A History of the End of the World

Larry Mantle, Patt Morrison, Aimee Machado, Jackie Oclaray, Linda Othenin-Girard and Polly Sveda at KPCC- FM.

Rob Eshman at The Jewish Journal.

Gwen Feldman and Jim Fox at Silman-James Press, and Tony Cohan at Acrobat Books.

Connie Martinson, host of Connie Martinson Talks Books.

Doug Dutton, Lise Friedman and Ed Conklin at Dutton’s Books in Brentwood.

About the Author

Jonathan Kirsch is the author of ten books, including the national bestseller The Harlot by the Side of the Road: Forbidden Tales of the Bible, King David: The Real Life of the Man Who Ruled Israel, Moses: A Life, and his most recent work, God Against the Gods: The History of the War Between Monotheism and Polytheism. Kirsch is also a book columnist for the Los Angeles Times, a broadcaster for NPR affiliates KCRW-FM and KPCC-FM in Southern California, and Adjunct Professor on the faculty of New York University, and an attorney specializing in publishing law and intellectual property in Los Angeles. Visit the author online at www.jonthankirsch.com

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Credits

Jacket design: Jim Warner

Copyright

A HISTORY OF THE END OF THE WORLD: How the Most Controversial Book in the Bible Changed the Course of Western Civilization. Copyright © 2006 by Jonathan Kirsch. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.

Mobipocket Reader August 2006 ISBN 0-06-119928-1

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Kirsch, Jonathan.

A history of the end of the world: how the most controversial book in the Bible changed the course of Western civilization / Jonathan Kirsch.—1st ed.

p. cm.

“The text of the book of Revelation”: P.

Includes bibliographical references (p. 323) and index.

Contents: Something rich and strange—Spooky knowledge and last things—History of a delusion—The Apocalyptic invasion—“Your own days, few and evil”—To begin the world over again—The godless Apocalypse.

ISBN-13: 978–0–06–081698–8

ISBN-10: 0–06–081698–8

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

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Footnotes

1

For the convenience of the reader, the text of the book of Revelation in English translation as it appears in the King James Version is reproduced in its entirety in the Appendix, along with headings that identify key characters, events, and themes.

2

“Apocalypticism” is a term used by scholars to identify various ideas and texts, including the book of Revelation, that focus on beliefs about how the world will end. For a brief discussion of apocalypticism and other specialized terms used throughout this book, see the Glossary.

3

The abbreviation B.C.E. (Before the Common Era) is the equivalent of B.C. (Before Christ), and C.E. (Common Era) is the equivalent of A.D. (Anno Domini, or “In the Year of Our Lord”). The abbreviations B.C.E. and C.E. are used by scholars to avoid the theological implications of B.C. and A.D., and I have used them here for the same reason.

4

See the Glossary for a brief explanation of these terms.