A Neurocognitive Model for Analyzing End Time Narratives: the Book of Revelation 14–16 as a Test Case

Abstract

Abstract In this article, we introduce a neurocognitive model as a useful analytical approach to a wide range of representations (written, oral, and/or visual) of a comprehensive and dramatic collapse of the world order (cosmic, social, and/or moral). We gather these variegated representations under the term End Time Narratives (ETN). The widespread reception of ETNs, and their popularity and variability across different periods and cultures, is evidence that these representations continually affect us and hold power over us. Prominent and well-known examples of ETNs are the Jewish and Christian apocalypses from antiquity, which have been widely influential through the centuries. This prevalence raises the question of why ETNs exercise such an influence. The reasons, we suggest, are based on the following hypotheses: (1) that the efficacy and attraction of ETNs can be traced to identifiable cognitive mechanisms, (2) that these underlying mechanisms are linked to certain emotional reactions activated by the particular structure and design of these narratives, and (3) ETNs – as cultural products – seem to be designed and structured to elicit cognitive and emotional responses through effects on the brain. To investigate the possible neurocognitive and psychological mechanisms that are simulated and enacted in recipients by ETNs, we apply the model through an “enactive reading” of a classical ETN, the Book of Revelation 14–16.