Join the At the End of the World research program (funded by Riksbankens Jubileumsfond) for a webinar titled Gendering Apocalypse: Death and Desire as Central Themes of Apocalyptic Texts and Their Modern (Mis)Uses. The webinar will feature a conversation between Tina Pippin and At the End of the World researchers Ov Cristian Norocel and Blaženka Scheuer.

Drawing on Tina Pippin’s influential study Death and Desire: The Rhetoric of Gender in the Apocalypse of John (1992), this webinar explores the gendered dynamics of apocalyptic literature. In her work, Pippin foregrounds the intertwined themes of death and desire, demonstrating how they operate in ways that particularly affect women. Topically, in the Apocalypse of John, the few female figures, whether cast as virtuous or corrupt, are primarily configured as objects of male desire and volition rather than as subjects in their own right. Building on this framework, the webinar examines how apocalyptic texts from the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament continue to impact women and groups historically exposed to marginalization. It further considers how these texts are strategically (mis)used in contemporary contexts, focusing on examples from the United States and Europe, wherein White Christian conservative and far-right actors mobilize apocalyptic rhetoric. Through these case studies, we explore how such appropriations reinforce exclusionary ideologies and reflect on the interpretive and ethical responsibilities of scholars working with apocalyptic texts.

PLEASE NOTE: Our protocols for webinar attendance have changed. You must register in advance to attend this webinar. Please fill out this very short form, and a link to the Zoom webinar will be emailed to you at the email address you supply about 24 hours before the webinar begins: https://forms.gle/iH9jGyJNUQQhAzmS7

We look forward to seeing you there!

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Tina Pippin is the Wallace M. Alston Professor of Bible and Religion at Agnes Scott College. She holds a Ph.D. from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. Her interests include the Bible and culture, women and religion, ethics, religion and social justice, science and religion, human rights education, apocalypticism, religion and postmodernism, and feminist ethics. Pippin is the author of Death and Desire: The Rhetoric of Gender in the Apocalypse of John (1992), Apocalyptic Bodies: The Biblical End of the World in Text and Image (1999), and The Actual Jesus (2025).

Ov Cristian Norocel is Docent and Senior Lecturer in Gender Studies at Lund University. He deploys critical and intersectional perspectives to study the radical-right populist and far-right construction and maintenance of power hierarchies. For At the End of the World, Norocel investigates the role of gender and sexuality in reactionary political mobilization, focusing on how representations of apocalypse are deployed to consolidate political power in opposition to marginalized groups.

Blaženka Scheuer, Docent and Senior Lecturer in Biblical Studies at Lund University, conducts research that focuses on three main areas: prophetic texts of the Hebrew Bible, interpretation of the narratives of the Hebrew Bible in early Jewish and Christian traditions, and the relationship between contemporary narratives about artificial intelligence and narratives about creation of humans in the book of Genesis. For At the End of the World, Scheuer explores how apocalyptic imaginary of the Hebrew Bible and early Jewish literature shaped conceptions of gender and otherness. She also works with Mia-Marie Hammarlin to investigate how Seventh-day Adventists in Sweden approach living in relation to apocalypse.

Aaron James Goldman will chair the webinar. He is a research fellow in Philosophy of Religion at Lund University's Centre for Theology and Religious Studies.

Image credit: Albrecht Dürer, The Apocalyptic Woman (from The Apocalypse: The Book of the Revelation of Saint John). https://www.nationalgalleries.org/art-and-artists/34294