Category Archives: September

Response Chapters Readings 9-11-12

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I feel as though throughout the second half of the novel, Kirsch is trying to set up the fact that the Book of Revelation’s place in the biblical canon is very controversial because it has impacted the world from the time it was written to what it is now today. One key example of my reasoning is when Kirsch quotes Jesus stating that there will never be a person who can predict the end of the world, not even himself. He even uses the author “John” to show that it’s mainly because of the name that it’s actually in the Cannon. He parallels the Gnostic Gospels and the Shepherd of Hermas with the Book of Revelation by showing how the former two were rejected from the cannon because of the origin of the author. He states that the name John could’ve caused many to think that he was once of the original 12 disciples thus automatically earning Revelation a spot in the cannon.Nevertheless after he establishes the fact that the book’s place is questionable, he moves on to how it has affected history.

The following chapters after chapter 4 reference various figures in history and their interpretation of the Book of Revelation ranging from criticisms to the church or a semi literal metaphor for the end of the world. For instance, Hildegard of Bingen interpreted the book metaphorically and believed that the antichrist will arise from the church because she thought the woman in labor symbolized the church and the beast inside her symbolized the antichrist. Brother John on the other hand, was able to use the Book of Revelation in order to tell people of the sins of the church in part due to the fact that indulgences were rather popular at the time. Nevertheless as the world modernizes, the Book of Revelation is used less for religious critique and more for a literal end of the world for its readers.

(2) Acknowledging the Apocalypse

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(Side note: the song “Losing My Religion,” came on while I was preparing this post.)

One line that caught my attention in Kirsch’s book as we read from the second half was this line: “Apocalyptic fancies, no matter how weird or woozy, were capable of taking on the quality of revealed truth. . . . The sure and urgent expectation of the end-times was, quite literally, a fact of life in the middle ages” (Kirsch 157).  The thing that is most hard for me to grasp is what it is like to live in a world not where we are aware that some people think this is a real way the history of our world is going, but a general political belief held by society.

I can’t help but think of this sort of “group think” and be reminded of things like the current political state of America because there is the phenomenon of having the population (mostly) split itself into two like-minded camps of thought where religion plays different, and yet specific roles. I was reading a quote from Sandra Fluke who spoke at the Democratic National Convention and she said “Over the last six months, I’ve seen what these two futures look like. And six months from now, we’ll all be living in one, or the other. But only one.”  Now, full disclosure, I think that political elections are extremely important and take it seriously, but reading that statement, I actually found myself a tad bit anxious like the “fate of the world,” rested in my hands. It is really interesting to look at how political speak uses the idea of a future history, and of a sort of apocalypse not only in its speeches against other campaigns, but in general. I would need to do more research, but I am super curious to see how this past election utilizes religious talk, and apocalyptic talk, as part of its “language arsenal.”

Afraid of the Big Bag Whore?

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For the latter half of the book, I want to draw focus on something we talked about in class, the presentation of women in Revelation. Not only that but the perception that John of Patmos has of sex and anything remotely related to it. While Kirsch’s analysis of the historical impact that Revelation has had on western civilization is interesting, I want to move beyond that and try to get into John’s head. More than that, I think it might be more important to understand John’s perspective on certain behaviors in order to get the additional, possibly hidden, messages within Revelation he was trying to convey.

Continue reading →

Proselytizing the Apocalypse

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John lashes out at preachers and industrious, money oriented societies, but Book of Revelation is from its very beginning a sales pitch with “divine approval” in the form of letter to foreign churches. Jonathan Kirsh uses many words to discuss the hyposcrisy in this in order to show how universal and captivating the concepts behind John’s otherworldly vision were. They can warp to suit the people’s needs and ideals and thus are almost subject specific and relatable in spite of their abstraction. The theme of selling this cult of the future is continued over millennia as case after case of people living on muliple continents change their lives to accommodate the idea of the world’s end. Often they do so in order to convert people to their cause and understand their prespective. The effort to convert spurs media use and communication across large distances. It motivates some political action and explains or justifies others. It is not without entertainment value and has been a part of pop culure, ranging from medieval simplified illustrated versions to rock and roll to the Left Behind Series.  Is the media the message? Here the message seems to make the media. It seems as though the proselytizing tone behind apocalyptical messages amounts as much for its sucess as the merits of its narrative.

When people are sold on the concept of an end of days, they are forced to accept other concepts. In literal cases, this is that there is a god, a savoir, judgment and benefits received through adherence to religious code. In a secular sense, as shown in Colby’s advertisement, there is an acknowledgement of seduction, uncertainty and urgency related to our mortal existence.

Not bad for a limited time offer 2000 years in the making.

