A talk given to the Kairos Canada Gathering, June, 2009. 14 pp.
I commend the Kairos planning team for choosing such a bold theme. Apocalyptic imagination is the great step-child of western culture, especially since the Age of Reason colonized our minds and hearts. Apocalyptic literature’s wild, visionary, almost shamanistic symbolism is forever being consigned to the academic, fundamentalist and/or looney-bin fringes by the dominant culture.
This is because, as a tradition of resistance, apocalyptic is at once too pessimistic about the current status quo, and too hopeful about redemption coming from beyond history as controlled by empire.
Yet apocalyptic motifs keep popping up in popular culture, not least the movies. There is, of course, no biblical tradition more widely and profoundly misunderstood and misappropriated that apocalyptic. It is like a strong therapeutic drug—it needs to be handled wisely, because what can heal can also kill if abused. For all these difficulties, however, I believe that apocalyptic holds an important key to discerning any given historical moment. And this is why I salute the Kairos movement in Canada for not being afraid to wrestle with the controversial power of apocalyptic imagination. God knows, the times we are in demand nothing less.
Full Article: It’s the End of the World as We Know It… Resistance and Discipleship: Reflections on Exodus 1-2 and Mark 14 SKU: L09-1-F
Ched Myers 