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.

I have been aware of the Book of Revelation and it’s implications for most of my life, however growing up without a strong faith in religion has caused me to bypass ever reading it or recognizing it’s significance in society. Some of the imagery described in this writing gives horrific visions of what the apocalypse will bring upon the Earth – most notably in the sounding of the Seven Trumpets. There are many different interpretations of what the text is meant to portray. Some believe that this is just a symbolic portrayal of the battle between good and evil. Others believe that the Book of Revelation is a prediction of events to come. The main question I had while reading this text concerns how much of an influence text this has had on people and our long time belief of an eventual apocalypse. Prior to the existence of this book, did people believe that there was an imminent end to our world? Many early Christians believed that the end was going to come at some point, but did it change the way they lived at all? In a time when science could not effectively explain natural phenomena and the idea of Armageddon, it is not surprising that so many people would take the predictions of the Revelation as truth. In the modern world, there is certainly a common belief that the world, someday, will come to an end. I feel that even though humans have thought this for most of our existence, the belief of how the world will end has changed dramatically. Religion is still a major influence on many people today, and even though I don’t follow a certain faith, I also have an idea that the clock is ticking. I don’t think the world will end because of my lack of devotion to God, but more because we have no control of mother nature and how/when she will stop providing for us. If not a natural disaster, we could cease to exist because of a nuclear bomb, world war, or even aliens… I wonder if people were not taught about a possible apocalypse if we would develop the belief on our own.