History 4313/5313. Apocalypse Now . . . and Then:
A History of Apocalyptic Thought and Movements


Professor Laura Smoller
MW 1:40-2:55 p.m., SH 408
lasmoller@ualr.edu
http://www.ualr.edu/lasmoller/
569-8389; SH 604K
Office hours: Wednesday, 3-4, Friday, 2:30-3:30, and by appointment


Week 1.


M August 24. Introductory meeting.
W August 26. Discussion.

We will look at a number of newspaper clippings, magazine articles, etc. dealing with the apocalypse. We will think about numerous schedules for the end of the world (religious, nuclear, ecological, astronomical, paranoid schizophrenic?) and about what it means to think you are living near the end of time. We will also consider ulterior motives for employing apocalyptic language in our own times (to make a political or social criticism, to enlist support, to bolster the status quo).

Reading:

Weber, Apocalypses, pp. 1-26 (deep background; over the weekend is fine)

Week 2.


M August 31. What is an apocalypse? The birth of apocalyptic thought.
W September 2. Discussion: Daniel; 2 Esdras 3-14

Readings:

McGinn, Apocalyptic Spirituality, pp. 1-16
Bible: Daniel 7-12
2 Esdras 3-14 (=4 Ezra) (ER)
Weber, Apocalypses, pp. 27-40

Week 3.

M September 7.  Labor Day holiday.
 W September 9.  Christians and Romans in the first century.

Readings:

Bible: Matthew 24-25; Mark 13; Luke 21; 2 Thessalonians 2; Revelation (complete)
Weber, Apocalypses, pp. 40-44
 

Week 4.

M September 14. Discussion: early Christian apocalyptic (Revelation, Matthew, Mark, Luke, 2 Thessalonians)
W September 16. Apocalypticism and authority in the early church.

Readings:

Irenaeus, Against Heresies, book V, chaps. 25-35 only (ER)
OR 
Lactantius, from Divine Institutes, in McGinn, Apocalyptic Spirituality pp. 17-28, 55-80 (that is skip VII.2-13, pp. 28-54)

(You will be assigned to read either Irenaeus or Lactantius)

Week 5.

M September 21. Discussion: Irenaeus, Lactantius
W September 23. The problem of millenarian beliefs  (Paper due today, September 23)

Readings:

Augustine, City of God, book XVIII, chaps. 52-54 only; book XX, chaps. 7, 8, 11-13, 19, 23, and 30 only (ER)
Richard Landes, "Lest the Millennium Be Fulfilled" (ER)
Weber, Apocalypses, pp. 45-47

Week 6.

M September 28. Discussion: Augustine, City of God; Landes
W September 30. The Last World Emperor and the Muslim enemy

Readings:

"The Tiburtine Sibyl" (ER)
Selections from pseudo-Methodius, Revelations (Latin and Syriac versions) (ER)

Week 7.

M October 5. Discussion: The Tiburtine Sibyl and pseudo-Methodius
W October 7. Antichrist and apocalypse in the Middle Ages

Readings:

Adso, "Letter on . . . Antichrist," in McGinn, Apocalyptic Spirituality, pp. 81-96
Bernard McGinn, "Portraying Antichrist in the Middle Ages" (ER)

Week 8.

M October 12. Discussion: Adso; McGinn, "Portraying Antichrist"
W October 14. The Investiture Controversy and the Gregorian Reform

Readings:

Hildegard of Bingen, from Scivias (ER)
The Play of Antichrist, Introduction (at least pp. 24-40) and text (pp. 67-99)
Weber, Apocalypses, pp. 47-52


Week 9.

M October 19. Discussion: Hildegard of Bingen; The Play of Antichrist
W October 21. The Abbot Joachim of Fiore: an introduction

Readings:

"Joachim of Fiore" and "The Franciscan Spirituals," in McGinn, Apocalyptic Spirituality, pp. 97-182
Weber, Apocalypses, pp. 52-56

Week 10.

M October 26.  Discussion:  "Joachim of Fiore" and "The Franciscan Spirituals"
W October 28.  No class.

Reading:

Weber, Apocalypses, pp. 56-60

Week 11.

M November 2.  MIDTERM EXAM
W November 4. Millennial movements of the later Middle Ages

Week 12.

M November 9. Medieval natural philosophy and the science of the future
W November 11. Discussion: Roger Bacon, Pierre d'Ailly

Readings:

Roger Bacon, from The Opus Maius (ER)
Pierre d'Ailly, On the Persecutions of the Church (ER)
Weber, Apocalypses, pp. 83-98

Week 13.


M November 16. Florence in the fifteenth century 
W November 18. Discussion: Savonarola

Readings:

"Savonarola," in McGinn, Apocalyptic Spirituality, pp. 183-275

Week 14.


