The Last Myth

The Last Myth: What the Rise of Apocalyptic Thinking Tells Us about America by Mathew Barrett Gross

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


I read this book over just a couple days, I found it that interesting. The authors cover a lot of bases here, from the historical background that led to the societal mindshift that led to the first apocalyptic myths to the reasons why apocalyptic thinking is so prevalent in much of mainstream American society now. But these aren't just discrete points in human history; a thread ties them all together. What impressed me most, however, is how the authors went a step further in the modern-day discussion of apocalyptic thinking to address how this approach to life, the universe, and everything is affecting (and in most cases harming) not just the U.S. but the world as a whole. Also, the final chapter provides a useful summary of all the material in the book, once again tying the content together (the writer in me always appreciates a good conclusion).



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Salvation on Sand Mountain

Salvation on Sand Mountain: Snake-Handling and Redemption in Southern Appalachia by Dennis Covington

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


As a child in a fundamentalist, independent Baptist church in West Virginia, snake handling churches were given as a cautionary tale about misinterpreting the Word of God and worship being too theatrical. (At the other end of the Continuum of Batshit was the Catholic church, for their pomp and circumstance, idols, Mary worship, and infant baptism.) So, I was very curious about this inside look at the snake handling culture. And what an inside look it was -- Covington became almost a de facto member of the community, and indeed handled snakes himself during worship services. Nonetheless, he remained seemingly objective about the foibles of his subjects, although that may have been a result of writing retrospectively after those ties were broken. Worth the read if you're interested in the Protestant sects of the U.S.



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Revelations, by Elaine Pagels

Revelations: Visions, Prophecy, and Politics in the Book of Revelation by Elaine Pagels

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I turned 40 this year, something that as a teenager I never expected to do. Not because I had some dread disease or abusive boyfriend, but because I had been taught that Jesus would be coming back any day -- most likely before my high school graduation in 1990 but definitely before I reached middle age. The signs were all there, as I learned in a Sunday night sermon series that featured a movie depicting the horrors of waking up to find all your loved ones gone. Because my parents didn't attend church, I didn't have a sane voice to counter the apocalyptic visions, which eventually spurred several panic attacks that the Rapture had occurred and I had been left behind. I really didn't think much about my future life because I didn't imagine that I would have one. Eventually I gained some real knowledge about religious history and left that all behind, but there's still a bit of fear of getting it wrong somewhere down in my lizard brain that pops up whenever someone doesn't answer a phone.

So, reading Elaine Pagels' Revelations was more than an academic exercise for me -- it was a cleansing of sorts. Like her previous books, Revelations presents scholarly information in a way that lay readers can understand. Her focus here is on the history of the text itself (one among many books of revelation circulating in the early days of Christianity) and how it came to be included in the canonical Bible.

A few issues in particular struck me while reading. First, Revelations as we know it is sort of a 3rd Century "Apocalypse Now," a tale of war and horror at a time of war and horror for its readers as well -- rather than prophesying the future, it reflects the circumstances of the time in which it was written, when the Jews and the Romans were in almost continual war. Along a different track, Pagels reveals that the most frequently read portions of Christian teachings largely involved those texts available to the lowest common denominator of believers, as opposed to the "secret" texts and teachings for those interested in a higher level of enlightenment. Of course, and not a surprise to those familiar with Pagels' other works, politics and power determined the direction of Christianity and the eventual "approved" interpretation of texts (the Council of Nicea was a dogfight for whose truth would become the Truth). For example, the beasts and enemies mentioned in the revelations of John originally were thought to represent Rome, until Constantine jumped on the Christianity bandwagon, when suddenly "heretics" who didn't toe the party line suddenly became the harbingers of the apocalypse. These heretics were mainly those who believed in intrinsic spirituality and individual enlightenment as opposed to a god working through a hierarchical organization defining the spirit as it sees fit. As people who thought for themselves, naturally, these independent sorts had to be destroyed and largely were, thanks to early bishops like Athanasius.

In the end, Revelations was chosen to finish off the canonical Bible in large part because it sets in stone the "my way or the highway" attitude of these bishops with its statement that if anyone adds or takes away to the Bible, as written by the powers that be, they are false prophets. The goal was to silence all critics of the orthodoxy by portraying them as led by Satan. Jeez, where have I heard that before.

And therein lies one thread that ties the lessons of the book together. That everything old is new again. That the prophesies of 2000 years ago are the prophesies of today not because they simply happened yet but because of the power they hold over the psyches of adherents and the power they provide to proponents: the idea that the horrors of today are just portents of some greater struggle of forces beyond our control, so we might as well just do what we're told, hope we do everything right, and look forward to the new Jerusalem to come since this world is just going to suck. So many of the evils of the past 2100 years come down to this simple but poisonous idea. It explains so much.

As for me, I've come to realize that no matter how much more time I may have, it's the day to day time on earth that matters.



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