Some of this issues I brought up in the last response, for example the Revelation’s influence on today’s society, are addressed in the later chapters of Kirsch’s A History of the End of the World. The book focuses on the Revelation’s general influence on Western Civilization and highlights some of the apocalyptic writings that came before the Book of Revelation. Kirsch notes how many terms we use today that stemmed from the Book of Revelation – Satan, grapes of wrath, the grim reaper, the lake of fire, the battle of armageddon, and arguably the most famous, 666. This leads me to believe that the notion of the Apocalypse is in fact divinely inspired. Last week I questioned whether or not people would have believed in the end of the world if it wasn’t for the Book of Revelation. I think people may have ended up believing that the world would end, but not necessarily through God or Satan. However, considering how powerful the Revelation’s message is to this day, there is no doubt that this is one of the leading inspirations for “Armageddon”.
The most interesting aspect of The History of the End of the World to me was Kirsch’s seemingly legitimate criticism of the Book of Revelation’s credibility. He dismisses John of Patmos and I think it was implied that certain religious and political “leaders” may use the Revelation to attract religious followers (or in other words, voters). It is possible that people in power can exploit the hopes and fears of people who are faithful to religion;  if you’re going to talk about the end of the world, people are going to listen. Kirsch does a good job of explaining the Revelation and how it has been interpreted in a historical context, but in the end I didn’t appreciate his style of writing. I was more convinced in the first half of the book of what he believed, but in the end I found his ideas a little repetitive.