From disaster movies to cult movements, apocalyptic images surround us as we mark the end of the current millennium. Fearful Hope: Approaching the New Millennium provides a wide range of thought-provoking essays probing the meaning and significance of millennial expectations and apocalyptic visions.

From John J. Collins’s essay on the sense of ending in pre-Christian Judaism to Paul Boyer’s discussion of apocalyptic fears and foreboding in the twentieth century, Fearful Hope explores the apocalyptic in both religion and secular culture, discussing biblical prophets, medieval manuscripts, cult movements, and even the current obsession with conspiracy in television shows like “The X–Files.” Finally, Archbishop Rembert Weakland and Bishop Johannes Hempel stress the importance of maintaining hope in our own age.