The Apocalypse of John

No theme in Western culture, with the possible exception of the Gospels, has so persistently and so continuously excited Western art and thought as the Apocalypse of John. It played a role not only in the creative expression of the artist and the intellectual fervor of the monk and churchman, but also in the daily life of ordinary people, for 1500 or more years. The revelation of the great catastrophe through which God in His anger, and in His final struggle with Satan, would destroy the world was a present reality to millions of men. Throughout the centuries, there have been recurrent scares of portending doom, and an eventual Last Judgment was taken for granted as a personal expectation by the vast majority of Europeans until a very recent period. The final weighing of good and bad acts is still a part of Christian religious doctrine and, in a more symbolic sense, is present in much of the Western attitude toward ethical behavior whatever the religious persuasion of the individual may be.