Megan Wines, “Apocalyptic Masculinity: Messiahs, Monsters, and Men Out Of Time” (PhD Dissertation, Loyola University Chicago, 2025).... Taken together, these themes illuminate the fluidity and instability of the depictions of masculinity in apocalypses. Rather than depicting one sole model of masculinity to aspire to, the apocalypses instead depict masculinities that exist at either end of a spectrum, with hypermasculine traits at one end and emasculating traits at the other. Yet rather than having different figures for the two poles, apocalypses instead often have a sole figure exhibit traits from either end of the spectrum. This then causes a dissonance in the presentation of masculinity, one not resolved by the individual apocalypses. Rather, this dissonance, I argue, is a staple for how masculinities are depicted in apocalypses, the essential element of “apocalyptic masculinity.” ...
Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.
