Product Description

Traces the concept of Antichrist from its Judeo-Christian origins to the present day, alerting us to the potential for violence that often accompanies literal belief in an ultimate human evildoer. The idea of Antichrist was formulated from a combination of myth, history, & legend. Demonstrates how Antichrist has always served the human need to understand the persistence of evil in the world. Explores the evolution of the Antichrist legend over the centuries. Examines how it has haunted popular imagination in both the form of individuals -- such as Nero, Napoleon, & Saddam Hussein -- & groups -- Jews, heretics, Muslims -- that are perceived as grave social threats.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3401313 in Books
• Published on: 1994-04-01
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 369 pages

From Publishers Weekly
Rarely has a historian of Christianity pierced a murkily inchoate human impulse with so much enlightenment as McGinn, a leading apocalypticist and the editor of Paulist Press's Classics of Western Spirituality series, does here. McGinn interweaves evidence from history, theology, biblical interpretations, literary references from Dante to Dostoyevski and even pop bestsellers to rivetingly discuss the concept of Antichrist. From the closing of the first millennium A.D. and Christian end-time speculation about the coming of the Antichrist ("a final human opponent of all goodness"), he traces the evolution of the Antichrist belief from its Judeo-Christian origins to its high point in the Middle Ages and on through present-day televangelists What McGinn also reveals is how a myopically constricted worldview often has led to intolerence and persecution.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
Religious historian McGinn (Univ. of Chicago Divinity Sch.) traces the fascinating history of the concept of the Antichrist from pre-Christian origins to the present. Chapters cover the changing role of the Antichrist in the early church, Middle Ages, Reformation, and post-Reformation eras, as well as in contemporary religion. The author sees the Antichrist as a powerful symbol for the concept of evil in Western thought, providing deep insights into our cultural development. He also warns that in every age, including our own, it has been used to label opponents as adherents of absolute evil. Intolerance and persecution can often accompany literal belief in the Antichrist. This is an excellent, scholarly, and well-documented examination of this persistent element in Christian apocalyptic thought. Recommended for academic libraries.
C. Robert Nixon, MLS, Lafayette, Ind.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Kirkus Reviews
A scholarly survey of how the figure of the Antichrist has been understood through the centuries, from Second Temple Judaism to present-day America. McGinn (Historical Theology/Univ. of Chicago Divinity School), editor of the acclaimed 80-volume Classics of Western Spirituality series, argues that the theme of the Antichrist (in its original form, a literal belief in a being of ultimate evil) illuminates much about how people view themselves and evil in society. Beginning with the apocalyptic traditions of Judaism, McGinn moves through early Christianity, Gnosticism, Byzantine apocalypticism, the Western medieval world, the Reformation, and the more subdued references since the Enlightenment. The Antichrist figure can be understood as an external enemy, such as Nero, or, following the thought of Augustine and some modern novelists, as a reality lurking within believers themselves. Another polarity in the theme is that the Antichrist is sometimes seen as inspiring universal dread or, alternatively, as coming under the appearance of good- -hence John Wycliffe's identification of the pope as the Antichrist and the separatist Roger Williams's view that any established Christian society was a form of Antichrist. In modern times, due to the polarities of the Cold War and the specter of nuclear apocalypse, the theme has had a vigorous existence in Russia and the United States; and recent claims, locating evil in apparent sources of power, hold that the Antichrist can be seen at work in the United Nations and in the credit-card system. McGinn notes that, since apocalyptic thought harbors no shades of gray between good and evil, anyone not fully in accord with a given belief may be seen by those who hold that belief as an adherent of absolute evil. An excellent sourcebook for anyone wishing to understand the kind of anxieties that are likely to multiply as we approach the year 2000. (30 b&w photos, not seen). -- Copyright ©1994, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Customer Reviews

Historical, but not heavy. Surprises galore.
This book is not a statement of faith. Readers will not feast on endtimes paranoia and fanciful imaginings of who, today, the anitchrist may be. Instead, McGinn offers a well-researched, historical investigation of the figure of the antichrist.

