Apocalyptic scenarios remain prevalent and powerful in popular culture (in television, film, comic books, and popular fiction), in politics (in debates on climate change, environmentalism, Middle East policy, and military planning), and in various religious traditions. Academic interest in apocalypticism is flourishing; indeed, the study of both ancient and contemporary apocalyptic phenomena has long been a focus of attention in scholarly research and a ready way to engage the religious studies classroom. Apocalypses in Context is designed for just such a classroom, bringing together the insights of scholars in various fields and using different methods to discuss the manifestations of apocalyptic enthusiasm in different ages. This approach enables the instructor to make connections and students to recognize continuities and contrasts across history. Apocalypses in Context features illustrations, graphs, study questions, and suggestions for further reading after each chapter, as well as recommended media and artwork to support the college classroom.
Kelly J. Murphy is a professor in the Department of Philosophy, Anthropology, and Religion at Central Michigan University, where she teaches courses on the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament. She is the author of Rewriting Masculinity: Gideon, Men, and Might (Oxford University Press, 2019) and a coeditor of Biblical Themes in Science Fiction (SBL, 2023).
Justin Jeffcoat Schedtler is an associate professor of religion at Wartburg College (Waverly, Iowa), where he teaches courses in Greek and the New Testament. His publications on the book of Revelation include A Heavenly Chorus: The Dramatic Function of Revelation's Hymns (Mohr Siebeck, 2014) and Royal Ideologies in Revelation (Cambridge University Press, 2023).
Robert Williamson Jr. is associate professor of religious studies at Hendrix College and founding pastor of Mercy Community Church of Little Rock. His work appears in The Journal for the Study of the Old Testament, Dead Sea Discoveries, and Teaching Theology and Religion and online at ON Scripture, HuffPost, Sojourners, and Political Theology Today. He edited Imagination, Ideology, and Inspiration: Echoes of Brueggemann in a New Generation.
Greg Carey is professor of New Testament at Lancaster Theological Seminary and author of Sinners: Jesus and His Earliest Followers (2009), among other books, and coeditor of Vision and Persuasion: Rhetorical Dimensions of Apocalyptic Discourse (1999). Carey resides in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.
Ingrid E. Lilly is a visiting scholar at the Pacific School of Religion in Berkeley, CA. She taught at Western Kentucky University in Bowling Green, KY for four years, and earned her Ph.D. from Emory University in Hebrew Bible in 2010. Her work focuses on textual criticism and cultural studies of prophetic and apocalyptic literature. Her book, Two Books of Ezekiel: Papyrus 967 and the Masoretic Text as Variant Literary Editions, is published in Brill's VTSup series. Currently, she is the General Editor and Executive Producer of a website called "Noah's Flood: Ancient Stories of Natural Cataclysm" which brings together essays, media, resources, and art at the intersection of ancient literature and climate change today (<a href="http://www.floodofnoah.com/">floodofnoah.com</a>).
