The Rise of Apocalyptic Language in the Description of Ecological Crisis Phenomena

Abstract

For more than half a century, scientific predictions have sounded the alarm bells to no avail; it is only now, at the end of the first quarter of the twenty-first century, that it is generally accepted that we are living in a state of polycrisis, with the environmental crisis as one of the most important factors. Descriptions of the crisis are found in both everyday media and academic analysis, and the language, imagery, and other stylistic features of the different genres often show a high degree of similarity, which is due in small part to the influence of the two approaches on each other, but is more determined by the common source area of linguistic orientation: biblical (and apocryphal) apocalypticism. In this paper, the author examines the most commonly used concepts that refer to the relationship between crisis experiences and end times/age changes, and which biblical and apocryphal texts from which contemporary authors are keen to draw on apocalyptic visions. The paper also discusses the meanings that emerge from the secular use of originally religious texts, and seeks answers to the question of how, beyond superficial correspondences, we can make the biblical view of history meaningful and relevant to our contemporary thinking on a communal and personal level.