xviii | Introduction
genre of revelatory literature with a narrative framework, in which a revelation is
mediated by an otherworldly being to a human recipient disclosing a transcendent
reality which is both temporal, insofar as it envisages eschatological salvation, and
spatial insofar as it involves another supernatural world” (Collins 2014, 2). Apoca-
lyptic as a genre became popular in the period 200 BCE–100 CE, represented
by Daniel in the Hebrew Bible and the Revelation to John in the Christian New
Testament.
The Importance of Cosmogony for Eschatology
A doctrine of “last things” inherently assumes a doctrine of “first things,” or cos-
mogony (the birth of the universe). Both modern science and ancient myth assume
the presence of primordial matter prior to the “initial” creative event. This creative
event was not creatio ex nihilo (“creation out of nothing”) but rather an event that
produced an ordered universe from extant matter. Coincidentally, the Big Bang
Theory (BBT) describes the origins of the universe with apocalyptic imagery.
According to the BBT, the universe emerged from a state of extremely high energy
and density that occurred perhaps 13 billion years ago. The instant after the uni-
verse came into being, the cosmos exploded, ballooning faster than the speed of
light with temperatures reaching 10 billion degrees Fahrenheit. Our present uni-
verse is the result of this initial “Big Bang.” According to Edwin Hubble, the cos-
mogony of our universe also explains its ultimate demise. Hubble discovered that
the farther apart two galaxies were at any given time, the more rapidly they moved
apart from one another. Ultimately, the stars in these galaxies will extinguish and
the universe will grow cold (reaching a temperature of zero degrees Kelvin) and the
universe will simply dissipate.
The best known cosmogony in the Judeo-Christian tradition is found in the
book of Genesis in the Hebrew Bible: “In the beginning God created the heavens
and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was upon the
face of the deep; and the Spirit of God was moving over the face of the waters”
(Gen. 1:1–2 RSV). In the Genesis account, the Spirit of God brought order to a
formless, chaotic universe, separating light from darkness, heaven from earth,
dry land from the sea, and creating vegetation, stars, animals, and human beings.
After six creative days, God rested. Mormons provide an interesting variant to the
Judeo-Christian cosmogony. They believe that Jesus Christ is the literal Son of
God and was present at the creation of the world. Acting under guidance of God
the Father, Jesus created the world to provide eternal life for human beings who
previously existed as the spirit children of the Father. Mormons acknowledge that
this doctrine differs from the traditional Christian understanding of creation but
maintain that it affirms God’s creative purpose and recognizes creation as a divine
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