Prophecy, politics, and the popular: The left behind series and Christian fundamentalism's new world order

South Atlantic Quarterly

Volumn 102, Issue 4, 2003, Pages 773-798

  McAlister, Melani ^a  

^a NONE

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[No Author keywords available]

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EID: 33749507752     PISSN: 00382876     EISSN: 15278026     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1215/00382876-102-4-773     Document Type: Review

References (68)

1. Daisy Maries, "Few Surprises in the Winners' Circle," Publishers Weekly, March 18, 2002, 53
2. Nancy Gibbs, "The Bible and the Apocalypse: The Biggest Book of the Summer Is about the End of the World," online at www.time.com (June 23, 2002)
3. The first book is Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins, Lefi Behind: A Novel of the Earth's Last Days (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House, 1995)
4. The "final" book, number 12, will be followed by a prequel and a sequel; the series is scheduled to end in 2006. See John Cloud, "Meet the Prophet: How an Evangelical and Conservative Activist Turned Pròphecy into a Fiction Juggernaut," online at www.time.com (July 23, 2002)
5. Kevin Sack, "Apocalyptic Theology Revitalized by Attacks," New York Times, online at www.nytimes.com (November 23, 2001)
6. The Lefi Behind series does not refer to the end-times converts as Christians, but as the Tribulation Force or Believers, or, later, as followers of Tsion Ben-Judah (Judah-ites).This is because, according to the biblical interpretations put forward by LaHaye, the post-Rapture converts are not referred to in the scriptures as Christians (those are already Raptured), but as Tribulation Saints. See Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins, Are We Living in the End Times? (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House, 1999), esp. 95-120
7. CNN's American Morning, November 8, 2002
8. NPR's Fresh Air, October 28, 2002
9. CBS's Saturday Early Show, July 13, 2002
10. See also Time cover story, Gibbs, "The Bible and the Apocalypse."
11. Historian of religion Grant Wacker puts the estimate at about fifty million. According to an ABC/Beliefnet poll, 37 percent of all Christians describe themselves as born again or evangelical; since 83 percent of Americans describe themselves as Christian, evangelicals would comprise approximately 32 percent of all Americans. Gary Langer, "Poll: Most Americans Say They're Christian," online at www.abcnews.com (July 18, 2002)
12. Other polls put the number of evangelicals as ranging from 25 percent to 46 percent, depending on how the question is worded. See also the "American Religious Indentification Survey of 2001," online at www.gc.cuny.edu/ folio/index.htm (March 3, 2003)
13. Evangelical ministries have been key to the public face of Protestantism throughout the twentieth century, from Billy Sunday to Billy Graham. Fundamentalists are always also evangelicals, but would generally be seen as evangelicalism's conservative wing. Also see R. Marie Griffith's discussion of the definitions in God's Daughters: Evangelical Women and the Power of Submission (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1997)
14. Martha MacNeil Hamilton, "Retailing's New Testament Faith: Sales of Items Tied to Spirituality Are Booming, and Not Just through Traditional Religious Venues," Washington Post, October 15, 2001, H1
15. Larry Eskridge of the Institute for the Study of American Evangelicals, quoted in Ann Rodgers-Melnick, "Evangelical Fiction Cracks the Bestseller List," Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, May 6, 2001, A1
16. Dermott McEnvoy and Daisy Maryles, "The Right Name Makes the Game: Trade Paper Sales Continue to Climb; Fiction Rules in Mass Market," Publishers Weekly, March 19, 2001, 37
17. both produced by Cloud Ten pictures, a small evangelical production company. LaHaye and Jenkins are said to be very unhappy with the low-budget, straight-to-video approach of the films, and are currently in litigation to regain rights to the films. John Lippman, "Christianity at the Cinema," Wall Street Journal, February 1, 2001, B1
18. "Stand for Israel" (www.standforisrael.com) is a project of the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews, which is led jointly by Rabbi Yechial Eckstein and Ralph Reed, formerly of the Christian Coalition. Eckstein also heads the Jerusalem Friendship Fund, which last year funneled more than fifteen million dollars in evangelical contributions to support Jewish immigration to Israel. Yair Sheleg, "Christian Generosity Becomes Rabbinical Nightmare," from Ha'aretz, October 16, 2002; translated and reposted at www.bintjbeil.com/articles/en/021016-sheleg.html (December 12, 2002)
19. This is LaHaye's paraphrase in one of many similar interviews; Sandi Dolbbe, "Second-Coming Attraction: Best-selling, Apocalypse Author Is Drawn to the End Times," The San Diego Union-Tribune, November 15, 2002, E1
20. For an informative discussion of apocalyptic religious views of all kinds as organized on the Internet, see Brenda Basher, Give Me That Online Religion (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2001)
