Document Type

Article

Publication Date

1-1-2010

Abstract

There is a profound difference between a historian and an apocalypticist. The former operates in a context delimited by a single reference point—the past. While admittedly somewhat relative due to ongoing attempts at interpretation and re-interpretation, the past nonethe­less enjoys the advantage of being fixed; its events are by definition completed and thus essentially unchange­able. The disadvantage of this uni-directional orientation is, of course, that from the standpoint of the historian, the future remains completely open-ended, subject only to speculation.

Comments

Poston, L. (2010). The second coming of ‘isa: An exploration of islamic premillennialism. The Muslim World, 100(1), 100–116. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1478-1913.2009.01304.x

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