As a key term in European intellectual history, the concept of apocalypse has been studied across disciplines since the 1980s, spanning religion, philosophy, sociology, and literature. Feng Dong's 1988 work Apocalypse in Germany initiated systematic research, while Fick and Wiese co-authored A Cultural History of Apocalypse in the past decade. By the 21st century, apocalypse became intertwined with ecological crises, influencing socio-political discourse. Theoretical and disciplinary trends are evident, marked by the establishment of institutions like FHI, CAPAS, and CSER. Apocalypse represents Europe's most radical crisis discourse, with Western interpretations varying across periods, shaped by cultural and socio-political upheavals.

I. The Secular Turn of Apocalypse: From Judgment Day to the Kingdom of Reason

This section explores the secularization of the apocalypse concept, shifting from religious Judgment Day to the pursuit of a rational utopia. The terminology of apocalypse is diverse, closely linked to millenarianism, eschatology, and utopianism, embodying dynamic meanings of catastrophe, redemption, crisis, and transformation. The term "Apokalypse" originates from ancient Greek, initially non-religious, later introduced by theologian Luke to denote Jewish-Christian expectations of the world's end and divine renewal. The apocalyptic imagery in Revelation includes Christ's return, the millennium, disasters, and Judgment Day, reflecting a binary structure: catastrophe versus the New Jerusalem. Apocalyptic narratives promote faith in higher powers, framing the end as a means to overcome crisis and emphasizing redemption. In Judeo-Christian tradition, apocalypse validates suffering, gives life meaning, and lays the foundation for the modern Western linear view of history.

After the Renaissance and Enlightenment, apocalypse gradually secularized and demystified, shedding its Judgment Day imagery and expanding in meaning. Medieval theologian Joachim of Fiore divided history into three kingdoms, with the third prefiguring utopian ideals, influencing later utopian imagination. Apocalypse's subversive nature provided a theoretical basis for social reform. During the Renaissance, focus shifted from God to humanity, and time became secularized—a medium for self-actualization. Joachim's Kingdom of the Holy Spirit became a goal achievable through human effort rather than divine intervention. German Reformation leader Thomas Müntzer led peasant uprisings, advocating socio-political change to realize this kingdom, secularizing apocalyptic expectations and adding a political dimension, thus forming political millenarianism. Sociologically, millenarianism describes movements anticipating a blissful post-revolutionary era, such as the French Revolution.

Apocalyptic discourse detached from religious connotations, becoming a general term for endings, decline, social crises, and transformation, closely tied to crisis and societal change. The rise of natural sciences positioned science as a new path to the Kingdom of the Holy Spirit, with progress toward a better world seen as inevitable. Enlightenment thinker Lessing viewed world history as the realization of the New Jerusalem, merging Joachim's ideas with Enlightenment goals. Kant explored apocalypse from multiple angles, arguing that Earth's operation follows natural laws, leading to gradual decline; humans must act according to their ultimate purpose, with reason culminating in the "end of all things." For Kant, humanity's ultimate goal is the highest good, with history destined for natural perfection, forming philosophical millenarianism.

Contrary to 18th-century optimism, Rousseau critiqued progressive civilization, viewing history as a narrative of decline, with the state of nature as a golden age. His ideas pioneered modern critiques of civilization. In literature, the shipwreck motif exemplified secularized apocalypse, as in Robinson Crusoe, embodying the Revelation narrative template—breaking from the old world to achieve utopian pastoral life.

Western religious apocalypse underwent secularization and demystification through the Renaissance and Enlightenment, gaining scientific, political, and philosophical dimensions, transforming into a progress narrative. Natural science, social revolution, and reason would lead humanity to utopia, with people actively shaping their future. By the late 19th century, Nietzsche's "death of God" and the rise of the industrial proletariat reshaped time's perception: history had no fixed beginning or end, and apocalypse was fully demystified, shifting from otherworldly peace to earthly justice. Darwin's theory of evolution negated creationism, affirming history's internal logic. Evolution and reform became paradigms across fields, measuring history by development, with humanity's goal being utopian realization and a better future.

II. The Crisis Turn: Fin-de-Siècle Skepticism of Reason

This section examines the dual nature of the Enlightenment and its late-19th-century cultural crisis. Horkheimer and Adorno's Dialectic of Enlightenment argues that while Enlightenment aimed to dispel fear and empower humanity, it brought disaster. Technology, mechanization, and industrialization failed to deliver utopia, instead generating new forms of suffering and poverty. By the fin de siècle, pessimism, irrationality, and the unconscious dominated, challenging rationalist optimism. Max Weber explained how empirical rationality clashed with ethical premises, collapsing traditional value systems. Industrial society rendered teleological philosophical models obsolete, giving rise to existentialism. Rapid economic and industrial growth intensified alienation, triggering spiritual crises. Aesthetics first recognized reason's collapse, with apocalypse narratives expressing crisis discourse, and art serving as its medium. Literature embraced privatized and processual apocalypse, as in Thomas Mann's Buddenbrooks and Musil's The Man Without Qualities. Modern literature extended apocalypse's conceptual boundaries. Spengler's The Decline of the West embodied philosophical crisis consciousness, positing cultures' inevitable demise. Skepticism toward progress fueled war and revolutionary redemption fantasies, like WWI. Enlightenment's dark side integrated "alienation," "nihilism," and "crisis" into apocalypse discourse, framing it as a process rather than an event—yet without fully abandoning redemption.

III. The Catastrophe Turn: Postmodern Survival?

This section traces apocalypse's postmodern shift from millenarian revolutionary hope to nihilism and technological doom. Nuclear threats and disasters made "apocalypse" a buzzword, with narratives shifting from nuclear war to survival scenarios. Feng Dong's "tailless apocalypse" concept highlights the disappearance of post-catastrophe renewal. Philosopher Anders warned of humanity's self-destructive potential, while 1980s advances in informatics and genetic engineering underscored human-made apocalypse. In literature, works like Grass's The Rat exhibit "tailless" trends, omitting redemption. Since the 1990s, apocalyptic signs diversified, spawning climate fiction, dystopian novels, and hybrid genres. Recently, "post-apocalyptic narratives" dominate, exploring themes like otherness and identity. In film, post-apocalyptic stories prevail, probing survival strategies. Post-apocalypse defines postmodern life—humans coexist with crisis, devoid of utopian hope or existential dread, rejecting redemption as postmodernity's hallmark.

IV. Conclusion

Originating in religious texts, apocalypse's meaning expanded through secularization into social, philosophical, and aesthetic realms, engaging with spiritual, moral, and existential crises. It critiques Enlightenment rationality, ethics, civilization, and survival, intersecting with social reform, modernity, and civilizational critique. Transdisciplinary in scope, apocalypse now spans sociology, aesthetics, media, and cultural studies. The Anthropocene concept frames Earth's crisis as human-induced, integrating apocalypse into natural science discourse. Facing existential threats, humanities research explores coexistence, with apocalypse studies offering crisis-resolution perspectives.