I am grateful to Paul Murray, Marcus Pound, Gerard Loughlin and the Centre for Catholic Studies at Durham University for their support and guidance and to Christopher Insole and Graham Ward for their feedback on early versions of this work. During this time I was exceedingly fortunate to have a supportive academic community that challenged me to think about this project from a variety of perspectives, including Roberto Alejandro, Tina Beattie, Andrew Brower Latz, Josh Furnal, Marika Rose and Susan Royal. I benefited from an opportunity to present my apocalyptic reading of Malabou at an interdisciplinary workshop at the University of Edinburgh. I am thankful to Michael O’Rourke for this opportunity and to Catherine Malabou for her remarks.
Liza Thompson was kind enough to listen to my ideas and encourage me to submit a proposal to Bloomsbury, and Frankie Mace patiently answered my endless questions. The conversations at the annual meetings of the International Network for Experimental Philosophy and Theology have been vital to further developing this project. I am particularly thankful for Jayne Svenungsson’s willingness to engage in lengthy discussions of the nature of political theology and apocalypticism. At key moments in the development of the first and last chapters, Amaryah Armstrong, Daniel Colucciello Barber and Alex Dubilet were generous enough to engage in conversation, provide feedback or share their own work.
The last stage of preparing this book coincided with taking up a position at the University of Chichester. The many discussions I have had with colleagues there have provided great opportunities to think about the connections between religion, politics and philosophy. I am especially grateful to Ruth Mantin, Benjamin Noys, Stephen Roberts and Graeme Smith. I also benefited from a University of Chichester Research Development Award that provided the time to finish writing.
Though academia can sometimes feel like a solitary pursuit, one of its great joys is forging relationships with people who push you in profound ways and shape the way you think. Though they do not always share my conclusions, whatever is of value in the following work has been shaped by Michael O’Neill Burns, Mark Mason, Ulrich Schmiedel, Anthony Paul Smith and Hannah Strømmen. Words cannot express how much their friendship and support has meant over the years of trying to figure out what it means to think the end of the world.
Finally, I am grateful to my parents, who have always encouraged my desire to pursue my love of philosophy, and to my wife, Hannah, who has been my partner in this research, as in everything.