We are all thinking more and more about the potential end of humanity. Climate change, global pandemics, and spiralling conflict all bring home the possibility of worldly destruction. The end times are a source of massive anxiety; but the spectre of an apocalypse also prompts transformation and creative change.
This interactive session will examine overlapping spiritual and secular accounts of the end of times, examining both the destructive and creative potentials of the apocalypse. It is an object and image-focused workshop, providing participants the opportunity to creatively explore how they understand apocalyptic visions and events. In groups you will be invited to explore images and items representing certain themes.
Meet the workshop leaders
Hanane Benadi is an anthropologist working at the intersection of ethics, politics, religion, and climate change in the MENA region. She is the PI on the British Academy-funded Gender, Religion, and Climate Change: Women as Producers and Translators of Climate Knowledge in Egypt, also based at the Religion and Global Society research unit. Previously, she was an IASH-Alwaleed Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Edinburgh. Hanane received her PhD in Social Anthropology from the University of Manchester in 2017.
Chris Chaplin is Assistant Professorial Research Fellow at LSE with over 17 years international experience within Southeast Asia. He specialises in the study of religion, human rights, migration and security, and has authored a series of articles and op-eds as well as published the book Salafism and the State: Islamic Activism and National Identity in Indonesia. Prior to joining the LSE, Chris worked for the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, the World Bank, and Amnesty International.
James Walters is the Director of the LSE Faith Centre and the Religion and Global Society research unit. He leads the team in the centre’s mission to promote religious literacy and interfaith leadership through student programmes and global engagement, along with research into the role of religion in world affairs. He is Professor in Practice in the Department of International Relations and an affiliated faculty member at the Department for International Development. He has published a number of books including Baudrillard and Theology (2012), Religion and the Public Sphere: New Conversations (2018), A Christian Theology of Chaplaincy (2018), Religious Imaginations and Global Transitions (2018) and Loving Your Neighbour in an Age of Religious Conflict (2019).
More about this event
This event is part of the LSE Festival: Visions for the Future running from Monday 16 to Saturday 21 June 2025, with a series of events exploring the threats and opportunities of the near and distant future, and what a better world could look like. Booking for all Festival events will open on Monday 19 May.
The Religion and Global Society (@LSE_RGS) is an interdisciplinary unit conducting, coordinating and promoting religion-related social science research at LSE
Hashtag for this event: #LSEFestival
LSE holds a wide range of events, covering many of the most controversial issues of the day, and speakers at our events may express views that cause offence. The views expressed by speakers at LSE events do not reflect the position or views of The London School of Economics and Political Science.