Reader (and frequent commenter) David Ellis posted the following comment on my review of the season 2 premiere of Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles:
"In secularizing their conceptions of the end of the world, such stories (perhaps unknowingly) invert the morality of apocalyptic literature, proposing that the established order must be upheld in the face of destruction."
Are you saying we should WANT apocalypse?!!
My response sums up a lot of my personal thinking about apocalypticism and Revelation. Since I talk about both quite a bit—and since the comments interface won't allow me to put in links or formatting—I thought it might be worthwhile to bring my response out of their exile in the comments section and put it here as a regular post. So here it is:
That depends on how you're defining "apocalypse"; it's got a slew of meanings.
Do I think the world should end? No. Do I think nuclear war is good? DEFINITELY no. Do I think that the structures of political power from the Roman Empire to the Bush administration are ultimately destructive and dehumanizing? Yes. Some governments and leaders are better than others (Obama-Biden '08!), but power, by its very nature, corrupts. It hurts those who don't have it, and it hurts those who do.
I don't think I've ever stated it outright, but I'm something of a Christian anarchist. I think an important aspect of Christianity—and one that's been pretty much ignored since the conversion of Constantine—is opposition to temporal power in all its forms. The last shall be first, etc.
So what does that mean for apocalypticism? Well, as I've argued here and elsewhere, the real point of Revelation isn't the destruction of chapters 1-20, but the New Jerusalem of chapter 21. There can be a perfect world; there will be a perfect world—but only if we work to build one outside of the traditional realms of temporal (i.e., political/financial/military) power. (I hope I needn't say that this precludes any sort of violence.)
Of course, this is all armchair rebellion. I don't live on a commune; I have a job; I vote. But I think where one's heart is is important, and after all, "my kingdom is not of this world." In any event, that's what I'm talking about when I talk about apocalypticism.
Disobey!
Recommended reading:
God and Empire: Jesus Against Rome, Then and Now by John Dominic Crossan
