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Mass Market Mayhem: The Conservative Discourse and Critical Function of the Series

A Thesis

Submitted to the Faculty of Miami University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts Department of Comparative by Gavriel Einstein Miami University Oxford, 2004

Advisor ______Dr. Peter W. Williams Reader ______Dr. Lisa Poirier Reader ______Dr. James Constantine Hanges ABSTRACT

MASS MARKET MAYHEM: THE CONSERVATIVE DISCOURSE AND CRITICAL FUNCTION OF THE LEFT BEHIND SERIES

by Michael G. Einstein

This thesis explores the religious and political motifs of the popular Left Behind series. The thesis argues that the texts create a specific religious identity to which the reader can relate through political actions. Chapter One discusses both the political and religious views of the main characters based upon premillennial and a literal interpretation of the . Chapter Two focuses on the history of premillennial dispensationalism in the context of popular seminaries and mass media and how this apocalyptic has developed into a conservative political discourse. Chapter Three contextualizes the fictional series with other famous American political fictions like Uncle Tom’s Cabin and George Lippard’s The Quaker City. The final conclusion recognizes the series as a byproduct of capitalism where a specific commodity, in this case, a fictional series, produces religious beliefs supporting conservative politics. Introduction

The first Chinese emperor, Emperor Qin, at the time of his death, made clay replicas of every individual in his army instead of having them buried with him to attend to his needs in the afterlife. The late 1970’s and early 1980’s saw archeologists return to the Xi’an region of China to begin the excavations of Qin’s clay army, entrenched in thousands of years of loess soil deposits. Annie Dillard recalls her own observations when she first encountered the excavation. She describes the half-uncovered statues as “chysalids,” still emerging from the dirt walls formed by the excavation’s trenches. “At one end of this trench—fully dug out, reassembled, and patched—a clay platoon stood in ranks. …Each different, all alert, they gazed forward. Some scowled, and some looked wry. Living people, soldiers from different regions of China, posed for these portraits.”1 By 1995 archeologists had unearthed around 7,000 clay statues and estimated the final number to be around 10,000. Soon various museums will purchase the clay statues, separating individual portraits from their Chinese acreage. Visitors will observe the magnificent facial detail, warrior-like expressions, differing armors, and various military statures. Each statue, posing in a museum, is an individual statue—the grandeur of 10,000 of these statues emerging from the soil left only to the imagination. After reflecting upon the archeological dig, Dillard concludes, “There are 1,198,500,000 people alive now in China. To get a feel for what this means, simply take yourself—in all your singularity, importance, complexity, and love—and multiply by 1,198,500,000. See? Nothing to it.”2 Dillard, an American writer, demonstrates a double perspective perplexing to historians and philosophers alike, as she uses both collective and individualistic vantage points to collect her thoughts about the ancient clay army. To perceive of an army of 10,000 foot soldiers is not impossible; to imagine an army of 10,000 individuals each with his/her own families, emotions, and opinions begins to overload the thought process of any one person. Americans prize the individual over the collective, as does the American religious tradition. In the case of American evangelical , the bond between the individual and the collective grows increasingly sophisticated with their

1 Annie Dillard, For the Time Being, (: Vintage, 1999), 16-17. 2 Ibid., 47.

i involvement in marketing religious and the absence of a specific liturgical authority. These are necessary considerations when analyzing a particular evangelical phenomenon. At the present time, the Left Behind series, a collection of novels totaling twelve installments written by evangelicals Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins has sold over 62 million copies outselling popular American novelist John Grisham. By 2003 two out of every five self-identified American evangelicals had read at least part of the series, according to the Barna Research Institute.3 The Institute also discovered that 60% of Left Behind readers have read at least seven books in the series. The Left Behind series is a fictional tale encompassing the premillennial dispensationalist account of the end of the world. Premillennial dispensationalism is a theological paradigm dependent upon a literal interpretation of the Bible’s historically validity. Dispensationalists believe has separated history into distinct epochs or periods and that will return to establish a utopian-like millennial rule after the present period known as the Church Age. According to the premillennial dispensationalist time table, the “end times” covers a period of seven years (although LaHaye admits it could be closer to ten years) in which all of the judgments mentioned in the book of fall upon the earth. The first stage of this process, according to premillennial dispensationalists, is the of the Church, where Jesus takes all true believers to escaping the judgment of God upon the earth. The tribulation begins after as the comes to power unifying all national politics, economies and . He makes a with Israel promising peace. There is relative peace and harmony in the world for the first half of the tribulation. At the halfway point, the Antichrist dies only to rise from the dead a few days later, mimicking the . The Antichrist then breaks his covenant with Israel and commits the “abomination that causes desolation,” ‘foretold’ in . The most terrible plagues torment the earth at this time. Sometime during this period, the Antichrist will make everyone take “ of the beast.” This mark will allow all those who receive it to buy and sell in a normal capacity as well as giving homage to the Antichrist. The Antichrist will persecute and kill those who do not receive the mark. After God unleashes all the bowl, vial, and trumpet judgments upon the earth, Jesus returns to the earth to battle the Antichrist in the battle of . Soundly defeating the Antichrist

3 Barna Research Group, “Left Behind Series Research Facts,” 2003, http://www.leftbehind.com/publicityfactsheet.asp?mode=view&factsheetid=2, accessed 24 April 2004.

ii and his forces, Jesus establishes his millennial kingdom and reigns for one thousand years while God imprisons in a bottomless pit. At the end of this thousand year millennial reign, God unleashes Satan for one final battle, where he defeats him yet again and then judges all humanity and angelic spirits ushering in the “new heaven” and “new earth.” Although this is the complete dispensational premillennial timetable at this time, LaHaye and Jenkins’ series of novels begins with the Rapture and continues through the tribulation until Jesus returns to defeat Satan and judge humanity.4 The apocalyptic genre is a form of literary communication originating from ancient Jewish sources around 400 B.C.E. John Collins defines the Jewish apocalyptic genre as: A genre of revelatory literature with a narrative framework, in which a revelation is mediated by an otherworldly being to a human recipient, disclosing a transcendent reality which is both temporal, insofar as it envisages eschatological , and spacial insofar as it involves another, world.5

Although speaking primarily about the prophetic books of the , Collins definition applies to the Christian . In addition, certain literary works building on previous apocalyptic texts within certain theological frameworks are apocalyptic in present-day culture because of the function and uses of . Collins says that the apocalyptic genre functions as an exhortation and a consolation to the particular group who accepts the writings.6 The motivation driving most apocalyptic literature deals specifically with a dissatisfaction of the present world and focuses on another world “in the or eschatological future.”7 Individuals such as Joachim of Fiore and groups like the have interpreted Revelation apocalyptically as they expected an imminent new age that appealed to their immediate concerns and dissatisfactions. Christian apocalyptic groups rely on various interpretations of Revelation and rarely engage in writing new “sacred” texts. The precedent of reinterpreting Revelation as an apocalyptic text allows one to classify the fictional Left Behind series as apocalyptic. The Left Behind series conveys dissatisfaction with secular humanism and its perceived permeation of American society in addition to exhorting a conservative evangelical identity to oppose political and social .

4 For a further discussion of the storyline, see Appendix. 5 John Collins, Apocalyptic Imagination: An Introduction to the Jewish Matrix of Christianity, (New York: Crossroad, 1984), 4. 6 John Collins, “From to : The Expectation of the End,” The Encyclopedia of Apocalypticism, Vol 1. ed. John Collins, pp.129-161, (New York: Continuum, 1998), 158. 7 Ibid.

iii Reviews of the series often praised its literary merits or criticized its theological leanings. John D. Spalding summed up Left Behind: A Novel of the Earth’s Last Days by saying, “Though full of diatribes and unflattering portrayals of women, liberals, , Californians and the media, Left Behind is suspenseful and surprisingly well written. The characters think and act like real people…”8 J.C. Furnas echoes a similar critique finding “Left Behind rattling reading, professionally terse yet fluid, a real page-turner that had somehow survived the weight of its emotional message.”9 He does however; point out a few dichotomies between traditional Christian and the narrative at hand. He states, “LaHaye and Jenkins maneuver their characters toward Savedness with the deftness of experienced shepherds. They are, however, up against the novelist’s usual problem of adding details worthy of the story line. Sometimes the reader feels like rapping on the table and saying: ‘Come on, now! Think that over!’”10 However, Furnas attributes the popularity of the series to nuances of the characters, which are not “insufferably virtuous.”11 Although the characters contain various nuances, the overall effect of the series focuses not on complexities, but rather on creating a concrete evangelical identity demonstrated through the characters participating in an increasingly hostile world. The series, written by evangelicals for evangelicals, leaves an uncertainty regarding the relationship between , , Christianity, and premillennial dispensationalism. Evangelical Christianity transcends denominational, political, and socio-economic boundaries causing much confusion in defining the group. Peter W. Williams categorizes evangelicals using three specific characteristics: emphasis on a personal conversion experience, belief in the Bible as sole authority, and a mandate to spread their faith.12 Christian Smith points to the 1940’s as the birth of evangelical Christianity as a distinct entity instead of nestled within the larger context of American fundamentalism.13 Fundamentalism first surfaced in the late 19th century to combat the modern European ideas of evolution and . The Scopes “monkey” Trial

8 John D. Spalding, “Eschatological Beach Reading,” review of Left Behind: A Novel of the Earth’s Last Days, by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins, Christian Century, 22-29 May, 1996, 590, (italics mine). 9 J.C. Furnas, “Millennial Sideshow,” review of Left Behind: A Novel of the Earth’s Last Days, Tribulation Force: The Continuing Story of Those Left Behind, and : The Rise of the Antichrist by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins, American Scholar, Winter 2000, 89. 10 Ibid., 91. 11 Ibid. 12 Peter W. Williams, America’s Religions: From their Origins to the Twenty-First Century, (Chicago: University of Illinois, 2002), 182. 13 Christian Smith, American Evangelicalism, (Chicago: Chicago UP, 1998), 1-2.

