From recent disaster movies like Armageddon and Deep Impact to cult movements such as those of Jim Jones and David Koresh, apocalyptic images surround us as we prepare to mark the end of the current millennium. In Fearful Hope: Approaching the New Millennium editors Christopher Kleinhenz and Fannie LeMoine provide a wide range of thought-provoking essays probing the meaning and significance of millennial expectations and apocalyptic visions.

From John J. Collins's essay on the sense of ending in pre-Christian Judaism to Paul Boyer's discussion of apocalyptic fears and foreboding in the twentieth century, Fearful Hope offers fresh insight on millennial thinking in fields ranging from history and literature to philosophy, cinema, and politics. These essays explore the apocalyptic in both religious and secular culture, providing illuminating illustrations from biblical prophets, medieval manuscripts, cult movements, and even the current obsession with conspiracy in television shows like The X-Files. Finally, Archbishop Rembert Weakland and Bishop Johannes Hempel stress the importance of maintaining hope in our own age, the latter with particular reference to the fall of the Communist regime in East Germany.