Early Modern Germany has been noted as the most apocalyptic time period in Western Tradition. Although a prominent historical and literary figure of this time period, Lutheran hymnist, Paul Gerhardt (1607-76), has not been explored by scholars with eschatology in mind. This thesis uses apocalyptic literary tradition as a lens to interpret six of his hymns. Before offering discussing the content of these hymns, however, I establish Paul Gerhardt within the context of Early Modern apocalypticism as well as within his literary genre, the German Kirchenlied tradition. The various interpretations that follow revolve around three questions concerning Gerhardt and apocalyptic tradition. First, what did Gerhardt say about the apocalypse? Second, how or to what ends did he engage the topic? Third, why did he portray apocalypticism the way he did?
Gerhardt expresses apocalyptic expectation in his work, but his apocalypticism is as concerned with the temporal present as it is with the eternal future. In his hymns, Gerhardt creates a mediating landscape between the Jammertal and Freudensaal; his hymns do not define earthly life as a Jammertal void of joy or peace nor is heaven defined as a divine Freudensaal divorced of earthly reality. Rather, a degree of earthly peace and joy is possible alongside great sorrow, and that one's conception of heaven is marked by earthly symbols of true Home, Sustenance and Peace. In a world approaching its end, Gerhardt portrays the apocalypse as a means to navigate himself and his fellow man on the journey between the Jammertal and the Freudensaal.