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Baylor BU Institute for Faith and Learning Media and Resources The Christian Reflection Project Apocalyptic Vision
  • Faith Animating Online Education
  • Institute for Faith and Learning Video Archive
  • Baylor Symposium on Faith and Culture Video Archive
  • Bill and Roberta Bailey Family Lecture in Christian Ethics
  • Recommended Reading
  • External Resources
  • The Christian Reflection Project
    • Acedia
    • Advent Ethics
    • Aging
    • Anger
    • Apocalyptic Vision
    • Attentive Patience
    • The Book of Acts
    • Caring for Creation
    • Catechism
    • Chastity
    • Children
    • Christianity and Islam
    • Christmas and Epiphany
    • Cities and Towns
    • Cloning
    • Consumerism
    • Death
    • Disability
    • Easter
    • Food and Hunger
    • Forgiveness
    • Freedom
    • Friendship
    • Gambling Culture
    • Generosity
    • Global Wealth
    • Health
    • Heaven and Hell
    • Hospitality
    • Immigration
    • Inklings of Glory
    • Lent
    • The Letter of James
    • Marriage
    • Membership
    • Monasticism Old and New
    • Moral Landscape of Creation
    • Mysticism
    • Parables
    • Patterns of Violence
    • Peace and War
    • Pentecost
    • Pornographic Culture
    • Prayer
    • Prison
    • Prophetic Ethics
    • Racism
    • Sabbath
    • Schools in a Pluralist Culture
    • Scripture
    • Sermon on the Mount
    • Singing Our Lives
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Apocalyptic Vision

How should a Christian apocalyptic imagination, which construes God's redemptive actions through the arresting visions and hyperbolic words of biblical apocalyptic writings, shape our discipleship?

Early Christians, steeped in the apocalyptic imagination of post-exilic Judaism, saw themselves as a community of pilgrims. Barry Harvey urges us to celebrate this vision through worship and service.

Reviewing the Apostle Paul's use of apocalyptic imagery to decry the mistreatment of the natural world, Harry Hahne challenges "a popular misperception that apocalypses are world-denying." Susan Garrett interprets the scary cast of fallen characters -- Satan, demons, and other nefarious beings -- that we encounter in apocalyptic writings.

If handled with care, apocalyptic theology helps "demythologize our own institutions and deflate human pretensions and arrogance," Scott Lewis, S.J., notes. Yet, much religious violence is inspired by apocalyptic images of cosmic warfare. Thomas Kidd reviews how some gloss biblical apocalypses with morbid scenarios of Islam's demise. "Essential religious differences give no one, Muslim or Christian, the right to harm, insult, or demonize the other," he counsels.

Christian Reflection is an ideal resource for discipleship training in the church. Multiple copies are available for group study at $3.00 per copy.

The study guides and lesson plans integrate Bible study, prayer, and worship to explore the centrality of apocalyptic imagination in the Christian life. The study guides can be used in a series or individually. You may download and reproduce them for personal or group use.

Download the entire Apocalyptic Vision issue and the set of six Study Guides. Or, download individual pieces by clicking the titles below.

Articles

  • "The Church as a Company of Nomads" by Barry Harvey
  • "The Whole Creation Has Been Groaning," by Harry Alan Hahne
  • "Satan and the Powers," by Susan R. Garrett
  • "Is Apocalyptic Imagination Killing Us?" by Scott M. Lewis, S. J.
  • "Islam in Apocalyptic Perspective" by Thomas S. Kidd

Art

  • "Terrible Judgment," by Heidi J. Hornik, on Gislebertus' The Last Judgment
  • "Apocalyptic Visions in Black and White," by Heidi J. Hornik, on Albrecht Dürer's Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse and St. Michael and the Dragon

Hymn and Worship Service

  • "A Searing, Blazing Hope," by Terry W. York and C. David Bolin
  • Worship Service, by John S. Woods

Inspirational Pieces

  • "The End of It All,"by Brett Younger
  • "An Authorized Look into the Life Beyond,"by Harold T. Bryson
  • Other Voices, Quotations on Apocalyptic Vision

Book Reviews

  • "Leaving 'Left Behind' Behind," by Jonathan Sands Wise
  •  
    • Craig L. Blomberg and Sung Wook Chung, eds., A Case for Historic Premillennialism: An Alternative to "Left Behind" Eschatology
    • Barbara R. Rossing, The Rapture Exposed: The Message of Hope in the Book of Revelation
    • Stephen L. Cook, The Apocalyptic Literature
  • "Death, Resurrection, New Creation," by Dan Epp-Tiessen
  •  
    • N. T. Wright, Surprised by Hope: Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection, and the Mission of the Church
    • Donald G. Bloesch, The Last Things: Resurrection, Judgment, Glory
    • Jürgen Moltmann, The Coming of God: Christian Eschatology

Study Guides and Lesson Plans

Download All Six Study Guides Here

  • "The Church as a Company of Nomads"
  • "The Whole Creation Has Been Groaning"
  • "Satan and the Powers"
  • "Is Apocalyptic Imagination Killing Us?"
  • "Islam in Apocalyptic Perspective"
  • "An Authorized Look into the Life Beyond"

