Diversitate si Identitate Culturala in Europa (May 2020)
L’Apocalypse: une idée antique ambiguë
Abstract
In is generally considered that the apocalyptic genre emerged within the vetero-and inter-testamentary literatures between the 2ndcentury BC and the 1stcentury AD. Stemming from the Greek word apokalypsis, meaning “disclosure” or “revelation”, the idea of apocalypse, originating from the Christian horizon, suggests that a special message was delivered to a person (a visionary) so that he should testify to the accomplished or unaccomplished deeds which remained a secret for most people. The theme of the small book that the visionary eats as if in an attempt to incorporate the Scriptures seems to point out that he had access to“God’s hidden agenda” (Ez 3, 3; Ap 10, 10); a revelation which, at first, is sweet as honey, but then brings about bitterness. The eschatological dimension, the mythological symbolic narration revealing the end of times, is predominant; these poetic texts, sustained by powerful symbolic images, often mysterious and enigmatic, are highly epic, thus disrupting the literary conventions.