M November 23. In-class workshop: Columbus, Book of Prophecies (ER) (no reading questions due) 
W November 25. The special place of America

Readings:

Pauline Moffitt Watts, "Prophecy and Discovery" (ER)
Columbus, Book of Profecies (ER)

Week 15.

M November 30. Discussion: Numbers and Butler, The Disappointed
W December 2. Apocalyptic and politics in the late twentieth and thenty-first centuries

Readings:

Ronald Numbers and Jonathan Butler, eds., The Disappointed: Millerism and Millenarianism in the Nineteenth Century, selections (ER)
Weber, Apocalypses, pp. 167-191

Week 16.

M December 7. Apocalypse now:  apcocalypse in the contemporary media (Discussion questions due: Lindsey and Reagan)

Readings:

Hal Lindsey, The Late Great Planet Earth, chapters 1, 4-8, 11-13
Ronald Reagan, "Remarks at the Annual Convention of . . . Evangelicals" (ER)
Weber, Apocalypses, pp. 193-222

Course requirements:


--Paper 1. Write your own apocalypse (3-4 pg.), with an additional 1-2 page commentary demonstrating how your apocalypse fits within the genre and how apocalypses relate to their historical contexts, due September 23 (20%)

--Midterm exam on October 26 (20%)


 --Take-home final exam or 8-10 page research paper, due Wednesday, December 9, at 3 p.m. (25%)

--Weekly discussion questions (25%)

--Attendance at and active participation in all weekly discussions. (10%)

Requirements for graduate students:


Graduate students must complete all of the assignments above, with the following exception. In lieu of the take-home final, graduate students must write a 15 page paper on a topic chosen in consultation with the instructor (due on December 9). The paper may either be a research paper focusing on a particular problem in the history of apocalyptic thought or a historiographical survey of the scholarship in one particular area of the history of apocalypticism.

Books to purchase:


Bible (any translation)
Hal Lindsey, The Late Great Planet Earth (New York, 1970)
Bernard McGinn, Apocalyptic Spirituality (New York, 1978)
Eugen Weber, Apocalypses: Prophesies, Cults, and Millennial Beliefs through the Ages (Cambridge, 1999)
John Wright, transl., The Play of Antichrist (Toronto, 1967)
Readings designated ER (=electronic reserves) can be found on Blackboard.

Student learning objectives for upper-level courses in history:

1.  Demonstrate a significant degree of knowledge about both United States and World history through completion of a broad selection of courses in history.
2.  Ask appropriate historical questions that demonstrate an understanding of the discipline of history and distinguish it from those of other disciplines.
3.  Distinguish between primary sources and secondary sources used in the writing of history and know how to use and analyze each appropriately. Students will thus be able to:
a.   Analyze a primary source as a product of a particular historical context;
b.   Respond critically to a secondary source, taking into account the primary sources used by the historian, the historian’s methodology, the logic of the argument, and other major interpretations in the field.
4.  Present historical analysis and arguments in a clear written form, including the ability to construct an argument by marshalling evidence in an appropriate and logical fashion.
5.  Write a research paper that asks a significant historical question, answers it with a clear thesis and a logical argument, supports it with both primary and secondary sources documented according to the standards of the Chicago Manual of Style, and is written in clear and artful prose with the grammar and spelling associated with formal composition.

Students with disabilities:  It is the policy and practice of the University of Arkansas at Little Rock to create inclusive learning environments.  If there are aspects of the instruction or design of this course that result in barriers to your inclusion or to accurate assessment of achievement--such as time-limited exams, inaccessible web content, or the use of non-captioned videos--please notify the instructor as soon as possible.  Students are also welcome to contact the Disability Resource Center, telephone 501-569-3143 (v/tty). For more information, visit the DRC website at www.ualr.edu/disability.  

Classroom etiquette:   Please turn off cell phones and beepers before entering the classroom or set them to a silent alert; do not read or send text messages in class.  In the rare event you must enter late or leave class early, please let me know in advance.         

Cheating and plagiarism:  Cheating and plagiarism are serious offenses and will be treated as such.  ("Plagiarism" means "to adopt and reproduce as one's own, to appropriate to one's use, and incorporate in one's own work without acknowledgment the ideas of others or passages from their writings and works."  See Section VI, Code of Student Rights, Responsibilities and Behavior, Student Handbook, p. 39.  Copying directly from the textbook or an encyclopedia article without quotation marks or an identifying citation, for example, constitutes plagiarism.)  Anyone who engages in such activities will receive a failing grade in the course and will be turned over to the Academic Integrity and Grievance Committee for University disciplinary action, which may include separation from the University.

Copyright notice: Copyright © by Laura Smoller as to this syllabus and all lectures. Students and auditors are prohibited from selling notes during this course to (or being paid for taking notes by) any person or commercial firm without the express written permission of the professor teaching this course.