A History of the End of the World

Jonathan Kirsch has written a book-- A History of the End of the World - How the Most Controversial Book in the Bible Changed the Course of Western Civilization, and the Los Angeles Times has seen fit to review it. Knowing that the LA Times is to the west coast what the New York Times is to the east, one should have no trouble grasping what follows.

Here then is a tally of interesting impressions by the reviewer-- and from the Kirsch...

The Book of Revelation, a lurid 12,000-word finale to the New Testament filled with riddle-strewn allegory and end-of-time massacre, transforms the gentle Nazarene of the Gospels into an unrecognizable warrior-king. Who wrote the text? From what fevered tradition did it spring? How did it become part of the biblical canon?

Okay. Though the imagery is 'lurid,' and the word 'massacre' apyly describes Christ's ultimate victory, I thoroughly object to 'fevered tradition.' Pardon me for pointing this out, but the author's take on Revelation is seriously out of context. Granted, he makes mention of the 'gentle Nazarene' Gospels, but nothing in the New Testament-- or the New Testament as a whole --should be viewed as a stand-alone. Everything in the New is foreshadowed in the Old, and everything hinted at in the Old is revealed in the New. As to who wrote the text, that one's easy: It was John, and there's no question about the books date, in terms of 1st or 2nd century. It was penned mid to late 1st century.

Kirsch picks through the thicket of speculation surrounding Revelation and examines, in a wry and expert manner, the book's uses and abuses throughout history, from antiquity and the Middle Ages all the way to the Branch Davidians of Texas and the currently popular "Left Behind" potboilers.

First of all, whether or not the book was used or abused at any point throughout its nineteen-plus centuries is not at issue in regard to Revelation's veracity. For though Mr. Kirsch calls his book a history, his every interpretation-- from what little I've seen --and assumption calls in to question the books validity as a bona fide part of the canon. What I find particularly disgusting here is the lumping of the Branch Davidians with the "Left Behind" books. If every Christian-- genuine or false --is to be lumped together in Kirsch's judgment, his book then ceases to be merely a 'history,' and steps boldly into 'debunk' territory.

...who cooked up this tale of a beast taking over the world and a repellent whore fornicating with all and sundry, of 144,000 male virgins escaping unscathed and, crucially, of Jesus winning victory at Armageddon and establishing a thousand-year era of perfection that ends in cataclysm, the resurrection of the dead and the dispatching of all humankind to either bliss or torment? The author gives his name as John and claims, like no other in the New Testament, that he is a mere conduit for divine dictation and that his book is in God's own voice.

Kirsch obviously doesn't believe that "all scripture is given by inspiration of God." His tone says as much. [Though this passage is merely the impression of the reviewer, it is reasonable to assume Mr. Kirsch provided 'tone' enough for Stephen O'Shea to discern. It is not at all a stretch to assume these are not the impressions of Kirsch himself]

Kirsch, like many biblical scholars, sees this John as an otherwise unidentifiable Jewish mystic of the first or second century...

The fact that Kirsch has written a couple of 'spiritual' books hardly makes him a scholar, especially if he can't see the plain attribution of authorship by the author himself in Revelation's opening verses. John was most certainly 1st century.

...Christianity's [apocalyptic prophecies] has the signal distinction of a formidable authorial footprint. Kirsch muses on what that has meant: "John is plainly obsessed with purity in all things, including … such thoroughly human concerns as sex, food and money. And his obsessive personality may help us understand why the book of Revelation has always exerted such a powerful influence on readers with similar traits, ranging from religious zealots to the clinically insane."

So, the book of Revelation has exerted powerful influences on religious zealots and the clinically insane? What? Is there no room at the inn for normal believers? Or are all who take Revelation seriously nothing more than religious zealots and/or criminally insane?

A masterful tour of a lush jungle of delusion, Kirsch's history also demonstrates that whenever a culture war besets a society, as in today's America, John's apocalypse comes galloping back into view.

'A jungle of delusion...' nice metaphor, but yet another sign that Kirsch is glaringly ignorant of God, and the things of God.

This ugly duckling of the New Testament, which such Christian elders as Augustine and Jerome warned against taking literally, continues to exert a pull on those who feel, rightly or wrongly, oppressed or outraged. Since some form of persecution, and certainly the persecution complex, will remain a constant in human affairs, the Book of Revelation, just like the world it keeps trying to destroy, simply refuses to go away... For those beleaguered by the constant sniping over morals in present-day America, Kirsch's splendid examination of this dark corner of religious resentment holds out a new perspective and, mercifully, some solace.

Ugly Duckling... Persecution Complex... Dark Corner of Religious Resentment... I can't recommend this book to anyone. I'm quite sorry, in fact, that I bothered to review the review...


Now. This is the kind of reader Jonathan Kirsch will ultimately attract; from one of only two reviewers at Amazon:

"I happened to come across this tasty volume by accident and found myself up half the night sucked into its pages. The author covers all aspects of Revelations and does an exhaustive, yet entertaining critique of the stories aka metaphors contained therein. For End of the World Enthusiasts and Conspiracy Buffs, some of your paranoia will dissipate. For die hards, forget it. They'll believe what they want to believe. For Evangelicals and Fundamentalist Yahoos, you might just lose some steam. This book has something for everyone. It's an intelligent cultural study of a book in the Bible that's been bandied about for centuries. There will be no absolutes when you get to the end. But you will have learned what all the fuss is about. Sure to tick off more than a few know it all holier than thou folks for its bold candor. Maybe that's why I like it so much."

And though it is admittedly a bit nit-picky, there was this one single comment at the bottom of the page...

"There is no such book as RevelationS in the Bible. One would think a librarian would know this. Do your copy editors know this? Please learn to copy and/or spell correctly, so you don't look stupid"

--Robert Eldred
Tonawanda, NY

[sigh] The only thing Mr. Eldred could find that was worthy of critique was a mis-spelling of 'Revelation'. What IS this world coming to?