The eschatological time

thoughts on the coming of Antichrist, Modernity and the end of the world

Abstract

Eschatology was a model of interpretation that use to seek for signs of the end of the world in quotidian life. For early modern catholic theologians, with the coming of the Apocalypse, diabolical supernatural events, such as cases of witchcraft and possession, would become more common every day. Such events would represent an increase of the Devil’s power, that was supposed to reunite forces to the last battle predicted in the Bible. More recently, humanity is faced again with the question of the end of the world through the increase in the frequency of natural disasters. The purpose of this essay is to propose a reflection on eschatological time, the way it changes with the approach of the End of Times and to carry out an approximation exercise with anthropological readings on current visions of the end of the world linked to environmental collapse, the exhaustion of natural resources and the issue of the Anthropocene.