The Last Judgement reference article from the English Wikipedia on 24-Apr-2004 (provided by Fixed Reference: snapshots of Wikipedia from wikipedia.org)

Last Judgement

In Christianity as envisaged in the biblical Book of Revelation, the Last Judgement involves the ethical-judicial trial, judgement and punishment/reward of individual humans (assignment to heaven or to hell) by a divine tribunal at the end of time, following the destruction of humans' present earthly existence. This eschatology has spawned numerous artistic depictions.

The "Last Judgement" also appears as the "day of reckoning" or as "doomsday", and forms part of the "Last Things," the "end times," or end of the world. Compare the terminology last trump, Armageddon, apocalypse, and see also rapture.

In art, the Last Judgement is a common theme. The most famous depiction is Michelangelo Buonarroti's "The Last Judgement" in the Sistine Chapel. Included in this is his self portrait, where he depicts himself as an empty bag of skin.

This is the "Last Judgement" reference article from the English Wikipedia. All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License. See also our Disclaimer.