On the final day, we finished our Bible study by turning to the book of the Apocalypse, a.k.a. Revelation.
Friends, this is a book about which I have dubious feelings. It’s not just that it feels to me personally like the ravings of a schizophrenic — although that is a part of my problem with it. There’s also the fact that two of the oldest, best-informed, most highly respected Christian communities in the world — the Greek Orthodox community and the Syrian Christian community — have had public reservations about this book from the beginning. And these are communities that, because of their locations, were in a pretty good position to know where the book came from. Both of them originally resisted the inclusion of the Apocalypse in the Bible. And while both eventually caved in to pressure from the West, and allowed the inclusion of the Apocalypse in the standard Greek Bible, the Greek Orthodox church, still, to this very day, does not allow John’s Apocalypse in its liturgy, while the Syrian church has never included it in its native-language Bible, the Peshitta.
So if I’m dubious about the Apocalypse, I’m in fairly good company.
Moreover, historically, the Apocalypse’s vision of the end of Creation seems to have done people more harm than good, leading to a long series of basically hysterical movements, from the Münsterites, down through the Millerites, to Jonestown. The current rather one-sided involvement of “End Times” Christians in Middle East politics, largely inspired by the book of the Apocalypse, is of grave concern to many Friends — as is the widespread view that “we don’t need to be worrying about environmental matters since God means to bring the world to an end pretty soon in any case.”
For all these reasons combined, I am very hesitant about the idea of basing a Biblical environmentalism on quotations from the Apocalypse.
Nevertheless, several Friends in our study group had asked for suggestions as to how they might respond to folks who cite the coming “End Times” as a reason not to care about the destruction of the natural world. And I think that’s a fairly reasonable request! So I suggested they consider drawing such people’s attention to verse 11:18 of Apocalypse/Revelation, which is part of the section devoted to the Seventh Trumpet.
Once again, this is a verse that needs to be taken in context. Where it appears in the Apocalypse narrative, the conclusion of the current æon is already far advanced; God has made His intentions to bring the Earthly drama to an end, absolutely clear. So in this verse, as the seventh and final trumpet is sounded, the twenty-four elders who sit on thrones before God pray to Him and give thanks that the time has come —
…The time of the dead, for them to be judged,
and of Your servants, the prophets and saints, for You to reward them,
and all who fear Your name, both small and great,
and for You to destroy those who destroy the earth.
What I see here is the conclusion of a reasoning process on the author’s, John of Patmos’s, part. His logic appears to me to be that, since
- God desires a complete and total shâlôm between humans and the natural world — and, as we have seen, Hosea, Isaiah, and Paul have all affirmed that God does desire such a shâlôm — and since
- Christ taught in his parables that we shall be treated by God as we ourselves have treated others — we humans can therefore rightly expect that
- God, at the end of time, will destroy those who destroy others — including those who destroy his creatures. And so his twenty-four elders, sitting on thrones before God, express this expectation.
I think, if anyone is going to get seriously into the expectation of an apocalypse, as End Times Christians certainly do, then she or he had better give some careful thought to the implications of this passage!
Now, all in all, I’d actually prefer that we Friends simply not quarrel with End Times Christians. My heart tells me that, if we wish to draw the End Times folks into good environmental behavior, we will do better to appeal to their compassion and their sense of responsibility, rather than to cite proof texts and argue theology with them.
It’s maybe worth remembering that, in the Apocalypse itself, when the Seventh Seal is opened, and it becomes clear that the seven trumpets are going to be handed out at last, there is no sudden producing of proof texts in Heaven, nor any “I warned yous” to the sinners on Earth. Rather, all of Heaven falls silent “for the space of about half an hour”. (Apo./Rev. 8:1)
Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld, “The Silence in Heaven”, from Die Bibel in Bildern (“The Bible in Pictures”, 1852-1860)
I think that Heaven falls silent because those who dwell there are guided by feelings, not by theologies or ideologies. They are silenced by compassionate sorrow, not moved to speak by their convictions. And so, I hope, it may also be with us.
This concluded our Bible study. And on reflection, what do I think of it?
— I think it shows that Biblical environmental theology provides a truly radical perspective on how we humans are required to change in relation to the natural world: a perspective as radical as “deep ecology”, though in a different way. To embrace it is as taxing as embracing Christian pacifism, the pacifism of absolute nonresistance to evil.
— I also think that the group’s reaction to the more difficult parts of the vision was a fair hint of how unready we Friends in general are to embrace such a radical perspective at this present time.
As I said a couple of postings back, this Bible study gave me much to chew on, in the remaining hours before I stood and spoke to the yearly meeting as a whole. Frankly, it drove me even deeper into prayer than I’d been before.
I would welcome comments from thoughtful readers as to what conclusions you are inclined to draw.
And in my next posting, I’ll move on to the workshop I led on witness.
