Drawing upon the most current methodologies, the essays in this book pursue the multifarious functions of end-times in medieval German texts. The contemporary fascination with the end of the world and of life as we know it would not have surprised our counterparts a millennium ago; only the fact that such an end has not yet occurred. Current visions of the apocalypse encompass climate change, terrorism, antibiotic-resistant bacteria, and war. Popular culture expresses the fear associated with these global crises, obsessively portraying zombies, alien attacks, pandemics, and self-destructive technology. This book explores how end-times were envisioned in medieval Germany. The essays, written by well-established scholars, examine the period's fascination with the apocalypse by applying the most current methodological approaches to a wide range of literary genres. Drawing upon methodologies such as adaptation theory, gender analysis, space and place studies, reception studies, and memory studies, this book uncovers the rhetorical, didactic, narratological, mnemonic, thematic, cultural, and political functions of end-times in medieval German texts. Contributors: Tina Boyer, Albrecht Classen, Winfried Frey, Will Hasty, Ernst Ralf Hintz, Winder McConnell, Evelyn Meyer, Scott E. Pincikowski, Marian E. Polhill, Alexander Sager, Alexandra Sterling-Hellenbrand, Joseph M. Sullivan. Ernst Ralf Hintz is Professor of German and Medieval Studies at Truman State University. Scott E. Pincikowski is Professor of German at Hood College.

First published in 1997. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

Augustine as a point of departureThis study examines Christian education in early vernacular texts of the German Middle Ages on the basis of Latin traditions of learning and teaching from Late Antiquity. The point of departure is Augustine's "De doctrina christiana" in which Augustine not only consolidated Christian and pagan traditions but combined them into a program of Christian education.
Illuminates continuity of traditionsThe author considers the continuity of these traditions in the late sixth century in Gregory the Great's treatise on pastoral care, "Regula pastoralis," the early ninth-century work of Hrabanus Maurus, "De institutione clericorum," in the Old High German poem, the "Muspilli" also from the ninth century, then in the Middle High German works, the Memento Mori from the late 11th century, and the poems of Frau Ava and "Von den Letzten Dingen "from the early and late 12th century, respectively. Translations of the Latin and early German texts generally appear together with a version of their original texts. A bibliography and index conclude the volume.