21. For a good discussion of the basics of this theology, see Paul Boyer, When Time Shall Be No More: Prophecy Belief in Modern American Culture (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1992)
22. James Hunter, "The Evangelical Worldview since 1890," in Piety and Politics: Evangelicals and Fundamentalists Confront the World, ed. Richard Neuhaus and Michael Cromartie (Washington DC: Ethics and Public Policy Center, 1987), 19-53
23. Nancy Ammerman, "North American Protestant Fundamentalism," in Media, Culture, and the Religious Right, ed. Linda Kintz and Julie Lesage (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1998), 55-114
24. Hal Lindsey with C. C. Carlson, The Late, Great Planet Earth (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1970)
25. I discuss Lindsey in some detail in McAlister, Epic Encounters: Culture, Media, and U.S. Interests in the Middle East, 1945-2000 (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2001), 165-78
26. Presbyterian Gary DeMar has written a debunking treatise, End Time Fiction: A Biblical Consideration of The Left Behind Theology (Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2001). There are also multiple Web pages devoted to various arguments with the theology, though these are often from the perspective of those who disagree over the timing of the Rapture
27. Karen Long, "Left Behind and the Rupture over the Rapture," Washington Post, May 5, 2001, B9
28. See John Dart, "'Beam Me Up' Theology," Christian Century, September 25-October 8, 2002, 8-9
29. Randall Balmer and Lauren Winner make the argument that prophecy interpretation is fun in Protestantism in America (New York: Columbia University Press, 2002)
30. The number of Americans who engage in "prophecy talk" is impressively high. According to a Newsweek pool, approximate 45 percent of U.S. Christians believe that the world will end in Armageddon. Caryle Murphy, "At Millennium, Finding Salvation: Popular Series by Evangelical Christian Authors Retells Book of Revelation," Washington Post, November 28, 1999, C1
31. Jerry Strober and Ruth Tomczak, Jerry Falwell: Aflame for God (Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publisher, 1979), 167
32. David Snowball, Continuity and Change in the Rhetoric of the Moral Majority (New York: Praeger, 1991), 16
33. See also my discussion in McAlister, Epic Encounters, 193-97
34. Rodgers-Melnick, "Evangelical Fiction Cracks the Best-Seller List," A1
35. On the Council for National Policy, see Marc Ambinder, "Vast, Right-wing Cabal?" online at www.abcnews.com (May 2, 2002)
36. For more information on this organization, see the "Right Wing Watch" section of the People for the American Way Web site, www.pfaw.org
37. David Mehegan, "Appeal Spreads for Series that Spreads the Word," Boston Globe, February 27, 2002, G1
38. Michelle Goldberg, "Fundamentally Unsound," online at www.Salon.com (July 29, 2002)
39. For a discussion of Armey's statements from a moderate conservative who nonetheless fears the influence of the Christian right on pro-Israel policy, see Peter Beinart, "Bad Move," The New Republic, May 20, 2002, 6
40. Inhofe's statement is quoted by Gershom Gorenberg, "Unorthodox Alliance: Israeli and Jewish Interests Are Better Served by Keeping a Polite Distance from the Christian Right," Washington Post, October 11, 2002, A37
41. In May 2002, the House passed 352-21 a resolution supporting Israel "as she wages war against terrorists who would mercilessly kill her citizens." Bruce Alpert, "Support for Israel Bridges Old Divides," New Orleans Times-Picayune, May 3, 2002, 4
42. Jason Keyser, "Hundreds of Americans Move to Israel: Mass Immigration Is Paid for in Part by Evangelical Christian Groups," Seattle Post-Intelligencer, July 20, 2002, A1
43. Ken Ellingwood, "A Christian Day of Prayer for Israel," Los Angeles Times, October 21, 2002. Other groups that support Jewish immigration to Israel (e.g., the "ingathering" of Jews they believe to be predicted in the Bible) are Christians for Israel, which operates a project called Exobus, and John Hagee Ministries of Texas
44. Tatsha Robertson, "Evangelicals Flock to Israel's Banner: Christian Zionists See Jewish State Bringing Messiah," Boston Globe, October 21, 2002, A3
45. Avram Goldstein, "Christian Coalition Rallies for Israel in Comeback Bid," Washington Post, October 12, 2002, B1
46. See also Don Wagner, "For Zion's Sake," Middle East Report (Summer 2002): 52-58
47. IFCJ claims to have raised more than sixty million dollars for Israel; see Wagner, "For Zion's Sake."
48. Alison Mitchell, "Mideast Turmoil: The Conservatives; Israel Winning Broad Support from the US Right," New York Times, April 21, 2002, 1. Bauer is also cochair of the American Alliance of Jews and Christians, with Rabbi Daniel Lapin. Other Christian Zionist organizations include Friends of Israel, based in New Jersey; Bridges for Peace, which has contributed more than twenty million dollars to programs in Israel in the last five years; and the International Christian Chamber of Commerce, which actively promotes Israeli businesses
49. On the meetings at the Israeli embassy, see Robertson, "Evangelicals Flock to Israel's Banner."
50. Mark O'Keefe, "Israel's Evangelical Approach: U.S. Christian Zionists Nurtured As Political, Tourism Force," Washington Post, January 26, 2002, B11, discusses both the meetings and the push for tourism
