Eight years ago, when I wrote Apocalypse When, the rumours that were circulating involved the end of the world being imminent and that the world would end with a bang!
Whether one believed in the Mayan Prophecy or was a follower
of American radio evangelist Harold Camping, 2012 was the year we would be all
judged, saved or incinerated.
Today, sitting in self-isolation in west Wales, I am having
new apocalyptic thoughts, but this time I worry that if this is the beginning
of the end of the world, we will expire not with a bang, but a final gasping whimper.
Although to put things in perspective, as worrying as Covid-19 might be, it is
not quite in the same league as Bubonic Plague or a biblical pestilence.
Apocalypse When explored centuries of
scare-mongering, which began in classical times even before the writing of the
New Testament. However, with Bible in hand, succeeding Christian generations of
prophets of doom have had an invaluable source of material for their pessimism.
Over the centuries they have searched and analysed the scriptures looking for
Divine clues as to when the End Days could be expected. Camping’s calculations
involved crunching numbers from the days of Noah and alighting on 21 May 2012
as the red letter day in God’s almighty calendar.
So far none of the events foretold by any of a long line of
doomsters have materialised, so a book about prophecy is also a book about
disappointments and how the followers of the doom merchants cope when they are
eventually faced with the unravelling of prophecy. Frequently, dedicated
believers have not hidden away shamefaced, but have drawn on the strength of
their camaraderie to form new churches and denominations. In linear descent
from the followers of William Miller, who foretold the Second Coming in the
1840s, are the Seventh Day Adventists and the Jehovah’s Witnesses.
What might the religious consequence of Coronavirus be for
the Christian church? With church services being suspended churches are being
forced to find new way of ‘doing church’. There are innovative on-line acts of
worship and greater practical involvement in the community. With his church
shut, one priest I know is celebrating the Eucharist daily on behalf of the
parish in his own home and keeping the reserved sacrament in an oratory in the
vicarage. Alongside their prayers, clergy and church members are active in
making practical arrangements to help the sick and housebound. In some places,
the Church of England is as active as Ocado!
The big difference between our response to this virus and
the response to previous Apocalyptic scares is that there is no one today
egging the virus on. True there are some Green activists looking on the bright
side – less pollution from factories in China and Italy, fewer jets in the sky,
more home-working etc – but no one has truly made the virus welcome.
In the past, by contrast, the doom-mongers have had
supporters who have taken a positive stand and anticipated their rapture with
great eagerness, believing they are the saved and the world at large will be
deservedly damned.
Now that we are prohibited from having gatherings of more
than two, it is unlikely there will be any hilltop gatherings awaiting signs
from heaven. We will be sitting at our computers skyping friends and searching
social media posts for crumbs of reassurance. Most of us will get through.
After all, it’s only a virus – it’s not the end of the world. I hope.
***
Today’s post is
by Ted Harrison, author of Apocalypse When: Why we want to believe there will be no tomorrow, which you can buy in print or as an eBook here.
Thank you Ted. Very interesting. I am prompted to read your book again and have just found it on my bookshelf.
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