[BRIEF NOTE] Marina Warner on Apocalypses

[rfmcdonald]

I'm ashamed that I've only now gotten around to reading Marina Warner's brilliant essay "Angels and engines" in the Times Literary Supplement of 19/26 August. Starting from the Book of Revelations, Warner goes on to examine how apocalypse--the tumultuous, bloody, but ultimately rewarding reworking of the world--has managed to permeate every corner of our existence, with state-of-the-art special effects showing us grand destruction in every imaginable manner even as we are desensitized to the suffering of our fellows. People, to the apocalypse, are of no more important than pine needles in a forest fire. That, of course, is why Left Behind is such a terribly disturbing work, with its portrayal of strong-minded people girded by their faith ultimately prevailing over a corrupt and dying tyranny. How does this vision of the apocalyptic, nominally Christian, differ from al-Qaeda's?