51. Sharon's talk is mentioned by Tatsha Roberston, and also on "God and Country," ABC's Nightline, November 26, 2002
52. Katty Kay and Roland Watson, "Influential US Jews Like What They Hear," Times (London), June 26, 2002
53. Marshall Whitmann of the Hudson Institute and former lobbyist for the Christian Coalition, quoted by Abraham McLaughlin and Gail Russell Chaddock, "Christian Right Steps in on Mideast," Christian Science Monitor, April 16, 2001, 1
54. In April 2002, Bush called Ariel Sharon a "man of peace"; several observers have seen Bush's pro-Israeli policies, which differ significantly from his father's, as motivated by a combination of political pressure and true belief. Gay Alcorn, "Bush Follows His Conservative Heart Back to Israel," The Age (Melbourne), April 20, 2002, 5
55. Tom Delay (R, Texas) has said that he believes that God is using him to promote "a biblical worldview" in Congress. He has been among the most active leaders in promoting support of Sharon's policies, and has argued strongly against U.S. acceptance of a Palestinian state. Gary Bauer also makes claims for the Right's success in pressuring Bush, and Pat Buchanan, who is very critical of the conservative tilt toward Israel, concurs; Alpert, "Support for Israel Bridges Old Divides."
56. David Klinghoffer, "Just Be Gracious," Jerusalem Post, August 16, 2002, 7B
57. Andew Gumbel, "The Profits of Doom: In Five Years As a Religious Thriller Writer, Tim LaHaye Has Sold 30 Million Copies. ... Andrew Gumbel Meets the Moral Majority's Answer to J. K. Rowling," The Independent (London), November 12, 2000, 7
58. On how the series has affected Tyndale, see Corrie Cutrer, "Left Behind Has Been Very, Very Good to Tyndale" (October 17, 2000), online at www.christianitytoday.com/ct/ 2000/013/20.26.html (August 2, 2002)
59. In terms of the self-representation of Internet posters, I am aware of the arguments about the performativity of age and gender on the Internet, but other research suggests that the vast majority of people present themselves realistically, at least on these basics, and there is reason to believe that most people who join a fundamentalist community would be inclined to self-represent accurately. In fact, there is some evidence for that, precisely because there are clearly demarcated ways in which participants do perform across gender, ethnicity, and age, via the handles that people take when they sign on to the message boards. For example, the handle "Abdullah" (in the series, a converted Jordanian pilot in his early thirties) belongs to a person who, in her profile, describes herself as a teenage girl. In these situations, performance is allowed and even encouraged via character identification, which thus clears the "profiles" as a space for authenticity. See David Gauntlett, "Web Studies: A User's Guide," in Weh Studies: Rewiring Media Studies for the Digital Age, ed. D. Gauntlett (New York: Oxford University Press, 2000)
60. and Kevin Robbins, "Cyberspace and the World We Live In," in The Cybercultures Reader, ed. David Bell and Barbara Kennedy (New York: Routledge, 2000)
61. Among the many histories of fundamentalism that trace this legacy, see William Martin, With Cod on Our Side: The Rise of the Religious Right in America (New York: Broadway Books, 1996)
62. See the series "A SpiritWalker's Song," at www.tribforcehq.com/ fiction
63. One of the most recent threads of fan fiction on the Left Behind Web site features Chang as the protagonist, and in an earlier, 2001 thread (now unavailable; message boards are not archived at www.leftbehind.com), Chang was often mentioned as a favorite character. When I posted a query about Chang on the message boards on August 12, 2002, I received several replies, most of which said Chang was one of their favorite characters (often running behind Buck or, interestingly, David Hassid, the converted East European Jew who preceded Chang as the new mole inside New Babylon). Remembering that there are literally dozens of characters in the series, and that each book introduces at least three or four new characters, it is no small thing for a character to be more of a favorite than the central four characters of the Tribulation Force
64. Gershom Gorenberg, The End of Days: fundamentalism and the Struggle for the Temple Mount (New York: Free Press, 2000)
65. Bob Simon, "Zion's Christian Soldiers," 60 Minutes, October 6, 2002
66. Pat Robertson's statement reported by Matthew Lee, "US Evangelist Says Muslims 'Worse Than Nazis,' Urges Jews to Know Enemy," Agence France-Presse, November 12, 2002
67. John Cloud, "Meet the Prophet: How an Evangelist and Conservative Activist Turned Prophecy into a Fiction Juggernaut," online at www.time.com (July 23, 2002). (Time also mentioned the controversy over the fact that LaHaye and Jenkins are reported to have both made about fifty million dollars, with more to come. Both authors have been asked repeatedly in interviews about their newfound wealth, and both insist that the money brings with it an enormous responsibility to "stewardship," and that they are giving a good deal of it away. There have been few suggestions that either of them has embarked on an extravagant lifestyle.)
68. Gibbs, "The Bible and the Apocalpyse," 2