iv of 1925 both illuminated fundamentalism as a national phenomenon and embarrassed their ideology as old-fashioned and irrational. In April, 1942, a group of mostly moderate fundamentalists engaged in the “National Conference for United Action Among Evangelicals.”14 Over sixty years later, Smith argues that “evangelical” has lost much of its meaning as a category because of the many differences among American evangelicals. There are a number of differences among evangelical opinions regarding politics, society, art, and biblical interpretation; however, there are certain commonalities which one can still use to define evangelical Christianity. William’s three characteristics maintain their validity despite Smith’s critique. Evangelicals often describe their emphasis on the personal conversion experience as a “personal relationship with Jesus.” The singular conversion experience opens the gate to a lifelong vernacular describing the individual’s piety as a relationship between the individual and the divine. Evangelicals have inseparably combined with a specific hermeneutic, , which interprets scriptural narratives and as historical facts. Evangelicals span various denominations from mainline churches to newer non-denominational and Pentecostal churches. Even though Baptist evangelicals may not recognize Pentecostals as “true” believers, both groups identify themselves as evangelical dependent upon William’s three characteristics. Thus, despite a number of specific socio-political differences, evangelicals are those who hold to a literal interpretation of the Bible as their religious authority, use a specific conversion experience to structure their piety, and believe evangelizing to be among the central tenets of their religion. What specifically differentiates an evangelical from a fundamentalist is a sophisticated, and perhaps impossible, task. George Marsden describes a fundamentalist as “an evangelical who has something to fight about.”15 There is some validity in this characterization as evangelicals have found some comfort with greater society and a limited number of liberal . However, it is more precise to differentiate the two groups by their degrees of separation. J. Gresham Machen gained his fame as a fundamentalist from his scholarship and his decision to leave Princeton to found the more conservative Westminster Theological Seminary. Evangelicals also face theological and

14 Ibid. 15 George Marsden, Understanding Fundamentalism and Evangelicalism, (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1991), 3.

v social battles today, but their ideology allows them to maintain their presence in greater society although they may acutely disagree with other ideologies. In short, evangelical Christianity maintains the same theological and social concerns as fundamentalism, but is more tolerant and diverse in battling those concerns within greater society. Because the Left Behind series, with its religious content, has sold an enormous amount of books, it is worthy of academic study in an attempt to understand why such a narrative would have such a broad appeal among Americans. According to the Barna Research Institute, 60% of Left Behind readers in America are “non-Christian” as compared with the remainder who identify themselves as “born-again.”16 Thus, the popularity of the series transcends religious assumptions, although evangelicals appear to be the driving force behind its publishing success. The series operates as a religious commodity useful for proselytizing, as many evangelicals buy the books for non- evangelical friends and families hoping to have them convert as a result of reading the series. The Barna Institute states that over 70% of buyers purchase the books to give as a gift.17 However, this notion only lends to the more complicated question of just what specifically makes the Left Behind series both apocalyptic and widely popular. In the following pages, I will explore the authors’ ideology as they mix fictional narrative with apocalyptic within the context of catastrophic millennial movements in the United States. The scope of this paper will balance two different Donigerian perspectives: the telescopic and the microscopic in an attempt to balance individual responses to the novels with greater evangelical cohesion.18 Regarding the telescopic analysis, Frederic Jameson’s critique of “late capitalism” and Theodore Adorno of the Frankfurt School’s analysis of the “Culture Industry” will provide an in depth analysis of the effects American popular culture and consumption have on individuals. 19 On the other hand,

16 Barna Research Group, “Left Behind Series Research Facts,” 2003, http://www.leftbehind.com/publicityfactsheet.asp?mode=view&factsheetid=2, accessed 24 April 2004. The terms “non-Christian” and “born-again” are the specific words used on the website to differentiate between the two groups. 17 Ibid. 18 Wendy Doniger, The Implied Spider: Politics and Theology in Myth, (Columbia: New York, 1993), 8-9. 19 Some scholars, such as James Constantine Hanges, find the term “late-capitalism” problematic, because of its inherent assumption that present-day society is in a “late” stage. Despite the noted difficulty with the term, its continued use for the purposes of this thesis are quite useful to refer to modern society.

vi individuals make up both a “late-capital” society and the “culture industry;” thus, the microscopic analysis will focus on the individual reader’s interpretation of the series within the greater culture.20 Individuals consume these novelistic products of capitalist culture apart from strict ecclesiastical use. The consumption of this series blurs the distinction between the sacred and secular in an attempt to create an evangelical identity that negotiates with modern society as well as reacting against it. The Left Behind series advocates a specific discourse centered on individualism and biblical literalism. Throughout the narrative, various dialogues and narratorial interludes convey a conservative politic concerning gender issues, such as abortion rights and homosexuality, and also a disdain for liberal, secular humanist politics. Amy Johnson Frykholm, in one of the first books to analyze the effects of the series, Rapture Culture: Left Behind in Evangelical America, argues that the series is a negotiation of gender roles in an apocalyptic tone. Although Frykholm’s analysis is quite accurate, it overlooks the primary foundations of the present evangelical discourse concerning eschatology. Michel Foucault’s analysis of discourse within a society as it involves both speaker and content addresses the underlying ideology of the fictional series. Gender identities and liberal politics concern a number of evangelicals, but the reason for their concern is their belief in an individualistic Christianity supported by biblical literalism. Gender issues and liberal politics, thus, become symptoms of a greater distress rather than primary problems. The series addresses these issues through a guiding interpretation combining normal apocalyptic motifs with utopian and ideological dimensions. The scope of the project involves three chapters focusing on content, history, comparison, and contextualization. Chapter One explores the specific narrative content demonstrating the authors’ ideology and creation of a certain evangelical identity. By comparing the series with the premillennial dispensationalist paradigm popularized by Cyrus Scofield’s reference Bible, one notices specific changes made in Scofield’s paradigm to fit LaHaye’s disdain of secular humanism. LaHaye has written a number of non-fiction works before his narrative creation became a publishing phenomenon in which he “critiques” secular humanism as diabolical in comparison with the truth of

20 “Culture Industry” is a specific term Theodore Adorno uses to describe the production and consumption of popular culture.

vii evangelical Christianity. The fictional narrative’s accessibility allows the reader to understand that the protagonists are conservative evangelicals whereas the antagonists, the antichrist and his community, embody the diabolical principles of a secular humanist, socialist government. The series illustrates typological characters that demonstrate a conservative political discourse as their evangelical identity, giving readers a certain knowledge of the defining characteristics of an evangelical, or as the text states, “one who will not be left behind.” Using Frederic Jameson’s analysis of mass media cultural works the content of the series reveals a guiding hermeneutic addressing conservative evangelical concern in the guise of apocalyptic fiction. The series is the latest installment in the history of integrating American Christianity and apocalyptic thinking. Although the background for the narrative is the tribulation, the series illustrates the individualistic nature of American evangelical Christianity as it espouses social cohesion without a collective identity. Chapter Two examines the changing nature of apocalyptic discourse in the twentieth century. Christian apocalypticism retained its force in interpreting political scenarios and offering a foundational worldview. However, apocalypticism also gained value as entertainment; demonstrated by Orson Welles’ radio broadcast of the War of the Worlds in the 1930’s. The Left Behind series, as fiction, uses similar scare tactics as the radio broadcast, but is also closely related to ’s non-fiction best-selling phenomenon Late, Great Planet Earth. Earlier American Christian groups, such as the and the Millerites used apocalyptic interpretations of the Bible in part to form social cohesion. The mass media boom of the twentieth century allowed evangelicals to communicate apocalyptic beliefs more widely, but a schism developed between premillennial dispensationalism and greater evangelicalism. The diffusion of the biblical literalism through evangelical seminaries and mass media changed the effect of apocalypticism from social cohesion to individualized salvation. American apocalyptic concerns not only revolve around individualistic concerns, but are also responses to various historical events, such as economic depressions and failed religious expectations. As evangelical seminaries divided over the issue of an overreaching discourse developed among evangelicals focusing on literal interpretation and individualism. This chapter explores

viii how apocalyptic writing moved from strict edification to entertainment value while still advocating a literalist discourse. Because Left Behind is consumable fiction, the individual reader operates within certain in order to deconstruct the material to arrive at the authors’ original goals. Chapter Three will compare the series with two popular American novels: Uncle Tom’s Cabin and Charles Lippard’s The Quaker City or, The Monks of Monk Hall. The comparison with Harriet Beecher Stowe’s work focuses on how the authors portray heroic Christianity within their historical contexts, as well as their differences in interpreting the coming . The comparison with Lippard’s work focuses on the differences in structure and social critique. LaHaye’s and Lippard’s work advocate contrasting opinions as LaHaye is pro-capitalist and Lippard is anti-capitalist. However, a comparison is beneficial because it demonstrates how various works attract consumption from like-minded readers while strengthening their identities. In both literary genres, specific groups bound together by political concerns, engaged the reading material for both entertainment and edification. In the case of Charles Lippard’s The Quaker City or, The Monks of Monk Hall, people of lower socio-economic means were able to purchase the texts, because of their relative inexpensiveness as well as desiring to read the novels, because of Lippard’s inherent critique of capitalism and Philadelphian aristocracy. Similarly, evangelicals engage and enjoy the Left Behind series because of its inherent critique of secular humanism and disdain of progressive politics while advocating an individual evangelical identity with which readers can empathize and understand. The relationship between reader and text as well as author and text is a sophisticated bond to articulate, and relationships often vary as much as the number of readers of a particular narrative. However, despite the differences in reader responses to the series, or even among American evangelicals in general, the three pillars of evangelical shared identity are so overtextualized in the series that they border on kitsch and/or propaganda. The popularity of such books says just as much about the present state of aesthetics regarding American entertainment as it does about evangelical

ix identity.21 Evangelicals may represent only a portion of the American population, and some may even define them as out of touch with society, but they are still Americans. As Americans, they engage in a capitalistic society, consuming both sacred and secular goods; the effects of capitalistic society press on them as much as any other American. The Left Behind series, as a product of mass culture, attracts its readers by positing a religion based on individualism, conservatism, and biblical literalism. America has a rich tradition of apocalyptic imagery and religious groups that are politically motivated by a belief in the imminent return of Jesus. The Left Behind series is the latest innovation of this tradition, but because of its message, its readers, its popularity, and its fictionalization, it is an innovation which requires a detailed analysis within the realm of American “late-capitalism.” The Left Behind series presents a concrete evangelical identity based on biblical literalism that readers can consume in an attempt to find religious certainty. This identity expresses itself in a conservative social morality that often blurs the line between evangelical piety and social norms. Evangelical insistence on biblical authority strengthens an identity, which includes a conversion experience that produces specific moral changes. Although a fictionalization, the series conveys the apocalyptic tremors of a distressed society, which stem from the validity of biblical literalism in American culture. The series, with its specific discourse demonstrated by socio-political ideologies and conservative morality, relies on the three aforementioned characteristics of evangelical identity to create a basis for the literal discourse. Individual perceptions of this society differ between evangelicals, yet the consumption of the series alleviates the tension between the ideal and the actual, the perceived and the concrete. American literalism allows a strong connection to occur between the premillennial dispensational discourse and the reader of the Left Behind series. Consumers within the context of “late- capitalism” utilize the evangelical identity the series presents to form an individualized definition of evangelical Christianity.

