Cosmos, Chaos & the World to Come – The Ancient Roots of Apocalyptic Faith (Nota Bene) - Softcover

Cohn, Norman

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0300090889 ISBN 13: 9780300090888

Publisher: Yale University Press, 2001

Synopsis

All over the world people look forward to a perfect future, when the forces of good will be finally victorious over the forces of evil. Once this was a radically new way of imagining the destiny of the world and of mankind. How did it originate, and what kind of world-view preceded it? In this engrossing book, the author of the classic work The Pursuit of the Millennium takes us on a journey of exploration, through the world-views of ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia, and India, through the innovations of Iranian and Jewish prophets and sages, to the earliest Christian imaginings of heaven on earth. Until around 1500 B.C., it was generally believed that once the world had been set in order by the gods, it was in essence immutable. However, it was always a troubled world. By means of flood and drought, famine and plague, defeat in war, and death itself, demonic forces threatened and impaired it. Various combat myths told how a divine warrior kept the forces of chaos at bay and enabled the world to survive. Sometime between 1500 and 1200 B.C., the Iranian prophet Zoroaster broke from that static yet anxious world-view, reinterpreting the Iranian version of the combat myth. For Zoroaster, the world was moving, through incessant conflict, toward a conflictless state-"cosmos without chaos." The time would come when, in a prodigious battle, the supreme god would utterly defeat the forces of chaos and their human allies and eliminate them forever, and so bring an absolutely good world into being. Cohn reveals how this vision of the future was taken over by certain Jewish groups, notably the Jesus sect, with incalculable consequences. Deeply informed yet highly readable, this magisterial book illumines a major turning-point in the history of human consciousness. It will be mandatory reading for all who appreciated The Pursuit of the Millennium.

About this title

Product Description:

The view that good will overcome evil and lead to a perfect world is held by many religions and races. This work investigates the origins of this belief through the world views of Egypt, Mesopotamia and India, through Iranian and Jewish prophets, to early Christian beliefs.

Review:

"A cool draught of wise and intelligent scholarship." -- J.D.F. Jones, Financial Times

"Anyone concerned with the history of apocalypticism and millennial cults, whether ancient, medieval, or modern, should read this book carefully." -- E. Randolph Daniel, Church History

"Learned, fascinating and readable ... Norman Cohn combines scrupulous scholarship with readability in a unique way ... This book will become a classic." -- Anthony Storr, Independent on Sunday

"This is an exciting as well as a learned book, not only for those students of ancient religion but for those with any interest in modern apocalyptic faith." -- Jasper Griffin, New York Review of Books

About this edition

• Publisher: Yale University Press
• Publication date: 2001
• ISBN 10: 0300090889
• ISBN 13: 9780300090888
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 2
• Number of pages: 282