Rapture, Revelation, and the End Times: Exploring the Left Behind Series

by Bruce David Forbes

Overview

Based upon a particular interpretation of Biblical prophecy, the Left Behind series of books provides a fictional narrative of the "End Times" in which a small group of belated converts to Christianity battle the Antichrist during seven years of tribulation. This volume contains six contributions by scholars exploring the historical, biblical, social, and political issues raised by the religious perspective promoted in these widely popular stories. A study guide at the back of the volume features discussion questions, a glossary of terms, and an annotated bibliography. Annotation ©2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780230256514
Publisher:	MPS
Publication date:	06/12/2004
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	263 KB

About the Author

Bruce David Forbes is the Arthur L. Bunch Professor of Religious Studies at Morningside College. He is the co-editor of Religion and Popular Culture in America. He holds a Ph.D. in American Religious History from Princeton Theological Seminary.

Jeanne Halgren Kilde is the author of When Church Became Theatre: The Transformation of Evangelical Architecture and Worship in Nineteenth-Century America. She currently teaches in the Religious Studies Department at Macalester College, where she also co-directs their Lilly Project in Work, Ethics and Vocation. She holds a Ph.D. in American Studies from the University of Minnesota.

Table of Contents

Preface

• How Popular Are the Left Behind Books, and Why?—Bruce Forbes

• What Does the Bible Say About the End Times?—Mark Reasoner

• Have Christians Always Believed in the Rapture?—Jeanne H. Kilde

• What are the Social and Political Messages in the Left Behind Books?—Amy Johnson Frykholm

• Judaism and Left Behind—Yaakov Ariel

• What are the Various Interpretations of the End Times?—Stanley Grenz

Editorial Reviews

While the apocalyptic worldview of Tim Lahaye and Jerry B. Jenkins's "Left Behind" series is not new, the popularity of the series and the growth of evangelical Christianity have helped bring it into the mainstream. Both of these books question the series, an approach its readers-mainly evangelical Christians-may not appreciate. Both books identify the series' appeal as speaking to people's desire for certainty in uncertain times by offering a view of good and evil, saved and damned. Forbes (religious studies, Morningside Coll.) and Kilde (religious studies, Macalester Coll.) present essays addressing the series' popularity, the history of millenarian thinking, and the series' viewpoints as seen through religious, political, and sociological frameworks. Frykholm (literature, cultural studies, & religion, Colorado Mountain Coll.) looks at the series' readers through interviews, which she places in a religious and sociological context. She finds that the acceptance of the story line is often unquestioned and even unrecognized by readers. Yet readers are not passive, as their beliefs require action. Nor are they simplistic, even though they may be accepting a simplistic view. Similar but complementary, grounded in academia but accessible, these provocative books are a rich addition to contemporary thought. Recommended for all libraries.-Nancy Almand, Weld Lib. Dist., Greeley, CO Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

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