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Terrorists who believe they have a role to play in bringing about the apocalypse pose a serious threat to countries around the world. In their quest to eradicate this especially pernicious form of terrorism, states, including liberal democratic ones, confront the understandable temptation to eliminate such groups through brute force: repression of apocalyptic groups and their constituencies at home and overwhelming military force abroad. Using a comparative case study of France and Japan, this article argues that such policies actually serve to perpetuate the very conditions that generate further terrorism rooted in apocalyptic beliefs. France's policies of repression of Islam at home and militarism abroad have had the unintended consequence of encouraging attacks by those affiliated with the apocalyptic group the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria. Conversely, the case of Japan shows that successfully combating apocalyptic terrorism requires far more understated measures, including respecting religious rights at home and caution in using force abroad. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wilson's article examines how apocalyptic thinking converges with the use of conspiracy theory in white nationalist world-views at a time of crisis. Apocalyptic thinking is, typically, a religious response to secular threats to the faith community that prophesize, or are attendant on, the End. These millenarian outlooks provide communities in crisis a promise of confirmation of the object of their faith, the vanquishing of enemies and, crucially, continuity for the community in a better world to come. In the latter half of the twentieth century and the early years of the twenty-first, apocalypticism and conspiracy theory have tended to coincide. The tendency towards a binary distinction between terms of absolute good and absolute evil, and the revelation of secrets relating to human destiny through prophesy or ‘truth-seeking’ provide a broad transposability between the two interpretative strategies. An increasing amalgamation of political paranoia and eschatology have given rise to what has been termed ‘conspirituality’. Much recent white nationalist rhetoric can be understood as emerging from this discursive position, and Wilson's analysis will demonstrate how one white nationalist community drew on conspiratorial apocalypticism in its response to the multiple attacks by Islamic State in Paris on 13–14 November 2015. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article compares religious interpretations of the First World War in Germany and France. The author suggests that the war was perceived as a religious and therefore just war in both countries and that the conflict was framed in terms of the Biblical Apocalypse. Topics addressed include the linking of patriotism, nationalism, and religion in World War I-era discourse, the symbolic investment of political and military leaders with divine or messianic characteristics, and the effect of these ideas on the postwar order in both countries.

Romanesque art is born at the end of the Xth century, going further through Xlth, having its apogee in the first half of the Xllth century. In its majority, the painting in this period was religious. The christian iconography displays a diversity of cycles like: Christological, Evangelical and Hagiographic. As examples we have: Jesus Christ Pantocrator, Jesus Christ in Majesty, The Final Judgement, Creation etc. The specific technique was tempera and fresco. The main colors used were: red, ochre, violet, yellow, black and white. The characters were displayed frontally, clothing stylized in geometrical shapes, golden background. They represent the influence of the Byzantine art in Italy and of Catalan Romanesque in France. The study analyzed decorative ensembles in France, Italy and Spain. The medieval religious painting with its narative-educational purpose, was used to illustrate holy scenes, maintaining a religious climate in Christian masses and to adore God and the Holy Saints. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article examines the text written by German philosopher Immanuel Kant titled "La Fin de toutes choses," which was published in the German periodical "Berlinische Monatsschrift" in 1794. It discusses an article written by French critical theorist Michel Foucault entitled "Qu'est-ce que les Lumières?," which was published in his book "Dits et Écrits," volume 4, and concerns Kant. The philosophical aspect of the end of the world, or apocalypse, and the French Révolution are discussed.

The article discusses the "Letter on the Origin and Time of the Antichrist," written between 949 and 954 by Adso, abbot of the monastery of Montier-en-Der in the Champagne region of France. The letter was written at the request of Queen Gerberga of West Francia. The article examines why the queen would request that an obscure monk compose a treatise on the end of the world and the Antichrist. The author explains that Adso's treatise describes how the Antichrist will be born in Babylon with Jewish parents. The author states that Adso was the first writer to personify the Antichrist. Religious fear during this time is also discussed.