I had a parishioner ask this morning, “How do they teach you about prophecy? as in Revelation or Daniel?” I didn’t have a knock-‘em-dead answer. True, we studied Daniel briefly in the core course overview of Prophets, and apocalyptic preaching was part of our preaching discussions. I think Revelation may be offered as a New Testament elective, but apocalyptic texts and their interpretation are not explicitly core curriculum.
As I reflected on his question, I was reminded that too often, our understanding of apocalypse is defined by popular fiction such as The Left Behind series, Frank Peretti’s This Present Darkness or movies like “2012” or “Independence Day”. In fact, several of the films I chose for this weekend are set in “post-apocalyptic" worlds, after civilization as we know it in 2011 has destroyed itself.
Contrary to our popular assumptions though, apokálypsis means "lifting of the veil" or revelation, giving us a definition of apocalypse that reorients us to paying attention to what Scripture has to say. Understanding that apocalyptic literature was written to people experiencing crises of faith frames the text much differently than imagining that the text is saying something about “the Last Days”. Understanding that the text may reflect messages of perseverance or hope, a call for endurance or a claim to God’s sovereignty presents different possibilities than using the text as a roadmap to survive the Second Coming.
Another point made by Anathea Porter-Young in her article about preaching apocalyptic texts is that “apocalyptic preaching also reveals the true nature of visible things, using symbols to characterize what it reveals.” Apocalyptic images and symbols have meaning, but their meanings may have been skewed or changed in popular media. As preachers and teachers, how then do we reclaim or interpret the meaning of symbolism and images in ways that are consistent with Scripture, and encourage our hearers to do the same?
Here's a related article on WorkingPreacher.org: Greg Carey, “Preaching Apocalyptic Texts”
Note: portions of this post were first written and published in a short essay in Middler Preaching in Spring 2011.
2 comments:
Thank you for the discussion of apokalypsis. As a MA student I haven't taken Greek, but plan to take the class on Revelation because when I was young our Covenant Church pastor preached on it often. I did not understand much and it scared me. I have read some of the Left Behind series and would rather think of it as 'lifting of the veil'.
Thank you for your comments on preaching apocalyptic texts. I will hold onto those resources too.
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