21 In the past year, ’s The Passion of the Christ, Michael Moore’s Fahrenheit 9/11, and the have reaped enormous profits in mass culture. All three works have very specific and public agendas, which are obvious in engaging with each work. The nuances of irony, satire, and language which once defined “good” art have given way to the immediate accessibility of a message in an attempt to convert the consumer to a particular opinion or ideology.

x Humanism asserts that the nature of the universe depicted by modern science makes unacceptable any supernatural or cosmic guarantees of human values. Obviously humanism does not deny the possibility of realities as yet undiscovered, but it does insist that the way to determine the existence and value of any and all realities is by means of intelligent inquiry and by the assessment of their relations to human needs. Religion must formulate its hopes and plans in the light of the scientific spirit and method.

Humanist Manifesto I (1933)

Chapter One Apocalypticism has a long and varied history, and the Left Behind series represents a new form of eschatological writing. Tim LaHaye, who offers the eschatological expertise, and Jerry Jenkins, who offers the creative writing, combine premillennial dispensational theology, current political issues, and fictional narrative. Interpretation of apocalyptic motifs has emerged in yet another elucidation: the popular novel. The series conveys the apocalyptic trend of an oppressed society in chaos hoping and waiting for a renewed, ordered world. In the Left Behind series, the oppressor is not ancient Rome or the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms, but rather an ideological, secular humanist society. This oppressive secular humanist regime has transformed the orderly world of a conservative, Christian America into a chaotic society that permits abortion and gay rights while stripping conservative Christians of their guaranteed rights. The chaotic society is not solely fictional, but elucidated as the current American political environment by LaHaye. The series provides an identity for evangelical readers, elucidating conservative evangelical concerns about politics, gender, religion, and . One can broadly divide the twelve book series into three general groups. General political scenarios saturate the first segment of novels: Left Behind, Tribulation Force, Nicolae, and . The Antichrist, characterized by Nicolae Carpathia, establishes a one-world government founded on progressive, socialistic principles. Conversations espousing pro-life rhetoric and characterizations of female submission and male dominance are prevalent in these books as well. The second section of books begins with and continues into Assassins, The Mark, and , where the evangelical characters’ concerns become the primary focus. The characters wrestle with the ramifications of killing Global Community (GC) forces, the wrath of God, the death and martyrdom of close friends, and their individual roles within God’s predetermined plan. The last segment of books: , , Armageddon, and The Glorious Appearing changes focus from the characters and their political views to fictional scenarios dependent upon biblical literalism. In these books the authors

1 reanimate popular biblical myths using their created characters. Chaim Rosenweig, taking the name Micah, becomes the new who leads a remnant of Orthodox Jews out of to Petra. Jews and Christians are required to worship a statue of Carpathia, reminiscent of the , where the story of the “fiery furnace” is reenacted at Petra. Taken together, the primary purpose of the entire series is to convert non-evangelicals to evangelical Christianity. The first section of books introduces the reader to the political identity of the LaHaye’s ideal evangelical, whereas the second section elaborates on the individualistic, that grounds his political ideology. The third section of books demonstrates the evangelical’s primary concern: authoritative biblical literalism. Throughout the entire series, the authors quote biblical verses to support the characters’ political, social, and individual decisions. The authors stress conservative political views based on their in an attempt to demonstrate the absolute morality “inherent” in the Bible. By accepting this absolute morality, and subsequently, a belief in the imminent rapture, the non-evangelical reader has the opportunity for a conversion experience. Readers of the series, both evangelical and non- evangelical, form a characterization of evangelical Christianity, whether or not they agree with the created identity. Despite relative political freedom and governmental success in recent years, American evangelicals perceive themselves as a threatened community.1 LaHaye declares the most dangerous threat to be the philosophy of secular humanism, reminiscent of the fundamentalist battles against modernism.2 The danger is the specific contradiction secular humanism poses to the conservative American evangelical identity and their belief in biblical authority. Secular humanists seek to improve the global community apart from a divine initiative, which directly contradicts evangelical ideology. More so, secular humanism’s emphasis on tolerance disturbs evangelical concerns of conversion and missionary efforts. Although not every evangelical desires a specific Christian American government, secular humanism threatens a conservative evangelical identity that is grounded in absolute biblical authority and morality. The Left Behind series communicates distress and negotiation among evangelical concerns as demonstrated by narratives concerning salvation, gender roles, and liberal politics by fictionalizing the premillennial dispensational “end times.”

1 Christian Smith, Christian America?: What Evangelicals Really Want, (Los Angeles: University of California, 2000), 70. 2 Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins, Are We Living in the End Times?, (Wheaton: Tyndale, 1999), 12.

2 Non-Fiction Tim LaHaye’s popularity has grown as he connects his eschatological biblical interpretation to evangelical ideologies and recent socio-political events. He describes himself as a “student of prophecy” who has been interpreting scripture for over fifty years.3 This “student of prophecy” follows John Nelson Darby’s premillennial dispensationalist scheme, but reduces the complexity for the majority of people interested in his apocalypticism. LaHaye gives three reasons for his interest in prophecy. First, “It has challenged believers to holy living in an unholy age.”4 The fictional series addresses issues of “holy living” by portraying evangelicals who shun the immoral actions of the Antichrist’s followers. Second, prophecy gives Christians more reasons to evangelize, and the third, related point is the emphasis on missionary activity.5 LaHaye’s apocalyptic understanding is central to his conservative evangelical thought. He states: Failure to understand God’s plan, from the coming of the “first ” to the of Christ to establish His kingdom, will keep you from answering the big philosophical questions of life: Why am I here? Where am I going? How do I get there? Only a study of prophecy adequately answers all of these questions.6

In the Left Behind series, prophecy, or more specifically, an understanding of the apocalypse, is central to giving Christians an identity, an identity based on “holy living” in the church age. If “holy living” is the motivation for LaHaye’s apocalyptic ideology, then his interpretation of historical events provides the proof for his paradigm. According to LaHaye, World War I is the catalyst that fulfills two important prophecies for dispensationalists based on a literal interpretation of Matthew 24:7, which LaHaye attributes to Jesus. The verse states, “For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; and there shall be famines and pestilences, and earthquakes in various places.”7 LaHaye debunks other events as completely fulfilling this prophecy and argues the validity of the prophetic nature of World War I. Yet, according to LaHaye, World War I also gave rise to the establishment of Israel as a recognized nation, an “infallible sign of the approach of the end times.”8 He bases this sign on Ezekiel’s vision of dead bones coming to life again, “There was a noise, and…a shaking and

3 Ibid., x. 4 Ibid., 6. 5 Ibid. 6 Ibid., 10, (italics his, bold mine). 7 Matthew 24:7, KJV. 8 LaHaye and Jenkins, Are We Living in the End Times?, 47.

3 the bones came together, bone to his bone.”9 He explains, “From the sound of an earthshaking event (World War I), the seemingly dead nation of Israel was to gradually formulate a body, after which the spirit would be breathed into it. We submit that history records the birth of the nation of Israel exactly in this manner, beginning in 1917.”10 In The Beginning of the End, LaHaye remarks that the sheer number of biblical prophecies being fulfilled today indicate that the end of the world is at hand.11 For LaHaye, the Bible records specific events that the adept interpreter can piece together to prepare for the Second Advent. The fulfillments of these apocalyptic prophecies go beyond historical events into social and philosophical movements. LaHaye interprets James 5:1 as a sign of the end. “Behold, the hire of the laborers who have reaped down your fields, which is, of you, kept back by fraud, crieth; and the cries of them who have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth,” is fulfilled by the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917 and constant labor disputes in the United States.12 The absence of social justice and the resulting influence of secular humanism to create a just society fulfill the prophecies of apostasy, for LaHaye, as the world nears its end. In his own words, “Of one thing I am certain—the same devilish power that produced French skepticism, German rationalism, Nietzscheism, Communism, socialism, and many other intellectual evils produced religious apostasy,” and this apostasy is a sign of the end, the fulfillment of 2 Thes. 2:3.13 The commonality, for Lahaye, is that all of these foreign ideologies seek to better the world without divine help, and in his view are attempting to eradicate Christianity. LaHaye’s eschatological ideology creates and alienates a purely secular philosophy, which has filtered into evangelical theology. Any philosophy that does not rely on supernatural explanations or that supports liberal social policies contradicts the proper, literal interpretation of scripture and thus, can be credited to a spirit of the antichrist. Through LaHaye’s non-fiction as well as the fictional series, it is evident that “real” Christians are those who are pro-life, anti- Catholic orthodoxy, oppose gay rights, and oppose “secular humanism” recognizing it as diabolical. LaHaye demonstrates the distinction in his book, Are We Living in the End Times? One of the sure signs concerning the end of the world, according to LaHaye, is the apostasy

9 Ezekiel 37:7, KJV. 10 LaHaye and Jenkins, Are We Living in the End Times?, 50. 11 Tim LaHaye, The Beginning of the End, (Wheaton: Tyndale 1972), 31. 12 James 5:1, KJV. 13 Tim LaHaye, The Beginning of the End, 99.

