Apocalyptic Visions of a Guilty Culture

This was published by Crazy Wisdom Bookstore, in anticipation of Y2K.

I've been savoring the crazy apocalyptic predictions with this millennium, and I'm struck by the way in which the American apocalyptic vision contrasts with the good old Biblical one.

Used to be, a good apocalypse involved a righteous God that would kick the bad guys' butts and establish justice for us little people. Now, it's all about our own butts getting kicked. Food shortages (Oh no! We might have to share!); computer breakdowns (How will we live?); stock-market crashes (You mean I can't be rich forever?!) global warming (My God! We might have to cut back on fossil fuels!) are all the visions of a guilty culture desperately clinging to addictions it knows cannot be sustained.

I think maybe this means WE are the bad guys. Certainly, campesinos in Nicaragua will receive the news of our catastrophes with a Biblical sense of vindication. They will write new psalms celebrating our downfall, which will be cherished through the centuries as evidence of the existence of a just God.

Someone once said that the only repentant nation is a defeated nation. Perhaps that is the lesson we are preparing to teach ourselves. Meanwhile, we will continue to fire up the SUVs, stock our ammo supply, and prepare for a doom of our own creating.

As for me and my house, I'm trying to see the world more from the campesino's perspective. The future looks a lot rosier that way.


The Rev. Matthew Lawrence
Chaplain, Canterbury House
Director, Institute for Public Theology