Doomsday

In Glorious Appearing, Jesus doesn’t seem to mind the color of one’s skin or where they were born. Everyone is spoken to in their own tongue, even their own accent! And we’re reminded of this more times than the number “7” appears in Revelation.

It becomes a sick joke, particularly when Ming thinks Jesus is speaking directly to her and is asked to step forward only to find a million others stepping forward too (295). It’s even worse when Chang thinks “The message his Savior imparted was definitely for him alone…” when this same false assumption was made just a dozen times before (326).

I disagree with Quinby in her reading that this text is racist and McAlister in her reading that GA displayed “impressive changes in race politics (17, McAlister reading).” The characters were not particularly westernized or Christian but essentially without identity, meaning Chang was a Chinese character to match a Asian tech-whiz stereotype, not because his Asian status was of importance to his character. The embarrassing caricatures of Carmela and Shaniqua do not grapple with the question of race but use awkward Ebonics to highlight the pervasiveness of the word. The only thing that mattered was coming to Jesus.

By Jesus describing Chang’s previous religion as “aberrant,” one could assume the book was using a racist, imperialist tone, especially after Mac refers to the west Texan accent as “the language of Heaven.” (325 & 341) Though in that same scene everyone gets a joke at the same moment, as if their minds were strung together in a collective unconscious, they even hear “Jesus laugh at Chaim’s Manna crack.” (341) The community, or lack of individuality, is startling. Even Jesus isn’t allowed a spotlight, as despite his “magnanimous comments about Himself, Rayford was struck by how lowly, humble, and compassionate [Jesus] sounded.” The point is that if you are saved, your nationality and race amounts to the language in which Jesus speaks to you.