Over the course of a few blog posts I am going to try to do something I have never done before on this blog. First of all, I am planning to keep with one topic for more than one post, rather than commenting on random things from the news and current books I am reading. This will take more discipline than I am used to, but stranger things have happened. Please be reading regular and providing some feedback as I meander towards a point with this series.
So what am I planning on doing? Why, commenting on the popalysm going on today, and seeing where it takes us.
First things first: Popalyptic. Not necessarily the most clever or original combination of the words pop and apocalyptic, but it is functional and I thought of it, so we are going with this as a title. I want to spend some time examining the use of apocalyptic material in pop culture and measure it up against Biblical writings. This is not to point out which are “right” and which have it all “wrong.” It has much more to do with seeing what these movies, books, and songs are telling our society about “end times,” not to mention how God works. I really have no specific intention as far as where this ends up.
I will say right here, at the start of this, that I have my own beliefs about what apocalyptic literature is and have even stronger opinions about what it is not. If you have different ideas, that is fine. Hopefully this will still be interesting for you and the conversations (if any ensue from this) that come out of it will bless both of us greatly. On my next post, which should hopefully come tomorrow, I will write about my understanding of apocalyptic literature, the Apocalypse, End Times, and try to share my limited understanding of how this has been historically read, turning specifically to the U.S. We’ll see if I can do all of that in one post… After that, we’ll turn to the pop part of these posts, which should make all of you who read People and Us happy.
For now, I will leave with two questions that should help me get moving on this (if, that is, anybody responds):
- What do you, without going to a theological dictionary or any other resource, think apocalyptic literature is? And why is it written?
- Where have you seen intersections between pop culture and apocalyptic ideas?
Peace,
Matt
1 comment:
1. I think that apocalyptic literature functions much like prophetic literature (at least in the Bible) in that it helps us understand our times. Apocalyptic literature usually helps us understand our times with a vision of the future, that is, the future-vision gives us a lens to interpret events around us. For most of Western culture, apocalyptic literature is a vision of the end of the world, or the end of a society, and usually serves as cautionary tales.
2. I haven't seen much in pop culture that deals with what I consider actual biblical apocalypse. I have seen spiritualized versions of end-of-the-world stuff like Left Behind. Other forms include many zombie movies, The Day After Tomorrow, etc. Oddly enough, some of my favorite stories are actually post-apocalyptic such as the film Children of Men or Cormac McCarthy's awesome novel, The Road.
Post a Comment