4 within the Christian Church. This “apostasy” mars the simple message of the Bible with the leftist politics LaHaye deplores. In his own words: Relationships between socialistic politics and theological apostasy have been consistent. The early modernists rejected the basic teachings of Christianity, such as the virgin birth of Christ, His deity, His sinlessness, and many other essential doctrines. Since that left them no spiritual message for the people, they came up with the social . This has been the one consistent chord of the apostate movement in America and has thrust its adherents into the forefront of the social revolution. Today most liberal denominations are aligned with liberal social causes, while theological conservatives tend to align themselves with conservative government policy. In fact, today’s vicious attack on moral absolutes has not been led merely by secular humanists but has been advocated by liberal ministers of many mainline denominations and leaders of the National Council of Churches. Some of the religious leaders who are most aggressively pushing homosexuality are apostates on the doctrines of the Virgin Birth, the deity of Christ, and the inerrancy of Scripture. An apostate in theology will hardly adhere to the moral directives of the Scriptures!14

The political concern carries a tone of despair as LaHaye views secular humanism as not only overtaking American education and politics, but also American Christianity. Evangelical Christianity like its predecessor, fundamentalism, is under attack from political and religious adversaries. The Left Behind Series clearly converts fundamentalist rhetoric into a more palatable conservative evangelical mode. LaHaye does not advocate fundamentalist separation from liberal institutions, but instead relates apocalyptic imagery to social issues as he attacks liberal policies including Marxism, abortion, and gay rights. Yet despite his solicitation, the world’s end is inevitable. Only the rapture offers hope to evangelicals from the world’s impending judgment. LaHaye and Jenkins do not attempt to distance their own opinions from those of the characters in the text. On the contrary, they relish the opportunity to speak through the characters to relay a conservative discourse. Tsion Ben-Judah regularly interprets scripture literally, espousing conservative morality as divinely oriented. The character is an orthodox rabbi who after years of arduous study, publicly concludes that Jesus is the , having met all the requirements of the ancient Jewish prophets. Although one may argue that the characters themselves are not caricatures and resemble human beings with real problems, desires, and psychological complexities, the dualistic ideologies between the protagonists and antagonists is acute. Nicolae Carpathia, the Antichrist, is a pacifist, socialist, “sexy,” and narcissistic. On the other hand, those members of the Tribulation Force, although not perfect according to evangelical Christian standards, are pro-life, anti-big government, and obedient to the literal interpretation of scripture. The reader is able to ascertain the political differences

14 LaHaye and Jenkins, Are We Living in the End Times?, 76-77.

5 between those who are good and those who are evil. The political, social, and religious views of the authors are readily discernable and prevalent within the text. Although the books center on the future tribulation, the story resembles present day secular America from LaHaye’s perspective. LaHaye does not specifically attack higher criticism or evolutionary theory, but rather groups them under a larger ideology: secular humanism. There may be no one-world government, currency, or religion, but the presence of relativism, secular humanism, increasing consumer debt, and big government represent the birth pains of the world’s end. In a hostile world of overwhelming temptation and crumbling spirituality, evangelicals must solidify their uncertain identity; an identity which strengthens their core values and political participation.

Scofield Reference Bible The Left Behind series owes many of its fictional scenarios to Scofield’s commentary of Revelation; however, LaHaye reinterprets several passages demonstrating a change in evangelical socio-political attitudes. Many commentators have credited LaHaye for the conception of the Left Behind series. Although LaHaye imagined the fictional concept of the rapture’s occurrence during a flight where several of the passengers would completely disappear leaving behind their clothes and jewelry, the dispensational scheme expounded in the series owes its origin to John Nelson Darby and C.I. Scofield. Scholars, such as Robert Fuller and Paul Boyer, have noted that Scofield is directly responsible for popularizing Darby’s scheme. Scofield combined his notes, based on Darby’s premillennial scheme, with the biblical text of Revelation, cross-referencing apocalyptic interpretations of numerous biblical passages with Revelation. The Left Behind authors fictionalize many of his notes in the series, which gives less credence to LaHaye or Jenkins’ creativity, but instead illuminates Scofield’s scholarship. Scofield divides the tribulation period into two parts, the latter half named the “,” where the Antichrist ascends to world domination. The term “Great Tribulation” has its origins in Revelation 7:14, “And he said to me, These are they which came out of the great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.” Scofield offers his commentary on the verse by describing the attributes of the great tribulation, which among others things consists of “the cruel reign of the ‘beast out of the sea’, who, at the

6 beginning of the three and a half years, will break his covenant with the Jews (by virtue of which they will have re-established the temple worship, Dan. ix.27), and show himself in the temple, demanding that he be worshipped as God (Mt. xxiv.15; 2 Thes. ii.4).”15 . The combination of the “beast out of the sea” and “antichrist” has resulted in the figure of a specific “Antichrist” who represents “the ultimate enemy of Jesus who will appear in the final chapter of history to lead the forces of Satan in one last desperate battle against the forces of God.”16 LaHaye and Jenkins imaginatively construct the Antichrist in the character of Nicolae Carpathia who typifies an amalgamation of the literal accounts of Daniel, I John, and Revelation. 17 The series does not solely fictionalize Scofield’s theology, but often departs from Scofield’s scenario for the purpose of creative ingenuity and theological disagreement. Revelation 13:3 states, “And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast.”18 Scofield interprets this passage to refer to the Roman Empire, which he insists has never ceased to exist as “separate kingdoms.” Instead, the wound refers to the “imperial” form of government that was destroyed. The beast, or Antichrist, will resurrect this world empire once again, healing the wound of the imperial form of government.19 LaHaye departs from this interpretation in several ways. First, Rome is not the literal government resurrected in the series. The new government is an über-United Nations headquartered in New Babylon, known to present readers as Baghdad. Second, LaHaye interprets this verse to apply to the Antichrist himself. Some unknown person will assassinate the Antichrist just before the halfway point of the tribulation. Like Jesus, however, he will rise from the dead three days after his assassination to claim his position as a god. The book, Assassins, constructs the death of Carpathia as Chaim Rosenweig assassinates him for his failure to keep his promises to Israel. The Indwelling records the resurrection, where Carpathia declares himself a god and requires the new world

15 , notes, 1337. 16 Robert Fuller, Naming the Antichrist: The History of an American Obsession, (New York: Oxford, 1995), 3. 17 John of Patmos never mentions the term “Antichrist” in Revelation. However, Christians combine the concept of “antichrist” in I John (where the writer actually uses the term) with the apocalyptic events recorded in Daniel and Revelation. 18 KJV. 19 Scofield, notes, 1342.

7 religion to worship him. Despite the departures from Scofield’s original notes, his commentary of Revelation pervades the entire series either in specific detail or in general concepts.20 Scofield insists in a diabolical presence in the Antichrist’s system, but LaHaye transforms that presence from Scofield’s suggestion of technology to an ambitious spirit of vanity. Commenting on the world system the beast initiates he states, “This world-system is imposing and powerful with armies and fleets; is often outwardly religious, scientific, cultured, and elegant; but, seething with national and commercial rivalries and ambitions, is upheld in any real crisis only by armed force, and is dominated by Satanic principles.”21 Previous interpreters have seen this fulfilled in the scientific advancements of the twentieth century. Fuller asserts that, “Premillennialists’ fantasies that science and technology will someday usher in a “Big-Brother” government that will force them to do the bidding of the Antichrist reveal a deeper fear of finding themselves in an increasingly alien world.”22 However, as several critics have noted, the series pushes evangelicals into the twenty-first century. The Tribulation Force members use high-tech satellite phones, untraceable laptops, and even state-of-the-art weaponry.23 Since the fear of technology is absent from the texts, or rather, evangelicals have a relatively new-found comfort with technology, “Satanic principles” must take some other form. The writers translate this into pure ambition through the characters: Nicolae Carpathia, Leon Fortunato, and Guy Blod amongst others. All characters associated with Carpathia constantly insist on subordinates addressing them properly, often with ridiculously long titles. Tribulation Force members seek no ambition or titles while working for Carpathia’s forces and often conflict with the others.24 This ambition embodies the “Satanic principles” Scofield mentions, contrasting the humility of Tribulation Force members, i.e. evangelicals, against Carparthia’s forces, symbolizing satanic ambition and arrogance of secular humanism. Heavily indebted to Darby’s dispensationalist scheme and Scofield’s popularization, LaHaye’s apocalyptic scenario is not completely original. Still, LaHaye has his own political concerns explained in his non-fiction writings. His insistence upon secular humanism as the

20 LaHaye has joined forces with Roman Catholics to lobby pro-life legislation in recent years. Such a pact should indicate a changing tone among some fundamentalists toward Catholicism. It is no longer “the devil’s church” as much as it a helpful political force to battle progressive legislation. 21 Scofield, notes, 1342. 22 Fuller, 182. 23 The Tribulation Force originally consists of Bruce Barnes, Rayford and Chloe Steele, and Buck Williams. As the series progresses, the Tribulation Force grows to include almost every evangelical Christian intent on battling against Carpathia’s forces. 24 Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins, Nicolae: The Rise of the Antichrist, (Wheaton: Tyndale, 1997), 76.

