History of Political Ideas (CW26): Crisis and the Apocalypse of Man

Voegelin's Crisis and the Apocalypse of Man confronts the disintegration of traditional sources of meaning and the attempt to generate new sources of order from within the self. It is marked by the age of Enlightenment and the totalitarian upheaval that convulsed Voegelin's world. Voegelin's analysis of the crisis is pervasive and not confined to the megalomaniacal dreamers of a revolutionary apocalypse. Echoes of it are found in the more moderate Enlightenment preoccupation with progress to be attained through the application of the scientific method. Voegelin argues that our continuing inability to step outside the parameters of the Enlightenment is the authoritative faith of our world today.

Format: Hardback
Length: 520 pages
Publication date: 24 March 2023
Publisher: University of Missouri Press

Crisis and the Apocalypse of Man delves into the breakdown of traditional sources of meaning and the quest for new order within the self, mirroring the apocalypse of God. Voegelin's analysis of this crisis spans eight volumes of History of Political Ideas, with its roots in the Enlightenment age. In our postmodern era, discussions of the collapse of the enlightenment project have become prevalent. Voegelin urges us to follow the great-souled individuals who sought to transcend the present and create order for the future. Thinkers like Comte, Bakunin, and Marx experienced the crisis and recognized the need for a new outpouring of the spirit. They resolved to provide the deficiency themselves, leading us to the apocalypse of man. Voegelin's analysis highlights the pervasive nature of this crisis, extending beyond the realm of megalomaniacal dreamers to the more moderate Enlightenment preoccupation with progress through the scientific method. Faith in the capacity of instrumental reason to answer the ultimate questions of human existence defined figures such as Voltaire, HelvÉtius, Diderot, D Alembert, and Condorcet. This faith remains the authoritative belief of our world today, as demonstrated by Voegelin's analysis.

Weight: 1020g
Dimension: 229 x 152 x 43 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780826212337