ABSTRACT
Thiswordisusedherebothasanounandasanadjectiveintherestricted, technicalsense,toreferbroadlytotheliterarycategory.Theterm'Apoca lypse' , or'revelation' ,isthefirstwordoftheRevelationofStJohn,andis appliednowtoaseriesofwritingsfromtheHellenisticRomanperiod whicharecomparabletothelastbookoftheBiblewithregardtoformand content(Dan . , 4Ezra,SyrBaruch,EthiopicEnochandthelike). 1'Apoca lyptic 'heremeansnothingmorethanrevelationliterature.Alltextsbrought togetherunderthiscollectivetermhave,astheirmostimportantdistinguish ingfeature,thecourseofhistoricaleventsbeingrevealedtoandinterpreted byaholypersonand/orprophetchosenbyGod.Thispresupposesanunder standingofhistoryinwhichitscourseisestablishedinadvancebyGodand existsinHeavenbeforeitistransformedintoearthlyevents.Duringthe esotericrevelationexperience,thefictivevisionaryreceivesaninsightinto events,whichfromhisstandpointhavenotyetoccurred,andherecordsthe visionanditsinterpretationinhiswriting.InthissensetheApocalypsesare (fromaform-criticalpointofview)frameworkgenres,inwhichthewidely divergentsmallergenresthatconstitutethemcanbebroughttogether.2