8 devil’s newest tool to usher in the rise of the Antichrist and the subsequent tribulation allows evangelicals to form a conservative identity while coping with a constantly progressive society. Cultural Narratives and Reification The series reorganizes the rapture narrative to convey an identity composed of evangelical morality and piety based on biblical literalism making LaHaye’s literalist discourse more palatable and accessible. The title suggests a narrative centered on the advent of the rapture. Within the premillennial dispensationalist eschatological timetable, the rapture sparks the earth’s final seven years before Jesus returns to establish his Edenic rule. Thus, the series operates between the events of evangelical collective salvation in the rapture and the establishment of a “Christian” utopia. Yet materially, neither the rapture nor the millennium have been actualized; they remain abstract evangelical ideas. The Left Behind series reifies the abstract nature of the rapture within the context of a culture dependent on mass media. “The theory of reification,” according to Frederic Jameson, “describes the way in which, under capitalism, the older traditional forms of human activity are instrumentally reorganized and ‘taylorized,’ analytically fragmented and reconstructed according to various rational models of efficiency, and essentially restructured along the lines of a differentiation between means and ends.”25 LaHaye and Jenkins are able to reify the concept of the rapture using the means of fiction for the goal of converting the non-evangelical. More so, they are able to advocate their conservative morality reorganized into pulp paperback. The authors’ final end is the Christianization of America through evangelism. If the reader accepts the future reality of the rapture (supported in the text by vast passages from the Bible), then s/he must accept the given morality supported by biblical literalism. The rapture narrative is an efficient method for acceptance of the literalist discourse. By converting more people to the literalist discourse, LaHaye hopes to transform America’s secular humanist society into an evangelical Christian society. LaHaye’s concern with traditional morality operates within the “newer” rapture narrative in a way that critiques the secular humanist progressive vision and also establishes the basis for an evangelical utopia. The authors, by portraying the secular humanism of the Antichrist’s rule, are able to demonstrate the superiority of the literalist discourse when Jesus, upon his return, annihilates the

25 Frederic Jameson, “Reification and Utopia in Mass Culture,” Social Text #1, 130.

9 Antichrist and humanism, replacing it with his own form of government: a capitalist theocracy. The popularity of the series rests not on its aesthetic merits, or even necessarily on its adventuresome tales—although entertainment and subsequent pleasure are entailed with the culture industry—but rather on its useful consumption. In a consumer society, Jameson argues that every product becomes a commodity and can have no intrinsic value in and of itself. Rather, an individual determines the value of a product by its usefulness. He states: In a world in which everything, including labor power, has become a commodity, ends remain no less undifferentiated than in the production schema—they are all rigorously quantified, and have become abstractly comparable through the medium of money, their respective price or wage—yet we can now phrase their instrumentalization, their reorganization along a means/ends split, in a new way by saying that by its transformation into a commodity a thing, of whatever type, has been reduced to a means for its own consumption. It no longer has any qualitative value in itself, but only insofar as it can be “used”: the various forms of activity lose their immanent intrinsic satisfactions as activity and become a means to an end.26

Both the inherent rapture narrative and literalist discourse ultimately project an assumed reality beyond the aesthetic work. Consumption of the series is useful for bolstering a conservative evangelical identity under the pretense that such an identity will not allow the individual to be “left behind” when the rapture occurs. However, the rapture is not inherently a communal salvation, but rather dependent upon an individual’s identity. For Jameson, individualism results more from the effects of capitalism than from theology. He states, “Capitalism systematically dissolves the fabric of all cohesive social groups without exception, including its own ruling class, and thereby problematizes aesthetic production and linguistic invention which have their source in group life.”27 The individual, as a consumer, utilizes the evangelical identity to ascertain certainty about his/her place in the coming rapture. Communal salvation has no bearing for the consuming reader, so long as his/her identity corresponds to the identity of a Christian eligible for the rapture, the identity offered by the series. As narratives become commodified under capitalism and lose their intrinsic aesthetic appeal, they must provide another appeal in order to be consumed. Jameson explains that narratives include both an ideological function as well as a utopian

26 Ibid., 131. 27 Ibid., 140.

10 component in their appeal to consumers. The “Utopian dimension,” he explains is “its ritual celebration of the renewal of the social order and its salvation, not merely from divine wrath, but also from unworthy leadership.”28 In order to appeal to the masses, cultural works—the movies Jaws and The Godfather in Jameson’s analysis—include both the ideological function, which is a component that relates the present culture to the individual recipient, as well as a constituent that critiques the present culture offering imaginative opportunities for the future, i.e. the utopian function. In the Left Behind series the ideological function of the series is its critique of a secular humanist, liberal government. The series’ utopian dimension is ultimately the second advent of Jesus, where he judges and condemns non-evangelicals and the diabolical government, renewing human nature, establishing global paradise, and destroying secular humanism. However, the Second Advent does not occur until the twelfth and final book of the series. The heroic and moral Tribulation Force characters become the foreshadowing of the promised return of Jesus. Jameson concludes that “the works of mass culture cannot be ideological without at one and the same time being implicitly or explicitly Utopian as well: they cannot manipulate unless they offer some genuine shred of content as a fantasy bribed to the public about to be so manipulated.”29 The Tribulation Force characters’ support of conservative gender roles and politics mimics the future Christian utopia. The series explicitly communicates notions of utopia, combining both American ideals and a conservative evangelical discourse that provides a great deal of pleasure to the American evangelical reader as it defines and strengthens an evangelical identity. However, the text’s utopian ideals have always been present instead of being fully recognized at the Second Advent. The evangelical identity the series offers is the basis for the expected utopia. Jameson’s analysis elucidates a two-fold nature of the series. The Left Behind series operates as a literalist discourse within a rapture narrative. “Rapture narrative” refers to the overall plot structure of the work, as the story unfolds after the rapture until the establishment of a Christian utopia. However, both the raptural and utopian events are absent from the series’ narrative. The rapture occurs within the first ten pages of Left

28 Ibid., 142. 29 Ibid., 144.

11 Behind: A Novel of the Earth’s Last Days, and the series’ primary protagonist, Rayford Steele, does not witness the event, but rather its effects. Similarly, The Glorious Appearing ends before the defining characteristics of Jesus’ reign are completely evident; instead the text only insinuates a general peace and harmony. The overwhelming lack of detail and activity concerning both the rapture and utopia problematizes the classification of the work as a rapture narrative or a utopian vision, as the majority of the text is devoted to describing the exploits of the Tribulation Force as it battles the diabolical secular humanist global community. This absence indicates a different textual goal in that the literalist discourse is evidently working behind and within the narrative. Biblical literalism supports LaHaye’s interpretation of Revelation, textual gender roles, and socio- political opinions in the text. The text is not centrally about the rapture and tribulation. Instead, the narrative advocates a literalist discourse for the ultimate goal of evangelizing as readers identify with and accept the discourse. The literalist discourse is the combination of biblical literalism with conservative political and social morality. Both operate together to create a specific paradigm intelligible to evangelicals in order to be consumed by them. The paradigm addresses three primary areas of evangelical identity: evangelism, gender roles, and social politics. Evangelism Conversion experiences within the text create an identity that validates evangelical Christianity for the reader while negotiating a growing religious tolerance. In each book, there is at least one account of an individual character who explains their experience of converting to evangelical Christianity. The characters that create these accounts come from various backgrounds. Muslims, agnostics, Native Americans, tattoo artists, and orthodox Jews recall their conversion experiences. The texts clearly indicate that regardless of race or religion, evangelical Christianity is available for anyone. The series’ conversion narratives mimic evangelical conversion experiences in that a strong bond forms between the fictional convert and an understanding of the biblical text. Evangelicals and fundamentalists stress the absolute validity of the Bible and a person’s need to conform to that absolute. Vincent Crapanzano interviewed several fundamentalists and recalls how many of them would tell him about their conversion experiences in an attempt to proselytize him. Similarly, as Amy Johnson Frykholm conducted interviews with readers of

12 the Left Behind series, many people informed her they had prayed for her before the interview and were eager to share their own stories of conversion with her. Crapanzano makes two conclusions about the witnessing experience for fundamentalists. First, “Fundamentalism precludes the separation of three processes, to read, to trust, to know God and His Word.”30 He concludes this after listening to a seminary student recount his experience of reading the Bible for the first time, converting as a result of the interpretation given, and changing his life as governed by the Bible or “Word of God.” The Left Behind series does not claim any inherent sacred authority, but because of its reliance on biblical literalism, the sympathetic reader is also able to preclude reading, trusting, and knowing. The characters’ conversion stories combine reading, trusting, and knowing “God’s word” in an unquestionable way, which also provides a “roadmap” for any reader interested in conversion. The conversion experiences and biblical narratives within the series allow the evangelical reader to create a relating the text to life. The conversion experience is important, because it unifies “story and event.”31 Biblical narratives, taken literally, become models for the individual evangelical. One can have Abrahamic faith as demonstrated in Genesis narratives to confront modern day crises. One can have the bravery and piety of Daniel facing religious oppression. Evangelical conversion allows the individual to model his/her life on biblical narratives, thus, an individual typologically interprets the events of his/her life and the biblical text combining story and event. Similar to the typologies evangelicals created from the biblical narratives, the readers create typologies from the Left Behind fictional narratives. The fictional characters also represent typologies from the biblical narratives. In life, “When they are preaching, praying, witnessing, confessing, describing their religious experiences, and perhaps even fundraising,” Crapanzano states, “Fundamentalists often give the impression that they do not separate story from event.”32 It is not that conservative evangelicals operate under the assumption that s/he is Daniel or Abraham, but rather that these patriarchs are typologies worth emulating. One cannot separate story and event when reading the Left Behind series, because the series itself is a narrative that combines story and event. The characters, at times, model biblical archetypes in their adventurous events,

30 Vincent Crapanzano, Serving the Word: Literalism from the Pulpit to the Bench, (New York: New Press, 2000), 116. 31 Ibid., 165. 32 Ibid., 165-66.

