Reading Revelation Responsibly, Part 1

For at least the last forty years different Evangelical Christian groups have been predicting the glorious return of Jesus that will usher in the end of  the world.  They hold to a particular reading of the Book of Revelation that tries to find point by point correlations between contemporary events and the visions described in the last book of the Bible.  The idea is that if you connect the dots the right way you can successfully predict when the end is coming.  A major doctrine that they hold to is the Rapture; that true believers, those who have "accepted Christ as their personal Savior," will be taken up into the air to meet Jesus.  These blessed ones will avoid a seven year period of tribulation that the poor suckers left behind will suffer before Christ's visible return to earth.  This space doesn't allow for a full explanation of these teachings, but this link to Catholic Update may help. The Catholic Answers website also gives a thorough run down on this teaching.

To put it simply, Catholic teaching, as well as that of most Mainline Protestant churches, is that Christ will indeed return to gather the faithful together, but that the return of the Lord will be in one definitive event.  Why the disagreement?  A big reason is that many of the scriptural justifications given for the Rapture are not actually found in Revelation. The gathering of the saved by Jesus is found in 1 Thessalonians.  Luke 17:34-35 and Matt. 24:40-41both make reference to people being taken and left behind.  Even the figure most associated with the end of the world, outside of Jesus himself, the Anti-Christ, is found in the First and Second Letters of John, not in Revelation.  Whats more the term Rapture itself doesn't even appear in the Bible. These diverse passages have been taken out of context and cobbled together to to formulate a doctrine that is patently non-scriptural and foreign to Christian thought before it appeared in 1830.

All this would be the modern equivalent of arguing over how many angels can dance on the head of a pin, but that the teaching of the Rapture has become so pervasive through the popular writings of Hal Lindsey and in the "Left Behind" series of novels.  They have fostered an attitude that since the "true disciples" will be able to avoid the tribulations of the world, there is no need to worry about things like justice, the ecology and peace.  Let the world go to heck in a hand basket, I'm saved already!  There are also those who have adopted political views based on the idea that it will hasten the Second Coming.  For instance some Evangelicals support the State of Israel because, to their reading of things, Jesus can't come back until all the Jews have returned to the Holy Land.  I heard a Jewish commentator joke that they'll be waiting a long time since she has no intention of ever going to Israel. 

There have been many Catholic and Protestant authors over the last ten years who have written books to refute the claims of Lindsey and the others.  One such book came across my desk recently, with the rather long winded title of Reading Revelation Responsibly: Uncivil Worship and Witness: Following the Lamb Into the New Creation by Michael J. Gorman (he actually laments, jokingly, that the title wasn't longer). Gorman, a Methodist scripture scholar teaching at the Catholic St. Mary's Seminary and University in Baltimore, delivers a short but rich review and analysis of the Book of Revelation.  Rather than simply telling you how the Rapture folks are wrong, he shows you how to read Revelation in it's proper context so you can see for yourself what's in it and what it means.  He draws on contemporary and classical authors, both Protestant and Catholic, to show how the book was read in the past, and what light recent scholarship can shed on this very misunderstood piece of the scriptural canon.

While he writes in an accessible style that avoids a lot of theological jargon (and he explains what technical language he does use), I would hesitate to recommend this for the general reader.  Not the least reason is the price; it lists on Amazon at $25, for a paperback of less than 200 pages (I borrowed it, myself).  There are other, more popular and reasonably priced books like Will Catholics Be Left Behind: A Critique of the Rapture and Today's Prophecy Preachers by Carl E. Olson, that gives a more complete overview of the "Rapture" phenomenon, or Scott Hahn's The Lamb's Supper: The Mass as Heaven on Earth that brings the liturgical connection that Gorman points out into a more focused (and yes, Catholic) perspective. 

But I do not want to leave Dr. Gorman's work behind (excuse the pun).  It is a short book, but a powerful one, that puts foreword many ideas in its brief length.  It is also a challenging read, especially in its critique of empire in general, applying the qualities of empire to the United States, the role of patriotism in the life of the disciple and what a Christian's proper relationship with the economy and material possessions should be.  While I'm not sure I agree with the entirety of his analysis, it can't be easily dismissed, either. I have found my morning meditations the last week or so taken up with the chewing over of the ideas put forward here. Next time I'll continue by exploring some of the more controversial elements of Gorman's book.