Published in Medieval and Early Modern Iberian Peninsula Cultural History

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The figure katechon is a complex and ambiguous character, based on a biblical quote taken from the Second Epistle of Paul to the Thessalonians. Expresses the power to “slow” or “holds” the coming of the Antichrist and therefore the confrontation between the forces of good and evil, which precedes the return of the Messiah and the end of the world. In this paper we build on the analysis undertaken on the concept by different contemporary thinkers. If the figure of katechon be applied in relation to the uprisings in medieval and early modern radical character as those inspired by millenarian movements, one could consider that the daily resistance of the dominated, mostly passive features, would act as a brake for the arrival of the end of the world, necessary for the advent of a new one.