I love the fact that into the bibliography I slipped a conversation which took place at a most curious and delightful monthly gathering in Chicago. Of course, I gave the Holder of Court a pseudonym to protect the guilty.
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Writing & Rhetoric I
Opinion Research Paper
Final Draft: December 13, 2007 (1.5 Draft; okay call it 2nd draft if you must)
THIS UBIQUITOUS APOCALYPSE
Apocalyptic thought permeates Western culture. Despite repeated prophecies concerning the end of the world, so far there has not been a consensually noticeable Armageddon. From the Y2K Problem back to early Zoroastrian cults, we experience this astounding religious and political expectation. From these repetitious cries of imminent doom we could suppose that Belief is far more powerful than Experience; no matter how many prognostications that the end is nigh come and go with so much fanfare, the impending Apocalypse never quite arrives. And yet this repeated failure doesn't stop us from collectively being taken down that road to the end of the world again and again.
So welcome aboard the Armageddon Express, we'll be making a few stops in our brief examine of Apocalyptic beliefs before we reach the End.
2012 is coming. Are you ready?
Humans have long been fascinated with the end of the world. For as far back as records existed of thought and belief, eschatological thought has existed. The world's first single-god religion, Zoroastrianism, believed that there were two forces in the world, one lead by the Supreme God of Light, Ahura Mazda, and the other by the destructive spirit, Angra Mainyu. According to Zoroastrian theology, the two forces would eventually have a sort of a show down between the Righteous and the Wicked, and a Final Judgment of all souls would be leveled upong all humans, living and dead. This is clearly the foundation for the future eschatological beliefs of Judaism and Christianity, which both include a Judgment before God, and a personal penance, punishment, or exaltation of the soul.
This divine judgment in Zoroastrian belief was that each "person is accountable, eschatologically, for his actions" in life (Lampden, par. 4). This is the foundation of other Apocalyptic belief systems which hold that one's faith would not always supersede their actions in life and a last-minute conversation might not save them the damnation which awaits non-believers of whatever eschatology might be the case in point.
Prophets of Zoroastrianism proclaimed such a battle and judgment would one day befall human, but records left us do not declare they ever set a date for such an event, and, it can be surmised from the state of the world today, that this Final Judgment probably did not occur. But it did give rise to the three most dominant religions who focus a great deal of theological attention on the on-day-soon-will-be-here Eschaton.
With Judaism, religious belief and politics would become forever intertwined, and despite six thousand years of denial, it has never been untangled. According to eschatology student, Eric Redding:
Religion and politics are, and have always been, one and the same. Communism, Capitalism; Socialist, Fascist; Democratic, Republican; Lords, Commons -- these are the bodies of theology and politics. Communism died a rapid death. The infection of Judaism and Christianity are slow, lingering illnesses. The American religion, Capitalism -- worship of the Bank Accounts and Bottom Line -- is a virus that has almost vectored itself out of existence ... killing its adherents with extreme indifference and vitriol prejudice.
Although this is seemingly stated in an empirical and sarcastic manner, it rings true to the nature of belief, if not absolute veracity. But we might be jumping ahead a bit in our tour of the end times. Let's step back from talk of American Capitalism and consumerism and return to early Judaism and examine their end of the world beliefs.
In the Babylonian Talmud -- the Hebrew Book of Law compiled during their exile in Babylon -- it states an early example of the belief that the end times are near and a savior will come to smite the evil which stands against True Belief. "When thou seest a generation overwhelmed by many troubles as by a river, await him, as it is written, when the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard against him; which is followed by, And the Redeemer shall come to Zion." (Talmud, Sanhedrin 98)
So eager were the early Hebrews to have their Mashiach, their anointed Messiah, appear, that prophecies and foretellings are sprinkled through the books of the Torah. Ezekiel, Jeremiah, Zephaniah, and almost all of the Book of Isiah contain references to the coming Messiah. They believed that the human soul was immortal, living on beyond the death of the body. When the Messiah arrives, those of the Olam Ha'zeh, "this world", alive or dead, would be transported to Olam Haba, the "world to come". The coming of the Messiah would also result in destruction to, if not the entire world itself, then the power structure which is in place at the time the Messiah appears. This expectation of upheaval reveals itself in the very word we use for the end of the world. Armageddon comes from a Hebrew word that names a specific place. The valley of Meggido, beneath a mountain peak of the same name, Har Meggido ("Mount Meggido"). Armageddon. The place where the end of the world begins. Or at least, the end of the ruling class.
This returns us to touch again on the point made connecting such religious beliefs to political ones. Even if the entire world is not destroyed when the Messiah battles the Adversary ("Ha-Satan", in Hebrew, meaning "accuser", "adversary", and "wanderer") at Armageddon.
Not all of the various sects of Judaism believed this way. The Sadducees, for example, did not believe in the afterlife, which put an incredible kink in their believe of the Messiah coming to bring a Judgment upon the world. But one particular sect of Judaism could be considered an Apocalyptic cult. The Essenes saw the world in much the same way the Zoroastrians before them did. Light was the representation of God, and Darkness was evidence of the Adversary. It is widely thought today that the Essene cult was the origin of many teaching later attributed to Yeshua ben Yosef, more commonly called Jesus Christ.
Even making a cursory examination of Christianity and Apocalyptic thought would take up the pages a a lengthy book, so for our Express ride through the sights of the end times, we will have to make only very brief mention of several names, and only a pause for one or two events to look more closely at them.
In the first 1500 years of Christianity, there were no less than a few thousand declarations that the End had come. The early Christians believed their Messiah would return in their lifetimes, and such expectations continued through the next generation. This is when the most famous work about the end of the world was written.
