waarvan almal uit ‘n latere tydperk as die meeste Joodse apokaliptiese tekste blyk te dateer. Diegene wat vertroue het in die antiekheid van onderliggende tradisies in Persiese tekste, soos Boyce, Otzen en Silverman, is geneig om positief te wees oor die moontlikheid van invloed, terwyl ander soos Hanson en VanderKam daarop aandring dat die oorsprong van apokaliptiese tradisies te vinde is in Joodse godsdiens en die kultuur van Mesopotamië. Die dualisme tussen God en die bose speel ‘n sentrale rol in Joodse apokaliptiek. Hierdie basiese dualisme manifesteer in verskeie dualiteite en op vier vlakke. Eerstens, staan God op die kosmiese vlak teenoor ‘n agent van duisternis (Satan/Belial/Mastema/Azazel), en sit goeie engele slegte engele of demone teë. Tweedens manifesteer God in die orde van die fisiese heelal, terwyl die bose manifesteer in die oortreding van God se orde. Op die derde, antropologies-etiese vlak, is die mensdom verdeel tussen goed en kwaad op grond van die weg wat elke individu in homself kies. Laastens word die boosheid van die huidige era op die eskatologiese vlak gekontrasteer met die glorieryke toekoms, wat sal aanbreek wanneer die messias gekom het en die laaste oordeel, wat soms verband hou met ‘n opstanding, plaasgevind het. Apokaliptiese skrywers verdeel gereeld die wêreldgeskiedenis in tydperke om sodoende te bereken wanneer die toekomstige era sal aanbreek. Elkeen van die bogenoemde aspekte vind ‘n parallel in die Persiese godsdiens, wat gebaseer is op die dualisme tussen Ahura Mazda/Spenta Mainyu en Ahriman/Angra Mainyu. Elkeen word ondersteun deur ‘n leer van goddelike wesens en die stryd sluit die natuur en mensdom, van wie verwag word om ‘n kant te kies, in. Daar is ‘n sterk messiaanse verwagting, sowel as ‘n goed-ontwikkelde konsep van ‘n laaste oordeel, wat gepaard gaan met ‘n opstanding. Die verdeling van wêreldgeskiedenis in tydperke is ook fundamenteel tot die godsdiens. Hierdie tesis poog om die ontwikkeling van bogenoemde konsepte in die Joodse denkwyse na te volg en maak hoofsaaklike staat op die Hebreeuse Bybel as verteenwoordigend van oud-Israelitiese godsdiens. Waar diskrepansies tussen Joodse apokaliptiek en die antieke godsdiens vorendag kom, word die moontlikheid van Persiese invloed oorweeg. Die ondersoek sal toon dat elkeen van die bogenoemde aspekte van die dualisme tussen God en die bose in Joodse apokaliptiek moontlike tekens van Persiese invloed toon.