Images of Paradise, Images of Utopia: The Search for Community

Abstract

The aim of this article is not only to present specific images of paradise and utopia, which appear in various forms in the domains of European imaginaries throughout history, but also to show the connections of these images with the domain of political discourses aiming at changing the status quo and constituting a perfect, harmonious, and non-antagonistic community. The creation of such a community—despite the universalist visions that the imaginarium of paradise and utopia implies—is often based on the mechanisms of inclusion and exclusion. Mechanisms of this type are characteristic above all of maximalist political visions and ideas that seek to solve all human problems definitively and completely. Such aspirations are linked with revolutionary attempts to realize utopia or to build the kingdom of God on earth.

Keywords

• image
• imaginarium
• utopia
• paradise
• millennialism
• revolution