When you can't sleep - Write!

Last night, I abruptly woke up and could not go back to sleep. So, I got up at spent two hours of quite writing time on my dissertation. This allowed me to meet my goal of 2 hours of writing time for today. Then, later this evening I did some reviewing, reading, and planning for my early morning writing tomorrow. In total, I spent 3.5 hours on my dissertation today.

For those of you interested in the content of my dissertation, here's what I wrote this morning.

Defining Apocalypticism

In constructing a definition of apocalypticism to guide this study, which embraces both the religious and secular expression apocalypticism, it is necessary to adopt a broad view of religious apocalypticism. While Christian apocalypticism is the most widely known form of apocalypticism in Western societies, apocalyptic thought both pre-dates Western civilization and extends beyond Western religious and cultural boundaries. Clifford (1998) traces the origins of apocalyptic thought to early Near Eastern cultures. The earliest extant literature is the Sumerian Lugal-e dating from the late third millennium (p. 7).

Seiwert (2000) documents the apocalyptic thought in the Chinese Daoist tradition beginning in the second century (CE). Then, an emergence of apocalyptic thought in Chinese Buddhism occurs in the fifth century. Siewert furthers our understanding of apocalypticism by underscoring its shared reference point with millenarianism, messianism, and eschatological speculation i.e. future events (p. 5). For Siewert, apocalypticism, within Chinese Buddhism, “denotes interpretations of history that predict and describe a catastrophic end of time” (p. 5).

Likewise, Peter Heine documents the messianic Islamic movement of the 18^th century in Haussaland (northern Nigeria). The leader of the movement, Sheikh Usman dan Fodio, was concerned about the corruption of Muslim religion in the area. Additionally, “there was a wide belief in the Muslim world that a Muslim world that a Mahdi would rise in the year 1200 Hidjra which corresponds to the year 1785/86 CE” (p. 70). Usman dan Fodio

Awaited the Mahdi to unravel the tangel of the times . . . He saw the world almost having run its course. Whatever reforms he might introduce . . . they were but a temporary expedient. Mankind had reached the point where it was not longer salvable by human agency . . . Hope lay only in the ultimate millennium . . . To prepare for the Mahdi was to play his appointed part in the divine order ( Hiskett cited in Heine, p. 73).

In this brief sampling of religious apocalypticism outside of the Christian tradition, we have observed its formation in the early Sumerian religious thought, its manifestation in medieval Chinese Buddhism, and it 18^th century manifestation among Muslims in Sub-Saharan Africa. The point, bearing reiteration here, is that apocalypticism in its religious expression far exceeds the boundaries of its Judeo-Christian expression. Lest one think this apocalyptic religious diversity is limited to the past, the Japanese Aum Shinrkyo offers an example from the late 20^th Century.

My writing plan for tomorrow morning is to write on Aum Shinrkyo.

References

Clifford, R. J. (1998). The roots of Apocalypticism in Near Eastern myth. In J. J. Collins (Ed.), The encyclopedia of apocalypticism (Vol. 1). New York: Continuum.

Heine, P. (2000). I am not the Mahdi, But . . . In A. I. Baumgarten (Ed.), Apocalyptic time. Leiden; Boston: Brill.

Seiwert, H. (2000). End of time and new time in medieval Chinese Buddhism. In A. I. Baumgarten (Ed.), Apocalyptic time. Leiden; Boston: Brill.