13 but they are still human characters who resemble the ordinary evangelical. The reader, by identifying with the conversion experiences of the characters, who are “true” believers, obtains a sense of identity as a true believer, destined not to be left behind. Conversion experiences in the text use stereotypical motifs from other religions to illuminate the influences of secular humanism. Hannah Palemoon, a nurse in New Babylon who tends to the injured David Hassid, tells her story of conversion from Native American religion to evangelical Christianity. She becomes the token Native American as the authors weave together a number of stereotypes to create her background. Describing her experience of reading the Bible, she states, “I start with John and then Romans and then Matthew. Talk about desperate for more and seeing yourself! My besetting sin, the way Tsion described it, was pride. I was my own god. Captain of my own destiny.”33 LaHaye’s insistence on the conflict secular humanism poses to Christianity is evident in Hannah’s confession. She does not confess to a wrong religious belief, but rather to the pride of human ingenuity (and an assumed immorality). Instead of recognizing the “truth” of God’s plan, she chooses to suppress such knowledge. Religions other than Christianity are not the primary problem for LaHaye, rather, it is the empowerment of human acumen inherent in the secular humanist philosophy. Her conversion experience gives the reader instructions as to how s/he can also experience conversion. Hannah expresses her frustration with reading Leviticus, until someone shows her the “correct” books to read, i.e. Matthew, John, and Romans.34 After she has read these primary books, resulting in her conversion, then she is able to understand the rest of the scriptures. The authors emphasize the popular caricature of Native Americans to contrast Native American religion with evangelical Christianity. As the authors caricature other religions in various characters, the authors demonstrate their belief that evangelical Christianity is still the only “true” religion. Other religions have no real substance. Evangelical Christianity triumphs over humanistic philosophies and various religions. Hannah Palemoon’s description is typical of characters with different religious backgrounds in the series. With regard to conversion experiences, the texts demonstrate the superiority of evangelical Christianity over any other religion, fortifying its claim to absolute truth and morality, especially with regard to the family.

33 Tim Lahaye and Jerry B. Jenkins, The Mark: The Beast Rules the World, (Wheaton: Tyndale, 2000), 223. 34 Ibid.

14 Gender Roles The Left Behind series champions traditional family values as a primary aspect of evangelical piety. Most often, rhetoric about the evangelical family takes the form of male leadership in the home and female submission to her husband as she raises pious children. Based upon these two primary assertions, homosexuality, feminism, and the feminization of the gospel present sophisticated problems for an evangelical identity. The authors, through stereotypical characters and dialogues, communicate their conservative mores while changing surface conceptions of individuals who transgress those gender roles. The current political environment would suggest homosexuality poses the greatest threat to traditional gender roles for evangelicals. The Left Behind series addresses gays and lesbians rather briefly through two different characters. Verna Zee is a feisty character who takes every opportunity to assert her authority over Buck as she becomes his new boss. Less than pleasant, Verna is narcissistic; constantly talking about her own accomplishments and exploits and seeking any opportunity she can to demonstrate her superiority. In Nicolae, Buck has to borrow Verna’s car in an attempt to locate Chloe when Chicago falls under attack. When he informs her that he must abandon the vehicle and asks if she needs anything from it, she replies that she must have her favorite hairbrush in the glove box. Buck, being the masculine voice of rationality, replies that a hairbrush seems quite trivial in light of the attack and Verna quickly agrees.35 Despite Chloe and Buck’s dislike for Verna, they attempt to evangelize her using the already fulfilled prophecies of the apocalyptic horseman as evidence. In an attempt to hide their disdain for Carpathia, Buck remarks that if Verna were a lesbian, he wouldn’t tell anyone. Verna, shocked and embarrassed, questions his knowledge of her sexuality.36 Verna, reluctant to embrace evangelical Christianity, refuses Buck and Chloe’s offer because of what Christianity says about “homosexuals.” Buck responds, “My Bible doesn’t differentiate between homosexuals and heterosexuals…It may call practicing homosexuals sinners, but it also calls heterosexual sex outside of marriage sinful.”37 The text does not specify homosexuality as a greater “sin” than unsolicited heterosexual encounters, yet Verna remains a particular stereotype. She is successful, petty, intellectually inferior to her

35 LaHaye and Jenkins, Nicolae: The Rise of the Antichrist, 55. 36 Ibid., 228. 37 Ibid., 240.

15 male subordinate, and embarrassed by her sexuality. The narrative may be more receptive to her acceptance of Christianity, but as a lesbian, she cannot identify as an evangelical. A similar attitude is conveyed toward Carpathia’s head artist, Guy Blod, who although is not portrayed as an openly gay individual, is certainly imbued with an artistic flair, which includes a fascination with immorality and a denial of traditional masculinity. Minister Blod, the title he insists on, is French and Hassid, one of the Tribulation Force members, refers to Blod’s vernacular as the “foul, nasty rantings of a sassy artiste.”38 Like Verna, the text portrays Blod as inept and inferior to the evangelicals he confronts. The text makes clear that although evangelical Christianity remains available for gays and lesbians, only traditional views of masculine and feminine sexuality are acceptable as part of an evangelical identity. The conventional notion of emotionally stout Christian men begins to fade in the character of Rayford Steele. The authors describe the experience, “Rayford was new to this kind of sensitivity. Before his wife and son had disappeared, he had not wept in years. He had always considered emotion weak and unmanly. But since the disappearances, he had seen many men weep.”39 In addition, Steele takes over the standard female duties of cooking and giving romantic advice to Chloe, all after his conversion to Christianity. This is not a negotiation between an overtly masculine identity and evangelical conversion, but rather a demonstration of the connection between conversion and evangelical social morality. Not only does his conversion make Steele more comfortable with emotional display, but also his identification with traditional feminine roles allows him to be more deeply concerned about his family. The maintenance of traditional gender roles becomes irrelevant after conversion as long as the character’s goal is family care, as Rayford demonstrates in the absence of his wife. Whereas the authors ridicule Blod’s femininity, because of his immorality and artistic focus, Steele’s femininity focuses on family values, a boon to morality that the authors compliment. Unlike Blod, his gender and sexuality are not in question, but rather, his evangelical beliefs allow Steele to cross gender roles with confidence, and attain a higher morality in the process. Fundamentalists have had a long history of “muscular Christianity,” best demonstrated by ’s assertion that the “manliest man is the man who will acknowledge Jesus

38 Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins, The Indwelling: The Beast Takes Possession, (Wheaton: Tyndale, 2000), 43, (italics theirs). 39 Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins, Tribulation Force: The Continuing Drama of Those Left Behind, (Wheaton: Tyndale, 1996), 16.

16 Christ.”40 Balmer goes on to discuss how evangelicals have used athletic and military metaphors, which are inherent in Christian rhetoric, in an attempt to combat the feminization of spirituality.41 The Left Behind series picks up this motif, but it is not limited to the religious realm. The series extends Victorian sexuality into the social realm where women are to be feminine and men, masculine. Evangelical men can transgress gender roles as long as that transgression is not sexual and results in bolstering the cares of the family. Any other distortion of these roles, as Blod the artiste demonstrates, leaves the individual open to a battle of “wits and sarcasm,” with the individual more in line with evangelical virtues winning both the intelligence and cosmic battle. Liberal Politics The authors espouse their political concerns by associating the liberal policies they deplore with the Antichrist, Nicolae Carpathia. Carpathia directly contrasts Tsion Ben-Judah, the spiritual leader of the Tribulation Force and premillennial dispensationalist. As Carpathia seeks to unite the world in government, currency, and peace, he employs several socialistic policies and technological advancements. However, he masks a hidden agenda with the catch- phrases of idealist American rhetoric, i.e. “democracy,” “progress,” etc. Ben-Judah, on his website, reveals the true nature of Carpathia, predicting natural and political disasters as the result of his social policies. However, nothing can thwart the Antichrist’s power. He can control the minds of non-evangelicals as well as controlling religious pawns to permeate the world with his diabolical ideas. One of the first major policies put in place by Carpathia is the establishment of a one- world religion supported by a general attitude of tolerance. Although the specific details are ambiguous in the novels, Carpathia uses his influence to have Peter Matthews selected as the next .42 Once in place, the now Pontifex Maximus Peter Matthews creates Enigma Babylon One World Faith which encompasses all the major world religions of Buddhism, , , and Christianity. Buck, in an interview, questions Matthews on the book of Revelation pitting fundamentalist beliefs against the more liberal interpretations Matthews offers. Matthews states that Revelation is “wonderful, archaic, beautiful literature, to be taken

40 Quoted in Randall Balmer, Blessed : A History of Evangelicalism in America, (: Beacon, 1999), 86. 41 Randall Balmer, Blessed Assurance, 85. 42 LaHaye and Jenkins, Nicolae: The Rise of the Antichrist, 199.

17 symbolically, figuratively, metaphorically.”43 When asked about those who interpret the book of Revelation literally, Matthews responds, “But these are the same holdovers from your right- wing, fanatical, fundamentalist factions who have always taken the Bible literally,” including the myths of Adam, Eve, and .44 Matthews, a former Catholic, summarizes the fears evangelicals have of a one-world religion of tolerance. He states: The idea of a literal virgin birth should be seen as an incredible leap of logic. The idea that the Holy Roman was the only true church was almost as damaging as the evangelical Protestant view that Jesus was the only way to God. That assumes, of course, that Jesus was, as so many of my Bible-worshiping friends like to say, ‘the only begotten Son of the Father.’ By now I’m sure that most thinking people realize that God is, at most, a spirit, an idea, if you will. If they like to infuse him, or it, or her, with some characteristics of purity and goodness, it only follows that we are all sons and daughters of God.”45

Matthews’ rhetoric is reminiscent of the older fundamentalist battle against modernism, as Matthews espouses a hermeneutic of Revelation influenced by higher criticism. Such a hermeneutic, for LaHaye, is tied together with liberal policies concerning . After the outbreak of global war, Carpathia seeks a massive rebuilding process intended to bring the global community together. However, Carpathia views overpopulation as the largest threat to poverty and food shortages. To this end he issues “proper legislation regarding abortion, assisted suicide, and the reduction of expensive care for the defective and handicapped…” Immediately after this proclamation, Steele prays that God would give him the opportunity to combat this “evil” one.46 However, Carpathia continues his progressive views instigating a world health care plan as the “only hope of survival in the midst of coming plagues and famines.”47 Despite Carpathia’s utopic health care vision, Steele comments, “In other words, Carpathia clears away the bodies he has blown to bits or starved or allowed to become diseased by plagues because of this war, and the rest of us lucky subjects will be healthier and more prosperous than ever.”48 The series portrays Carpathia as a devious politician. Every action Carpathia makes has an ulterior motive. He promises democracy, and then instills “Morale Monitors” who can kill anyone who disagrees with his views to further his power over

43 LaHaye and Jenkins, Nicolae: The Rise of the Antichrist, 236. 44 Ibid., 236. 45 Ibid., 237. 46 Ibid., 86. 47 Ibid., 197. 48 Ibid.

