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“On the Edge of Apocalypse”

The Inaugural Convening of “On the Edge: New Directions in the Interdisciplinary Study of Religion”

Elon Center for the Study of Religion, Culture, and Society

Elon University (NC)

Feb. 9-11, 2017


The contours of apocalyptic thinking and movements are well traced. We are unsurprised by the unusual political alliances, militaristic mindsets, and end-of-world expectations to which apocalyptic and millennial thinking give rise. Still, as a mode of thinking and of rhetoric, apocalyptic discourse is nimble and often adapting. Given this, we invite scholars from any discipline to explore with us the edges of apocalyptic thought and practice. Where are the places that apocalyptic patterns, symbols, and rhetorics are unexpected and unexplored, either in the present or in the past? How is apocalyptic discourse as lived or as an academic category being deployed to new ends and in new ways?

“On the Edge” is a bi-annual symposium at Elon University that brings together scholars working at the theoretical and methodological boundaries of those fields that have a stake in the critical analysis of religion—law, history, psychology, anthropology, literature/textual studies, philosophy, art history, political science, classics, and gender studies. “On the Edge” aims to exercise a self-conscious attention to methodological advances that can be made through interdisciplinarity. Its proceedings contribute to a richly contextualized and multi-layered understanding of the role of religion in societies past, present, and future.