Quote:
Originally Posted by peter12
Actually, I do remember that. Wasn't the period of Christ considered to be an almost feverish period of millenarian movements?
|
In a manner of speaking, but then the 1st cent. C.E. was really no different in this regard from the past 400–500 years in Palestine. Some of the most prolific apocalyptic activity occurs during the Ptolemaic and Seleucid periods in history, leading up to the Maccabbean revolt in Jerusalem c. 170–160 B.C.E. Antiochus IV was almost universally considered in Judaism to be the equivalent of the Christian "AntiChrist". There is also evidence that many Jews thought the same of Ptolemy I c. 300 B.C.E. By the time of Jesus, expectation of the "Last Days" was nothing new. In many respects, his own eschatology and that of the Church was merely constructed upon well established ideas and teachings that had been prevalent for centuries.
Quote:
Originally Posted by peter12
What's your opinion on Karen Armstrong's thesis on fundamentalism and eschatology being the result of modernity?
|
I think Armstrong is generally correct, at least as far as Christian fundamentalism/evangelicalism is concerned. I'm not too sure about her appraisal of Islamic history, and she has been roundly criticized for her presentation of it. My own ideas on the subject appear in post #81 at the top of page five in this thread:
http://forum.calgarypuck.com/showthr...t=54557&page=5.