Antichrist: Two Thousand Years of the Human Fascination with Evil

by Bernard McGinn

Overview

In this timely and sweeping exploration, one of the greatest living historians of Christian thought traces the concept of Antichrist from its Judeo-Christian origins to the present day. Rooted in Second Temple Judaism—a period of intense religious and political disruption—Antichrist developed out of belief in malevolent angelic and human forces. McGinn demonstrates how Antichrist has often reflected the human need to comprehend the persistence of evil in the world, and examines how it has haunted popular imagination in both the form of indivuduals—such as Nero, Napoleon, and Saddam Hussein—and groups—Jews, heretics, Muslims.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780231119771
Publisher:	Columbia University Press
Publication date:	12/07/1999
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	369
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x (d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Bernard McGinn, Naomi Shenstone Donnelly Professor of Historical Theology and History of Christianity at the University of Chicago, is the author of many books, including Visions of the End: Apocalyptic Traditions in the Middle Ages (Columbia).

What People are Saying About This

Lawrence S. Cunningham

An impressive, learned work, with its erudition worn lightly, this volume will set the standard for the flood of books which will celebrate the coming millennium. It is both a splendid exercise of intellectual history and a cautionary tale about our common struggle to understand the persistence of evil in this world.

— Lawrence S. Cunningham, University of Notre Dame

Editorial Reviews

First and foremost, it's very well written... The book is still masterpiece of thorough academic religious research.

www.ufo.se - Stefan Isaksson

A splendid historical survey of images of Antichrist in the Western religious traditions....The book's topic is timely, its scholarship impeccable, and its presentation masterful.

Choice - C. H. Lippy

I can only salute this broad, judicious yet comprehensive survey of beliefs about the Antichrist....This is a wonderful, beautifully written and challenging book, surely the best one-volume introduction to the subject.

Christian Century - John Van Engen

A splendid historical survey of images of Antichrist in the Western religious traditions....The book's topic is timely, its scholarship impeccable, and its presentation masterful.

Choice - C.H. Lippy

First and foremost, it's very well written... The book is still masterpiece of thorough academic religious research.

— Stefan Isaksson

www.ufo.se

A splendid historical survey of images of Antichrist in the Western religious traditions....The book's topic is timely, its scholarship impeccable, and its presentation masterful.

— C. H. Lippy

Choice

I can only salute this broad, judicious yet comprehensive survey of beliefs about the Antichrist....This is a wonderful, beautifully written and challenging book, surely the best one-volume introduction to the subject.

— John Van Engen, director of the Medieval Institute and professor of history at the University of Notre Dame

Christian Century