The Book of the Revelation was penned by John of Patmos sometimes between 68 and 96 CE. It's unforgiving tone and blood-thirsty images of torment, torture, and destruction became the template for Apocalyptic belief which followed. Visions of half-human, half-animal beast, swarms of insects, rivers and oceans of blood, and crumbling mountains and towers would become the benchmark for all future attempts to describe what was going to befall this world, if not tomorrow, then very, very soon.
Following John of Patmos in Christian millenarian prophecy were the sects of Priscillianism, Montanism, the Cathars (to name but a very few), and eventually the Millerites, which gave rise to a number of Christian sects and religions that are still dominate today.
For brevity's sake, this Express view of the Apocalypse will not be stopping at the stations between John of Patmos and the Millerites, but suffice it to say, the Cathars, in particular tie together the past of Zoroastrianism, Hebrew sects, and early Christian belief with the threads of modern millennialism, connecting the Templars, the Crusades, and our modern obsession with conspiratorial beliefs.
We stop again then with the Millerites, a Christian denomination that began in the early 1800s in New York State. Adventists, Millerites, and Mormons all began at roughly the same time, in the same general vicinity, leading historians to deduce that so many versions of Christian religion sprang up at the time due to people applying the ideals of democracy to religion, bringing us back to the point made that religion and politics have long been intertwined.
The Millerites believed that Jesus Christ was soon going to return, and His return would mark the beginning of a thousand year earthly reign in which evil would be purged from the world and a new age of God-fearing (i.e. loving) people would be the only ones left. This is a direct association of the end of the world with the imagery within the Book of Revelation. The leader of the Millerites, John Miller, had picked/deduced a specific date for the return of the Christ. October 22, 1844. More than 100,000 people sold their homes and land and worldly possessions in order to be unencumbered when the Savior arrived.
When this date came and went without Jesus Christ showing HImself to his followers, the event became known as the "Great Disappointment". Many reasons were cited as to why Jesus hadn't shown up, but the result was the same. The Millerite movement was ended, but it gave rise to a number of other denominations in its place, including the Second Adventists, the Jehovah's Witnesses, and the Seven-Day Adventist Church. It also did not stop further prognostications that the End was still so very nigh. It also marked the modern age of what might be called obsessive insanity concerning the end of the world.
From Montanus with Priscilla and Maximilla to Joachim of Fiore, through the ultimately infamous Templars and the oft-misquoted Nostradamus, to the modern day rantings of Lahaye, Robertson, Lindsey, Clare Prophet, Applewhite, etcetera etcetera religio ad nausea -- the attraction of the chiliastic myth has experienced a spectrum of cries and warnings and prognostications. Such experience might show us that another call that the End is all kinds of Nigh is just so much millenarian myth and mirage. Yet there is something about an Imminent Apocalypse that makes most people hope for themselves to be numbered with those who will be "saved" -- who would survive and find the world a living paradise, free from those they would deem as reprehensible people -- whatever qualifies as reprehensible according to their cosmological framework. Through a belief in such a Final Judgment that will befall others (but never those who are truly saved), history and current events both assume meaning, and the horrors of both become bearable. Wether it is by fire, flood, famine, virus, extraterrestrials, or asteroid impact, the end of the world is always said to be near, but so far, despite constant calls that the End Times are here again, they have never quite arrived. So, as can be shown by this repeated cycle of Armageddons -- when people clamor about living in the Last Days like so many moths fluttering to a gasoline-fueled flame -- Hope is a far more powerful force than is Experience.
In our generation today we have seen a plethora of Apocalyptic proclamations, and our popular media has been inundated with it. From Orson Welles narrating a documentary film on Nostradamus through the run of Hollywood films in the late 90s, such as Deep Impact and Armageddon, to more recent television fare, The Invasion and Jericho. Media programs and audiences never tire of being told the world might end tomorrow. More importantly than popular shows, the dire side of Apocalyptic belief can be seen in the Heaven's Gate suicide cult with their belief in UFOs landing to save the chosen people to the Branch Davidians in Waco, Texas, burned alive because of their so-called "fringe beliefs". In 1999, millions of days and countless amounts of time was devoted to fending off the possible massive, world-wide computer failings due to the Y2K Bug. And our next Western Pop Culture End Times date has been linked to the Maya Calendar, which New Age thought has told us to expect another end of the world on (or around) December 21, 2012.
2012 is the next stop on our Apocalyptic Express. But if we miss that one, don't worry. Another end of the world date will surely follow.
Bibliography
"Apocalypse!" Frontline.
Dir. William Cran &. Ben Loeterman.
PBS. 22 Nov. 1998.
The Holy Bible: King James Version.PBS. 22 Nov. 1998.
The Tanakh: International Jewish Library Edition.
Barkun, Michael. A Culture of Conspiracy:
Apocalyptic Visions
in Contemporary America.
Berkeley, CA: University of
California Press, 2003.
Boyett, Jason. Pocket Guide to the Apocalypse.in Contemporary America.
Berkeley, CA: University of
California Press, 2003.
Orlando, FL: Relevant Books, 2005.
Grosso, Michael. The Millennium Myth:Love and Death at the End of Time.
Wheaton, IL: Quest Books, 1995.
Lambden, Stephen. Encyclopaedia Iranica:Wheaton, IL: Quest Books, 1995.
"Eschatology." Ed. Ehsan Yarshater.
1996-2007. 19 Nov. 2007.
1996-2007. 19 Nov. 2007
with Rhetorical Gasoline".
Chicago, August 18 2007.
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