 

 

Weekly Response #2: Interpretations of the Book of Revelation

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One thing that struck me as surprising in the reading is the romanticism of the book of Revelation among women. Previously in class, we had discussed that there are only negative portrayals of women in the book of Revelation, so it was surprising to hear that many women read the book of Revelation for spiritual reasons or self-improvement. Despite the horrific images in the book of Revelation, it was interesting to hear that some women still found a romantic element to the text. Continue reading →

A History of the End of the World (2nd Half)

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One of the most important concepts in the second half of this book is interpretation. Kirsch shows numerous examples of people throughout history that argued over whether the Book of Revelations should be read “spiritually” or “carnally”. Whichever way one chooses to read it, however, the result will amount to an interpretation of the text. Continue reading →

Relating to Holy Texts about the End of the World

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As a student that attended bi-weekly afterschool classes at a reform (progressive) Jewish synagogue from grades 1 -12, I learned to view the Old Testament, including segments of Daniel concerning the Moshiah, and its classical interpretatiations as metaphor. As someone who spent much of her remaining time using modern technology and interacting with other secular peers, I learned to see the bible as a period piece. It would be impossible for me, as it was for Kirsch, to read Revelation outside of a historical context, even with its fantastic imagery.  (I also understand those that accept much of the Christian faith but are dumbfounded by John’s visions. Oddly enough, it seemed that the more cross-cultural references and allusions described, the more the tone of Revelation fit with that of the rest of the scriptures. ) The reading and the accompanying commentary reminded me how difficult it is to separate the idea of “biblical allegory” from “allegory.” Continue reading →

Weekly Response #1: The Book of Revelation and 666

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What interested me most in the first three chapters of Jonathan Kirsch’s  A History of the End of the World is what was referred to as St. John’s cryptogram. While reading the Book of Revelations, it was difficult not to notice the abundance of numerical references throughout the texts. Not just to be taken literally, I knew that the numbers had other meanings. The number 666 was most interesting because it is referred to as the number of the beast. Beyond that, many have tried to decipher the value behind 666, which corresponds to a name in Latin, Hebrew, or Greek. The number can be deciphered in so many different ways so there is not necessarily one right answer. Several names fit the puzzle, but varieties in spelling must also be put into account. Furthermore, the number of the beast is sometimes depicted as 616 in earlier manuscripts, which adds to the dilemma of solving the puzzle.

St. John’s cryptogram is only an example of one of the many ways that different people can interpret the Book of Revelation as a whole. Based solely on one example, I can finally understand why the Book of Revelation would be the inspiration of so many who predict the apocalypse. There is so much material in the Book of Revelations that can be interpreted in so many ways. If one prophet’s interpretation of the apocalypse turns out not to be true, another prophet can easily come by and interpret the text in a novel way.

 

 

Response to the timely posts

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Hi everyone,

For this first set of posts, I’ll write a response that picks up on several of the key issues you have raised, since they will continue to be points of discussion and debate throughout the term and they might also prompt you to choose one for further exploration for your research essay.  Only half of you have responded in time to be included in this response, so next week be sure to post according to the deadline (which may mean shuffling your reading time).

First, let me point out that Revelation in the title is singular—not plural—so whenever you refer to it, drop the s!

Eric and Anastassia raised the intertwined issues of orality and literacy.  As Eric notes, the poetic nature and repetition of key words in the Book of Revelation is an indicator that it was initially heard rather than read by communities of people.  The fact that we inherit it as a written text, as Anastassia points out, was due to decisions made by an elite group of male leaders a few centuries after John of Patmos traveled about preaching his vision.  This raises certain questions about the differences between primarily oral cultures and more widely literate ones, and also points us to ponder the effects of digital cultures today.  Walter Ong remains a key scholar for discussions of orality and there have been a number of studies since his pathbreaking works from the 1980s.  For our discussion Tuesday, consider the implications further of oral and written impact.  What is the main power relation involved in each?  What are the emotional and intellectual effects of each form?

One view that Ong argued is that orality tends to accentuate violent conflict posed through binary oppositions.  This relates to Amy’s discussion of violence and how the ideas in Revelation might contribute to what is regarded as righteous violence.  This is a theme that will certainly carry out throughout the readings and the films—and one we see repeated in instances of social life and conflict.  It is also one that Albert notes in his reference to the video game Halo, which draws on biblical scripture.  I have written about the use of Halo 3 as a “recruiting tool” (the minister’s term) for evangelical youth.  Here we might consider the ways in patriarchal values associated with orality continue to be reinforced through entertainment media.  That leads us to ask, with Alison, how the portrayal of female figures in Revelation might continue to script today’s portrayals, albeit with different implications involving gender and sexuality.

Colby’s post gets to one of the prime movers of apocalyptic belief—fear of death and desire to defeat it.   As she indicates through Kirsch’s discussion of the shift in views of God and Satan as sources of death and evil in the world, the way we think about death dramatically shapes the way we think about the value of life and the earth.  Kirsch doesn’t go into the more ancient belief systems about death and afterlife, in ancient Egypt for example, but that is a good topic for further research.   Norman Cohn’s book on the recommended list is a good place to start.  One point worth raising in class is how these beliefs vary if a culture is polytheistic versus one that is monotheistic.  That is a shift that took place of over centuries in the ancient world and there are glimpses of the defeat of polytheism and the rise of the Yahweh Only movement in the Hebrew Bible or what Christians call the Old Testament.  The desire to defeat death is also to be found in certain scientific efforts today.