Apocalyptic literature

Apocalyptic literature uses visions, symbolic imagery, and heavenly revelations to disclose hidden realities, often portraying cosmic conflict and the end of an age.

Apocalypse: A revelation of hidden or future realities, especially through visions mediated by a supernatural figure. The genre takes its name from this idea of revelation.
Book of Daniel: A biblical book combining court tales with visions of kingdoms, persecution, and divine judgment. Its visions of successive empires are a foundational example of Jewish apocalypse.
Second Temple Judaism: The diverse forms of Jewish religion practiced during the Second Temple period, from the sixth century BCE to 70 CE. Many influential Jewish apocalypses arose within this historical setting.
Heavenly mediator: A supernatural figure who conveys revelation between the heavenly realm and a human recipient. Mediators such as angels explain and interpret visions in many apocalypses.
Jewish messianism: Jewish hopes for an anointed leader who will bring deliverance or renewal. Apocalyptic expectations sometimes frame deliverance through a coming agent of divine rule.
Apocalypticism: A worldview expecting divine intervention to end the present order and establish a transformed one. This expectation supplies the genre’s vision of history and its ending.
1 Enoch: An ancient Jewish collection of works attributed to Enoch, including visions of judgment and heavenly realms. Its diverse visions expand the genre beyond the biblical canon.
Antiochus IV Epiphanes: A Seleucid king whose rule over Judea and policies precipitated the Maccabean revolt in the second century BCE. Persecution under his rule forms the historical backdrop commonly associated with Daniel’s visions.
Visionary experience: An experience in which a person perceives scenes or beings presented as supernatural revelation. Visions provide the narrative framework through which apocalyptic knowledge is disclosed.
Christian eschatology: Christian teachings and expectations concerning final events, judgment, resurrection, and the future of creation. Christian end-time doctrines drew heavily on apocalyptic texts and imagery.

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