ABSTRACT
The end of the world, understood both literally and metaphorically, has played a meaningful role in the religious, philosophical, scientific, and artistic life of humanity. In its literal meaning, the end of the world implies the going-out-of-existence of planet earth itself, or, at least, the extinction of humanity. Metaphorically, it suggests a change in the order of things, whether in the natural or human realms, so drastic as to be properly described only in apocalyptic terms. In the modern era, the end of the world is a subject of intense scientific inquiry. In the religious sphere, it continues to be a lively theological issue-particularly among evangelical Protestants who associate it with the Second Advent and millennium.