Beginning with Jewish apocalyptism, McGinn lets each successive "wave" of Christianity speak for itself. The recurring themes through which the antichrist has been understood, used and villified, are detailed in chronological fashion.

His survey is guite comprehensive, including not only the theological, but also the artistic and political uses of the antichrist image. Obbviously, any historical survey of a Christian image will be dominated by western European sources, but McGinn is careful to include brief accounts of Russian usage of the antichrist figure (e.g. Dostoevsky) and even contemporary American images (e.g. - The Omen). Frankly, I was surprised to find reference to C. G. Jung in this book, but this simply indicates the completeness of this survey.

To me this book described how Christianity has struggled to understand the reality of human evil. It may have raised more questions than it answered. For this reason alone I am glad that I read it.

Good overview. Some nice stuff on the Reformation
Much of this book concerns the role of the Papacy in forming anti-Christ legend, with Martin Luther's transformation from wanting to the reform the church to wanting to trash it coming to the forefront. Much of the work focuses on Anti-Christ accusations and "The anti-Christ within" which is very dissimilar from the Anti-Christ you see in the Left Behind series.

Surprisingly the Anti-Christ isn't pegged as Muhammed throughout history but is usually a Christian that is being criticized. The book is a little sketchy at the beginning in the Christian origins (especially using only Catholic translation of the Bible in regards to the book of Daniel when discussing an exclusively Jewish phenomena) but it picks up once the church is in place. It really picks up during the Reformation where the scisms within the church break out into Peasant revolts, towns being overrun and Martin Luther the radical. It loses steam towards the end as the author can't find anything original or interesting in the period between the Reformation and teh Victorian era.

The author also has less to say about the modern world than you might expect, although modern fascination with Anti-Christ being mostly in the realm of fundamentalist circles is pretty easy to find in either Jack T. Chick tracts, the Left Behind series or the internet.

Good book for anyone interested in Christian history. Not as good if you are interested in the more kooky elements of Christianity as Anti-Christ was normal theology for its time.(the ... and ... versions of the middle ages notwithstanding)

Tough reading, but still worthwhile
There is this one word that's useful when describing Bernard McGinn's impressive book Antichrist. And that word is "very".

Because it's a book whose adjectives all can be preceded by "very". First and foremost, it's very well written. Very well written indeed. Every page, every paragraph, every single sentence is packed with facts. Names, important years, classic and unknown works of writing, historical events, and much, MUCH more. Very much more, so to speak. It's not a heavy book, it's a VERY heavy book, and it takes a lot of energy and mental strength in order to finish it all.

But, it's well worth the effort to try. McGinn attempts, and indeed succeeds, to give a description of the Antichrist ever since his, or its, conception. Many probably think that the Antichrist is simply the son of the Devil and that's he nothing more than the opposite to Christ, but as McGinn beautifully describes, the story is tremendously more complex and complicated.

The study of the Antichrist bears many resemblances to the study of evil; what it is, why it exists, and who is responsible for it. Throughout the ages all sorts of people, events, faiths and so on have been connected to the Antichrist, and McGinn is extremely thorough and almost painfully academic in his very precise chronological resume. While reading it one finds oneself more or less drowning in a huge ocean of academia, and it doesn't take long to realize that it's more or less impossible to read it all in one go.

But that's ok, because the book is divided into different chapters detailing different ages, making it easy to choose whatever period interests you the most. To the everyday reader with a more casual interest in the phenomenon, the last chapter, "Antichrist Our Contemporary" will be of most interest. Here McGinn discusses such things as the Omen motion pictures and how Saddam Hussen has been labelled the Antichrist by fundamental Christians in America, but he also discusses why it is that the phenomenon of Antichrist is not as "hot" anymore, compared to earlier eras when practically everyone was convinced that the end was near.

So, so what if he makes the mistake of naming the killer in the Halloween-series Jason and not Michael Myers; the book is still a masterpiece in thorough academic religious research. To students of religion the entire book is of interest, but the everyday reader will probably only be able to fully enjoy the last chapter.