18 democracy.49 There is little doubt that the evangelical theological belief that the Antichrist is the pawn of Satan, who is the “father of lies” plays into the characterization of the politician. One of the most prevalent social issues illustrated in the Left Behind Series is abortion. This should come as no surprise to anyone familiar with political rhetoric of the religious right, which has been battling Roe vs. Wade since before the early eighties. Abortion rhetoric fills the first few books of the series. In Left Behind, Hattie has a sister who works as a counselor for a pregnancy clinic. Hattie’s sister loses her job, because all children under the age of the thirteen were raptured, including fetuses. Hattie explains that since no one is pregnant, there is no need for abortion, although people can still have children during the tribulation. She tells Steele all of this in a phone call where she worries how her sister will find a job to make money. The end of the conversation goes as follows: Rayford had to admit he had never found Hattie guilty of brilliance, but now he wished he could look into her eyes. “Hattie, um, I don’t know how to ask this. But are you saying your sister is hoping women can get pregnant again so they’ll need abortions and she can keep working?” “Well, sure. What is she going to do otherwise? Counseling jobs in other fields are pretty hard to come by, you know.” He nodded, feeling stupid, knowing she couldn’t see him. What kind of lunacy was this? He shouldn’t waste his energy arguing with someone who clearly didn’t have a clue, but he couldn’t help himself. “I guess I always thought clinics like the one where your sister works considered these unwanted pregnancies a nuisance. Shouldn’t they be glad if such problems disappear, and even happier—except for the small complication that the human race will eventually cease to exist—if pregnancies never happen again?” The irony was lost on her. “But Rayford, that’s her job. That’s what the center is all about. It’s sort of like owning a gas station and nobody needing gas or oil or tires anymore.” “Supply and demand.” “Exactly! See? They need unwanted pregnancies because that’s their business.”50

This kind of conversation is typical of LaHaye’s nonfiction writings. There are only two sides to every issue, the evangelical/conservative Christian and the evil secular humanist side. No nuances or counter-arguments are taken into account. The reader must take into account that this conversation occurs in the context of millions of people disappearing, some of them in Hattie’s own family. Only a few days after the Rapture, with no reasonable explanation available, Hattie is complaining about her sister’s loss of work and Steele is arguing about the morality of abortion. This conversation might seem unlikely to occur under the circumstances, yet LaHaye is laying the groundwork for his characterization of one who will not be left behind.

49 Ibid., 251. 50 Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins, Left Behind: A Novel of the Earth’s Last Days, (Wheaton: Tyndale, 1995), 267-8.

19 Hattie takes up the issue of abortion later in the series as she becomes pregnant with Carpathia’s child and then leaves their relationship. Again, discussing the issue with Rayford, she considers having an abortion, stating she wishes to “terminate the pregnancy,” an idea she first received from Carpathia.51 This explodes into an argument from Rayford that it is not merely a “pregnancy,” but is rather a child that is in her womb. Through the next few books, Hattie comes to live with the Tribulation Force who convinces her to see her pregnancy through without abortion. The matter becomes moot as Global Community Forces poison Hattie, who survives the attack but miscarries. However, the evangelical rhetoric is more than evident in this passage, terming the fetus a “child” rather than a “pregnancy” or even a “fetus.” Conclusion LaHaye’s political and social concerns are evident in the fictional narrative. Few differences exist between LaHaye’s nonfiction works and the eschatological scheme fictionalized in the Left Behind series. The chaos secular humanism has inflicted upon the evangelical conception of American society is one the primary signs that the apocalypse is immanent. Apocalyptic literature operates by establishing a motif that translates chaos into order, and although the Left Behind series is not a completely original apocalyptic text, it still operates under a similar motif. Fundamentalism was born as a response to increasing liberal thought represented by higher critical theory and Darwin’s evolutionary ideas. Fundamentalism, often confused with evangelical Christianity, combined social and theological beliefs, similar to evangelical Christianity. However, evangelical Christianity is not without its own social identity. Masculine forms of Christianity, female submission in marriage, and conservative morality now combine with more current political concerns to give an ordered identity to evangelicals in a chaotic world. Randall Balmer states: The world, in short, is out of control. Order has given way to chaos. This politics of resentment, when articulated by other oracles, has located different demons at different times. In the middle decades of the twentieth century these voices fingered Communism and the United Nations; later targets included the North American Free Trade Agreement, foreign aid, affirmative action, Hillary Rodham Clinton in particular and feminism in general.52

Evangelicals cannot merely go to church or live ethical lives, as the character of Bruce Barnes demonstrates, but instead must experience conversion that produces change. The evangelical

51 LaHaye and Jenkins, Nicolae: The Rise of the Antichrist, 193. 52 Randall Balmer, Blessed Assurance, 88.

20 conversion experience operates as a bridge of certainty between biblical validity and social morality. In the series, the particular evangelical identity that includes a disdain for feminism, socialism, and immorality represents that change. Progressive secular humanistic thinking represents a chaotic world for the Left Behind authors where only a catastrophic return of Christ can restore the order of biblical/conservative morality. Yet evangelicals must live in this chaotic world and forge an identity accordingly. The negotiation of conservative identities in an environment perceived to be increasingly secular presents a sense of chaos in establishing any type of certain foundation. Michael Maudlin of the preeminent evangelical magazine, , sees the books as a demonstration of both the strengths and weaknesses of the present American evangelical church. He states: These novels create a distorting mirror in which American evangelicals can see their community reflected, with some features unnaturally heightened, others diminished. The Christians in these end- times tales are individualistic, suspicious of the church, and strongly committed to evangelism and their . …They are comfortable with American middle-class, suburban Christianity, seeing it as able to accommodate a primitive, New Testament faith…”53

Maudlin correctly diagnosis the mirror metaphor, but is writing from a theological perspective examining his own evangelical church. The books are a mirror for LaHaye and Jenkins’ theological and social beliefs, which not all evangelicals share. Although not all evangelicals may share the same ideas, they are still purchasing the texts as the books operate to solidify an evangelical identity in those who partake of them. The motif of chaos and order combines with the ideological and utopian dimensions of mass cultural works to create a publishing juggernaut. LaHaye’s distress over the chaos caused by secular humanism is translated into fiction as the ideological function of the text. Individual readers tie together the antichrist with liberal politics. Evangelical political chaos transforms into the fictional kingdom of the antichrist. Yet there is a utopian hope in the social chaos. Premillennial dispensationalism assures the return of Christ at the expense of any secular progression. Until that assurance becomes reality, either in the final book of the series or the rapture, the narratives promise a social order demonstrated by the moral lives of the evangelical characters that the reader can consume in an evangelical identity. This consumable identity does not rely on a shared belief in apocalyptic speculation, but rather a literalist discourse dependent on the Bible that is a byproduct of mass media, evangelical seminaries, and entertainment.

53 Michael G. Maudlin, “The Bible Study at the End of the World,” Christianity Today, September 1, 1997, 26.

21

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The preciousness and dignity of the individual person is a central humanist value. Individuals should be encouraged to realize their own creative talents and desires. We reject all religious, ideological, or moral codes that denigrate the individual, suppress freedom, dull intellect, dehumanize personality. We believe in maximum individual autonomy consonant with social responsibility. Although science can account for the causes of behavior, the possibilities of individual freedom of choice exist in human life and should be increased.

Humanist Manifesto II (1973)

Chapter Two The arrival of mass media via radio, television, and publishing, changed the way Americans received information. The Left Behind series combines apocalyptic entertainment and a religious discourse to create a publishing phenomenon. Set in the near future, the series uses recognizable geographic locations and political entities to imply that these events will occur. When radio was the primary conduit of mass information, Orson Welles used similar techniques to convince a large portion of Americans that H.G. Wells’ War of the Worlds was actually occurring. As the information traveled over the airwaves, individuals interpreted the information as s/he saw fit. Some interpreted the broadcast literally, believing Martians had invaded the earth. Others, finding extra-terrestrial activity unbelievable, interpreted the information in lieu of current events thinking the Germans were attacking America or that God’s judgment was reigning down. The combination of Welle’s fictional-realism techniques combined with general American concerns resulted in a nation-wide panic in the late thirties. Panic, however, was not the only result of the broadcast. The broadcast demonstrated that apocalypticism could be used for mass media entertainment. In addition to the entertainment factor of apocalypticism, the Left Behind series demonstrates a greater evangelical discourse of biblical literalism overcoming an evangelical schism regarding biblical inerrancy. Fuller Theological Seminary and Dallas Theological Seminary, two bastions of evangelical training, disagreed over the theological concept of inerrancy. The more progressive Fuller believed the Bible to contain certain historical discrepancies whereas Dallas held to the more conservative view that the Bible contained no errors of any kind. The battle over inerrancy continues, but only in strictly theological circles. Regarding mass evangelical productions, the message is one of uniformity vis-à-vis the inerrancy of biblical morality and literal

