Eschatologie und Soteriologie in der Dichtung : Johann Caspar Lavater im Wettstreit mit Klopstock und Herder Johann Gottfried Herders paraphrase of the Apocalypse Maran Atha (1779) and Johann Caspar Lavaters Messiah epics (1780 1783 1786) provide evidence that the tradition of Christian verse did not end by any means with the completion of Klopstocks Messiah as has been assumed by literary historians. Based on Herders and Lavaters works this study is the first detailed examination of the importance of German Christian verse after Klopstock.