Further Reading

  • "The War of the Lamb," by Harry O. Maier

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Baylor BU Institute for Faith and Learning Media and Resources The Christian Reflection Project Apocalyptic Vision
  • About
    Back
    • Staff
    • Campus Impact
      Back
      • Dr. Bill Sterrett, Hale Endowed Chair of School Leadership
      • Dr. Holly Oxhandler, Professor, Associate Dean for Research, Diana R. Garland School of Social Work
        Back
        • Faith and Learning at Baylor
      • Dr. Larry Lyon, Vice Provost, Dean of the Graduate School
      • Dr. Min Y. Pack, Assistant Professor, Mechanical Engineering
      • Dr. Tom Hibbs, J. Newton Rayzor Sr. Professor of Philosophy and Dean Emeritus
    • Connect with us
  • Conferences and Symposiums
    Back
    • Baylor Symposium on Faith and Culture
      Back
      • 2026 Technology and the Human Person in the Age of AI
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      • 2024 Renewing and Reimagining Institutions for the Common Good
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        Back
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      • 2022 Art Seeking Understanding
        Back
        • Conference Schedule
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      • 2021 Living Accountably
        Back
        • Plenary and Featured Speakers
        • Video Archive
      • 2019 The Character of the University
        Back
        • Plenary and Featured Speakers
        • Video Archive
      • 2018 Stewardship of Creation
        Back
        • Featured Speakers
        • Video Archive
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        • Featured Speakers
        • Video Archive
      • 2014 Faith and Film
        Back
        • Video Archive
      • 2013 Kierkegaard: A Christian Thinker for Our Time?
        Back
        • Featured Speakers
        • Video Archive
      • 2012 Technology and Human Flourishing
        Back
        • Featured Speakers
        • Video Archive
      • 2011 Educating for Wisdom in the 21st Century University
        Back
        • Featured Speakers
        • Video Archive
      • 2010 Human Dignity and the Future of Health Care
        Back
        • Featured Speakers
        • Video Archive
      • 2009 Secularization and Revival
        Back
        • Video Archive
      • 2008 Bottom-Up Approaches to Global Poverty
      • 2007 Friendship
    • Baylor Symposium on Nicaea: Creed, Culture, and Christendom
    • Bill and Roberta Bailey Family Lecture in Christian Ethics
      Back
      • Bailey Lecture Video Archive
    • Other Conferences and Events
      Back
      • IFL@25
        Back
        • Select Pictures from IFL@25
      • 2019 LFP National Conference
        Back
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      • Art & Soul
      • Pruit Memorial Symposium
        Back
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        • 2004 Slavery, Oppression, and Prejudice
        • 2005 Global Christianity
      • Baylor University Medical Ethics Seminar
        Back
        • 2016 Medical Ethics Seminar
        • 2017 Medical Ethics Seminar
        • 2018 Medical Ethics Seminar
      • One-Time Conferences
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    • Missio
    • Communio: A Retreat for Baylor Educators
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      Back
      • Application Requirements
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      • Program Leaders
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      Back
      • About the Program: Called to Character
      • Past Workshops
  • Events
  • Media and Resources
    Back
    • Faith Animating Online Education
      Back
      • Starting Points
      • A Christian Imagination about Online Education?
      • Cultivating Character and Online Learning
      • Additional Resources
    • Institute for Faith and Learning Video Archive
    • Baylor Symposium on Faith and Culture Video Archive
    • Bill and Roberta Bailey Family Lecture in Christian Ethics
    • Recommended Reading
    • External Resources
    • The Christian Reflection Project
      Back
      • Acedia
      • Advent Ethics
      • Aging
      • Anger
      • Apocalyptic Vision
      • Attentive Patience
      • The Book of Acts
      • Caring for Creation
      • Catechism
      • Chastity
      • Children
      • Christianity and Islam
      • Christmas and Epiphany
      • Cities and Towns
      • Cloning
      • Consumerism
      • Death
      • Disability
      • Easter
      • Food and Hunger
      • Forgiveness
      • Freedom
      • Friendship
      • Gambling Culture
      • Generosity
      • Global Wealth
      • Health
      • Heaven and Hell
      • Hospitality
      • Immigration
      • Inklings of Glory
      • Lent
      • The Letter of James
      • Marriage
      • Membership
      • Monasticism Old and New
      • Moral Landscape of Creation
      • Mysticism
      • Parables
      • Patterns of Violence
      • Peace and War
      • Pentecost
      • Pornographic Culture
      • Prayer
      • Prison
      • Prophetic Ethics
      • Racism
      • Sabbath
      • Schools in a Pluralist Culture
      • Scripture
      • Sermon on the Mount
      • Singing Our Lives
      • Sports
      • Suffering
      • Traveling Well
      • Virtual Lives
      • Vocation
      • Where Wisdom Is Found
      • Women and the Church
      • Women in the Bible
      • Work
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