Apocalyptic Fever

Description: How will the world end? Doomsday ideas in Western history have been both persistent and adaptable, peaking at various times, including in modern America. Public opinion polls indicate that a substantial number of Americans look for the return of Christ or some catastrophic event. The views expressed in these polls have been reinforced by the market process. Whether through purchasing paperbacks or watching television programs, millions of Americans have expressed an interest in end-time events. Americans have a tremendous appetite for prophecy, more than nearly any other people in the modern world. Why do Americans love doomsday? In Apocalyptic Fever, Richard Kyle attempts to answer this question, showing how dispensational premillennialism has been the driving force behind doomsday ideas. Yet while several chapters are devoted to this topic, this book covers much more. It surveys end-time views in modern America from a wide range of perspectives--dispensationalism, Catholicism, science, fringe religions, the occult, fiction, the year 2000, Islam, politics, the Mayan calendar, and more. Endorsements: "We are indebted to Kyle for his outstanding survey of the end times. These concepts have developed over many centuries, but they have found fertile soil in our own land. Kyle deals with an astonishingly wide range of ideas with insightful and broad knowledge of the historical, religious, and contemporary contexts. This is by far the best guide to the fascinating and intricate world of the end times. Those who wish to understand our nation's psyche will find Apocalyptic Fever a must-read book." --Robert G. Clouse, Senior Research Scholar in Liberal Arts, Indiana State University "Apocalyptic enthusiasm rarely receives calm and thoughtful consideration. Kyle is a most welcome exception. His book is careful, nuanced, insightful, and charitable toward a subject that is usually treated as incredible, unbelievable, mad, or deadly certain. Apocalyptic Fever takes the temperature of a serious disease and provides just the right calming prescription for bringing the fever under control." --Mark Noll, Professor of History, University of Notre Dame "Apocalyptic Fever is one of those must-read books. Kyle, a veteran observer of radical evangelical and conservative religion in America, addresses the wide variety of end-time preachers, writers, and movements in the contemporary world . . . Such an explanatory work is sorely needed in an age where polemical treatises richly abound.