Webinar: The Ancient Roots of Apocalypticism

The Ancient Roots of Apocalypticism
Guest: Domenico Agostini, Associate Professor of Ancient History at Tel Aviv University
Time: 16:00–18:00 (Stockholm time), 6 December 2023
Zoom link: https://lu-se.zoom.us/j/65667016322

You may download a poster for this event.

Apocalypticism as both a literary genre and a socio-cultural phenomenon can be traced back to antiquity. During this seminar, three prominent scholars in the field will explore the early roots of apocalypticism in Persian and Near Eastern mythology as well as in the Hebrew Bible and the Dead Sea Scrolls. How are these sources related to one another? In what ways do today’s apocalyptic ideas and images reflect challenges to past socio-political orders? Which motifs can be discerned in this original phase of apocalypticism, and how do they resonate with later apocalypticisms throughout western history, including those of the present day? 

Domenico Agostini is Associate Professor of Ancient History at Tel Aviv University. He specializes in the history, religion, literature and languages of Pre-Islamic Iran, and their interaction with Jewish and Mediterranean traditions in Antiquity. 

Blaženka Scheuer is Senior Lecturer in Old Testament Studies at Lund University. Her expertise is in prophetic literature, focusing on how this literature formed in reaction to socio-political disruptions of the Babylonian, Persian, and Greek empires.  

Cecilia Wassén is Professor of New Testament Studies at Uppsala University. She has published extensively on the apocalyptic worldview of the Dead Sea Scrolls, including on angels and demons, as well as on the apocalyptic conviction of the historical Jesus.