Competitive Eschatologies: Eastern Christianity and Islamic Apocalypticism

Objective

CESECIA (Competitive Eschatologies: Eastern Christianity and Islamic Apocalypticism) is an interdisciplinary project exploring the shared yet contested apocalyptic imagination of the eastern Mediterranean between the 7th and 13th centuries. It examines how eschatological narratives – written in Islamic Arabic, Christian Arabic, Syriac, and Greek – shaped interreligious relations and communal identities. The project hypothesizes that apocalyptic expectation functioned as a strategic cultural resource for interpreting crises, directing political action, shaping communal identity, and framing the religious “Other.” CESECIA pioneers critical editions and translations of understudied Arabic Christian apocalyptic texts, including the Arabic Apocalypse of Pseudo-Methodius and the Arabic Apocalypse of Peter, making them accessible through open-access publication. By combining philological rigor with cross-cultural analysis, the project reconceptualizes apocalyptic texts as co-produced, multilingual traditions that served as dynamic instruments of historical agency. Beyond medieval studies, CESECIA highlights the enduring relevance of apocalyptic thought for understanding uncertainty, imagining the future, and fostering reflection on interreligious and intercultural connections in pluralistic societies such as those in Europe.