Apocalyptic Literature and Politics

Introduction

No less than 2 religions and millions of subgroups claim the texts of the bible to be their religious, spiritual, and sometimes scientific and political view of this world and beyond. Of the 66 -73 books in the bible and all the apocryphal, pseudopigraphal, and historical writings of the characters, themes, and events in the bible without a doubt the least mined source for writings and sermons in main stream religion is the writings of an apocalyptic nature. Although many ancient apocalypses still exist to this day only one full apocalyptic book made the canon. This of course is the Revelation to John. Other apocalyptic writing does exist within the canon. A large part of the book of Daniel is very apocalyptic as well as a portion of the books of Isaiah, Ezekiel, and many other passages of the bible fall under the apocalyptic heading. At a point in Jewish and Christian history apocalyptic literature would have been taken very seriously by the main stream of religion. This is particularly true of the years between Antiochus Epiphanes and the revolt of Bar Kokhba. These dates are generally put about the years 167 BCE and 135 CE. It was during these times that most Judeo-Christian apocalyptic literature was written. This period was a time of great turmoil for the Christians and Jews. Both groups saw terrible persecution at the hands of several kings such as Antiochus Epiphanies, Nero, and Domitian. The political unrest and the terrible way that Jews and Christians were persecuted by the government the themes and images of apocalyptic literature tends to be of a political nature. The message sent about government in rarely positive in biblical literature and it is especially grim in apocalyptic literature. What is Apocalyptic literature?

Although the common use of the word apocalypse is used as meaning the end of the world this is not actually what all apocalyptic literature is about. The word Apocalypse is derived from the Greek word meaning to reveal or unveil. It is probably the use of revelation as the only example of apocalyptic for most people that causes this confusion. What then is apocalyptic? J.G. Collins defines apocalyptic as "a genre of revelatory literature with a narrative framework, in which revelation is mediated by an otherworldly being to a human recipient, disclosing a transcendent reality, which is both temporal, insofar as it envisages eschatological salvation, and spatial, insofar as it involves another, supernatural world." (Bauckham 6) This is a good a definition as can be found for apocalyptic. So then, apocalyptic literature is basically a story about someone getting a revelation from somewhere otherworldly or supernatural. That seems simple enough. This definition is a bit more inclusive than most people consider apocalyptic to be. If we use this definition as our foundation for apocalyptic then it will include all the prophets as full apocalyptic. In order to tighten this definition, scholars will often put forth a set of characteristics boil apocalyptic literature down to those pieces of work that better fit the idea of apocalyptic. These will vary from list to list but I like the one used by Kay Murdy on her website. This list goes thusly.

Author unknown- Because the foundation of a piece of apocalyptic literature is politically based it is important for the author to conceal their identity.

Past oriented- Apocalyptic can reveal anything about creation and is as often about the creation as it is destruction. Even when he Apocalypse is about something that is yet to be the images and reasons given for the future calamity are set in the past. This makes Apocalyptic very rooted in the past.

Future Oriented- Apocalyptic literature often reveals to the prophet things that are to be. Either inevitably or as a result of man kinds inability to conform to that which God wishes. In apocalyptic that is set in the past the message is about the future. Revelations of the past will be giving to cause change in the present and future. For instance the apocalyptic sections of Genesis and Exodus the things revealed are done so to explain the Jews as the chosen people and to point out all the reasons why things are as they are and will be.

Symbolism- Probably the thing that really stands out with apocalyptic literature is the strong symbolism. The famous beasts of Daniel and revelation are rarely interpreted as actual beasts that will come to destroy the earth one day. This kind of symbolism can also be explained by the political nature of apocalyptic literature. Much in the same way the author of a apocalypse must stay hidden to save his life his message too must be shrouded in symbols to protect the author and those why study believe and follow the teachings of an apocalypse.

Numerology- Something that is really important to the study of Judeo-Christian apocalyptic literature