The second theme [in Taubes's Occidental Eschatology], which comprises the greater part of the volume, treats the history of apocalypticism and of Gnosticism. Both share the belief that the existing order (or existing world) is evil and corrupt. Apocalyptics search for signs that the existing order is coming to an end, and they engage in action to bring about the Kingdom of God on earth. Gnostics convey knowledge (gnosis) about the fallenness of the world, and they claim to know of an alternative, more perfect order. Both are antinomian, that is, antipathetic to the law. But apocalypticism is more active and oriented to external transformation, while Gnostics are more inclined to the transformation of the self through their purported special knowledge. The book seeks to convey both the history of  these recurrent propensities, and what Taubes calls “the revolutionary pathos of apocalypticism and Gnosis.” That revolutionary pathos runs through much of the book— and through Taubes’s subsequent work as well. Apocalyptic movements inevitably fail, at least by their own standards. But, Taubes asserts, they serve as the motor force of history, transforming old  orders into new ones. Their failure leads to a new round of Gnosticism, which serves as a subterranean stream of discontent  until the next round of apocalyptic enthusiasm and redemptive action

Jerry Z. Muller, Jacob Taubes: Professor of Apocalypse