Heat death is a theory, based on the second law of thermodynamics, about how the universe will end. Heat death occurs as the universe moves towards maximum entropy and minimum temperature. —Trans.
The German word “Frist” could also be translated as “deadline.” The connotation is a period of time that is finite. I have rendered it as “period” but also “finite period” throughout the text, depending on the context. —Trans.
A more accurate translation would be “sketchiness” or “dodginess” (UK). Because of the colloquial nature of these phrases, I have chosen “ambiguity” instead. —Trans.
To speak of “omens” today is, of course, entirely jejune. For our manufacturing of the end of the world, which threatens with danger in the most direct and exegesis-free way, is of course far more than a mere omen in need of interpretation.
Throughout the history of Christianity, the greater the role taken on by the Sacrament, the more powerless and unconvincing eschatological thought had to become. For if the Sacrament already has the power to decide on resurrection or condemnation, then the sentence of the Last Judgment is already anticipated during one’s lifetime, so that the judgment itself is made superfluous. But since the judgment constitutes an essential component of the eschatological drama, or more correctly: since the apocalyptic end is in a certain sense identical with the judgment, only an unbelievable and mutilated apocalyptic thought remains.
This text is an excerpt from Endzeit und Zeitende (End-Times and the End of Time, 1959) by Günther Anders. Translated from the German by Hunter Bolin.