The Revolution of the Apocalyptic Myth (original) (raw)
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Future Clash: Popular American Apocalyptic Religion and its Contradictions
http://futureswewant.net/, 2019
This piece was commissioned for futureswewant.net/ by its curator Prof. Dr. Markus Schulz (http://markus-s-schulz.net/about/), Professor at the New School for Social Research and a co-fellow with me at the Max Weber Center for Advanced Cultural and Social Studies at the University of Erfurt, Germany. The title plays on Alvin Toffler's best selling 1970 book, *Future Shock* (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Future\_Shock), whose chief thesis is that we are living in a social situation of increasingly compressed time and disorientation produced by the advent of ever new technologies. The following essay takes up the apparent contradiction of best selling popular apocalyptic literature anticipating an imminent end producing massive sales and large fortunes for it creators who capitalize on the economic opportunities of a late industrial economy. The paradox is that belief in the swift return of Jesus is marketed in a way that participates in a neoliberal economy whose ideal is endless growth and production. The essay develops a lived religion approach to religious belief and practice (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lived\_religion) in the analysis of popular apocalyptic expectations and draws on Michel de Certeau's notion of reading as a practice of daily life. Its chief thesis is that the consumption of popular apocalyptic literature by the American public serves a particular set of social settings in which it finds its salience, a salience otherwise absent under different social settings where readers also lead their lives. Future clash refers to the way we live in multiple anticipations of the future, in ways that are not always logically consistent with one another. As such the essay challenges the idea that people who consume apocalyptic popular literature are dupes of religious hucksters and argues that consumers use the literature for their own purposes which may not in fact have very much to do with belief about the end of the world or the intentions of those who produce it. The essay contains language that some may find offensive.
This essay critically analyses the digital series H+. In the near future, adults who can afford them, have replaced tablets and cell phones with nanotechnology implants. The H+ implant acts as a medical diagnostic and can overlay the user's senses with a computer interface. The apocalypse comes in the form of a computer virus which infects the H+ network and instantly kills one third of humanity. The series represents the anxiety and religiosity that surrounds the possible social consequences of digital technology. It also explores the tensions and intersections between technology and faith. This essay makes the case, however, that H+ is grounded in the rhetoric of the technological sublime and, as a result, it offers only a narrow interpretation of faith and technology at the expense of an exploration of society, culture and what it is to be human.
--- To quote this article: LANGLUMÉ Diane, "Apocalypse as Religious and Secular Discourse in Battlestar Galactica and its prequel Caprica", in SKEPSI, Vol 6: "Apocalypse and Ghosts", 2014-2015, http://blogs.kent.ac.uk/skepsi/files/2015/04/6.07-Langlume.pdf
he concept of the end of the world is inherent in religious discourse. Illustratively, in Medieval Christianity, a divine power was held responsible for cataclysmic events. In the post-Hiroshima era, the concept of apocalypse has taken on secular meaning. Not surprisingly, given recent history, the apocalypse has become a prominent component of popular television epics; broadcast narratives, such as Battlestar Galactica and Caprica, entwine both Biblical and secular versions of the apocalypse, thereby creating a novel apocalyptic discourse which, instead of establishing the apocalypse as an end, uses it as a foundation, as a thought-provoking means of conveying a political message of tolerance and acceptance of otherness, of encouraging self-reflectiveness; and as a way of denouncing the empty rhetoric of religious extremism.
Bring it on: the apocalypse of George W. Bush,
Media International Australia …, 2004
This article examines a number of cinematic, literary and journalistic texts in the context of what film maker Tom Tykwer calls the "aesthetic memory" of September 11. In particular it explores the way these narratives relate to deeply embedded Western cultural myths of the apocalyptic. The apocalyptic language of American Christian fundamentalism and the heroic narratives of Hollywood film are explored as twin influences on a powerful civil religion dubbed by Jewett and Lawrence (ABSTRACT: This article examines a number of cinematic, literary and journalistic texts in the context of what film maker Tom Tykwer calls the "aesthetic memory" of September 11. In particular it explores the way these narratives relate to deeply embedded Western cultural myths of the apocalyptic. The apocalyptic language of American Christian fundamentalism and the heroic narratives of Hollywood film are explored as twin influences on a powerful civil religion dubbed by Jewett and Lawrence (
A comparison of early Christian, modern American Christian, and modern American secular apocalypticism
Cambridge University Press, 2022
Apocalypse, it seems, is everywhere. Preachers with vast followings proclaim the world's end and apocalyptic fears grip even the non-religious amid climate change, pandemics, and threats of nuclear war. But as these ideas pervade popular discourse, grasping their logic remains elusive. Ben Jones argues that we can gain insight into apocalyptic thought through secular thinkers. He starts with a puzzle: Why would secular thinkers draw on Christian apocalyptic beliefs--often dismissed as bizarre--to interpret politics? The apocalyptic tradition proves appealing in part because it theorizes a special relation between crisis and utopia. Apocalyptic thought points to crisis as the vehicle to bring the previously impossible within reach, thus offering apparent resources for navigating challenges in ideal theory, which tries to imagine the best and most just society. By examining apocalyptic thought's appeal and risks, this study arrives at new insights on the limits of ideal theory and utopian hope.
From Apocalyptic Demonization to Theological Responsibility
Streit-Kultur: Journal für Theologie , 2024
This essay is a response to an invitation by the journal Streit-Kultur to ponder the question: 'Which values should not guide us?' As the effects of climate change, political upheaval and ravaging war are palpable, apocalyptic images as well as the concept ‘apocalyptic’ are today regularly invoked in politics, popular culture and mass media. This essay ponders the potential dangers of the apocalyptic imaginary, especially its tendency to encourage idealization of one’s own community and demonization of the other. As carriers of this complex biblical legacy, it argues, Christian churches have a special responsibility. A major task for theology today is therefore to provide perspectives and tools that allow churches as well as other civil agents to interpret and understand the affective, deeply rooted, but largely unconscious ways in which apocalyptic tropes and images resurface in response to today’s cultural and political challenges.