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interpretation. Both Hal Lindsey and LaHaye demonstrate this uniform discourse in their subsequent apocalyptic works. Popular evangelical apocalyptic works of the twentieth century integrate a literalist discourse advocating an individualized salvation in a threatening society. The works are tailored interpretations of Revelation to fit current religious concerns. In the case of the Left Behind series, the events are set in the future, but speak to present evangelical concerns. By depending on biblical literalism, the series invites typological interpretation diminishing the line between fictional imagination and actual evangelical practice. Mass media allows the Left Behind authors to use apocalyptic fiction as a conduit to promote specific discourses accepted by consumers. War of the Worlds A radio broadcast came across the airwaves at eight o’clock on October 30, 1938, and brought about widespread confusion, panic, and excitement. That broadcast was not the news of the impending war or a presidential address from Franklin Delano Roosevelt; on the contrary, Orson Welles transcribed H.G. Wells’s fictional novel, War of the Worlds, into a play and enacted it over the radio. For a few hours, Orson Welles convinced an enormous amount of people that Martians had invaded the earth, were destroying any armed resistance against them, and were gassing innocent bystanders. Thousands of Americans from Maine to California believed the invasion was real, resulting in a nationwide panic.1 Apocalyptic rhetoric within America has always revolved around the concept of panic. At times people have used the apocalyptic scenario to quell panic and anxiety, as the Puritans justified pestilences and Native American raids. Most recently, individuals have used apocalyptic scenarios to create panic for another desired result: entertainment. Orson Welles readily admitted his glee at the panic his radio broadcast caused, as it demonstrated the power of media over the imaginations of the American people.2 His primary motivation was to have Americans start to question the validity of the news they heard via the radio. People too readily believed any news they read from the papers or

1 Hadley Cantrill, The Invasion from Mars: A Study in the Psychology of Panic, (Princeton: Princeton UP, 1940), 3. 2 Robert Brown, Manipulating the Ether: The Power of Broadcast Radio in Thirties America, (Jefferson: McFarland, 1998), 227.

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heard from the radio, according to Welles.3 Thus, during a time when any catastrophe seemed believable, the expectation of imminent disaster influenced the imaginations of the radio listeners. The broadcast, occurring between the Great Depression and World War II, furthered the present fears of disaster. “Particularly since the depression of 1929,” Cantrill notes, “a number of people have begun to wonder whether or not they will ever regain any sense of economic security.”4 This sense of insecurity was only expounded through the rapid cultural and political changes in attempts to overcome the depression.5 It is impossible to measure how deeply this sense of economic insecurity permeated individual Americans, but the beginning of German aggression throughout Europe magnified a general sense of uncertainty in America. Many imagined the “real” attack was not by Martians at all, but rather by superior German forces invading America. One individual states: The announcer said a meteor had fallen from Mars and I was sure he thought that, but in the back of my head I had the idea that meteor was just a camouflage. It was really an airplane like a Zeppelin that looked like a meteor and the Germans were attacking us with gas bombs.”6

Preconceived notions allowed American imaginations to recreate the event to fit a more “realistic” scenario. The panic resulted from those who never questioned the validity of such an attack, but instead, literally believed the scenario or believed the reporters were simply mistaken in their descriptions. Those with apocalyptic expectations accepted the Martian invasion as God’s chastisement. Cantrill recounts the experience of Miss Dean, who heard the broadcast and did not bother to check its reliability because she “took for granted that it was true,” and interpreted the event as the judgment of God upon the world.7 Cantrill summarizes the account: In Miss Dean’s case there was a frame of reference quite adequate to account for her fright. She “knew that the forces of God were overpowering us,” and was sure “we were given punishment at last for all our evil ways.” She did not doubt the broadcast for a second because her religious beliefs had made her expect a catastrophe. As she states herself, “I knew we would be punished sooner or later.”8

3 Ibid., 135. 4 Cantrill, 154. 5 Ibid., 155. 6 Ibid., 160. 7 Ibid., 180. 8 Ibid.

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Individuals had to make sense of the uncertainty they experienced in the aftermath of the Great Depression and in the wake of impending war. In light of these events and the uncertainty they caused, people attempting to rationalize the fictional scenario turned to panic and distress. Depending on preconceived notions, whether apocalyptic or not, people individually interpreted the broadcast as they deemed fit. “A person with standards of judgment that enable him to ‘place’ or ‘give meaning to’ a stimulus in an almost automatic way, finds nothing incongruous about such acceptance,” Cantrill concludes, “his standards have led him to ‘expect’ the possibility of such an occurrence.”9 The sense of uncertainty caused by historical events surrounding the broadcast allowed Americans to extend validity to the broadcast. Some believed it was actually Martians invading, some referred to divine judgment, and others explained it as a pretense of war, but panic pervaded all those duped by the broadcast regardless of their rationalizations. Americans readily received the broadcast because of the fictional-realism inherent in the material. Fictional-realism is the inclusion of current scenarios, actual places or persons within a fictional account, giving the account more accessibility. Fictional- realism is an unstated form of typological interpretation. Welles replaced the original scenario of the British novel with the town of Grovers Mill, Oxford dons with Princeton professors, and Parliamentarians with Washington officials. Princeton professors are not Oxford dons, but both are types of academicians. Americans were not as familiar with English instructors as they would be with American institutions. Thus, Americans readily believed the fantastic pseudo-scientific occurrences of death rays and mass gassings because of the invocation of an actual location and the use of familiar social and political structures. This is not the only reason, of course; many tuned into the broadcast late, missing the announcement of the fictionalization, but the similarities between the fictional account and a normal news broadcast enabled latecomers to believe the events were actually occurring. Foucault and Discourse Orson Welles’ successful broadcast was dependent on the trust Americans placed in radio news and the uncertainty of current events. Radio was a trustworthy source of

9 Ibid., 191.

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news broadcasts. By transforming the British sensibilities of H.G. Wells’ novel into recognizable American entities, the fictional broadcast resembled a typical American news event. He used a certain source to manipulate the uncertainty of Americans. Americans currently put less trust in mass media than Welle’s suggested. However, mass media becomes an “untrustworthy” avenue for “trustworthy” individuals to dispense specific ideologies. In the case of the Left Behind series, a trusted evangelical, Tim LaHaye is able to transform his premillennial dispensational ideology into an accessible pulp novel that produces a literalist discourse masking the strict theological background. The evangelical discourse relies upon an absolute biblical authority derived from literal interpretation that allows individualism to operate as the highest virtue, controlling morality without a central power structure. Concerning discourse, Michel Foucault argues that its role “is to avert its [society’s] powers and its dangers, to cope with chance events, to evade its ponderous, awesome materiality.”10 Evangelicals use the Bible to support a discourse that allows them to explain society and the cosmos, and perhaps most importantly, to define good and evil. Because there is no central hierarchy, like the Roman Catholic Church, to validate an orthodox discourse; American evangelicals, championing individual conscience, need only search the Bible for authoritative answers about good and evil. Thus, specific political and social complaints, such as liberal policies and the feminist movement, are only symptoms of a greater goal: a discourse of certainty founded in biblical literalism. This is not to say that every individual evangelical has similar theories about government and society, or even the same goal, but rather that the vast majority appeal to biblical literalism to support individual preferences. Biblical literalism is a discourse that unites American evangelicals while supporting individual differences regarding ideology and theology. The authoritative discourse of literalism, however, provides a disjunction with present American society. Adherence to biblical literalism allows an individual to form absolute beliefs about morality, as written by the hand of God. Those beliefs, in the evangelical discourse, should buttress American society, as they are absolutely true. Thus, an individual must either view those principles at work in society or reject society

10 Michel Foucault, The Discourse on Language, (New York: Pantheon, 1972), 216.

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as immoral.11 Biblical literalism does not command specific individual actions within society, it merely outlines God’s ultimate cosmic plan. 12 Rejection of society leads to a championing of the prophetic nature of the Bible and a literal interpretation of Revelation, promising hope for the believer and doom for the persecutors. This is not to say that all evangelicals support the prophetic/apocalyptic beliefs of biblical literalism found in the Left Behind series. The scope of individual evangelical differences is great and opinions about how biblical literalism and American society coincide differ widely, but this does not discount, the presence of a general evangelical discourse. Foucault continues: Doctrine…tends to diffusion: in the holding in common of a single ensemble of discourse that individuals, as many as you wish, could define their reciprocal allegiance. In appearance, the sole requisite is the recognition of the same truths and the acceptance of a certain rule – more or less flexible – of conformity with validated discourse. If it were a question of just that, doctrines would barely be any different from scientific disciplines, and discursive control would bear merely on the form or content of what was uttered, and not on the speaker. Doctrinal adherence, however, involves both speaker and the spoken, the one through the other.13

While still assuming the validity of biblical literalism—in the case of the Left Behind series and premillennial dispensationalism—individual evangelicals operate under general principles derived from the morality of biblical literalism that result in various political actions. The direction those actions take are dependent on evangelical speakers, i.e. pastors, seminary professors, and currently, conservative politicians. Literal interpretation, in theory, is individualistic. In practice, however, absolute moral authority depends upon the spoken (and written) discourse of evangelical leaders, such as LaHaye. Lay evangelicals place a guarded trust in popularized evangelical leaders primarily because of their association with evangelical Christianity. This dependence, combined

11 For a more in depth discussion on this disjunction see Michael G. Einstein, “The American Dream? Capitalism, Literalism, and their Role in Evangelical Apocalypticism,” ARC: The Journal of the Faculty or , Vol. 32, 2004, pp. 27-44. 12 In Assassins, Rayford Steele has the intention of assassinating Carpathia, demonstrating how individualism within evangelical discourse functions. Interpreting Revelation literally, Steele knows that the Antichrist will be assassinated, and his own hate for Carpathia leads him to believe he may be the individual who kills Carpathia. However, Steele wrestles with his individual place in the divine plan. God will have Carpathia assassinated, with or without Steele’s help. As the events unfold, Steele targets Carpathia with a high powered handgun, but is bumped, accidentally firing the gun, but missing Carpathia. Panic ensues and Carpathia runs for cover, only to be assassinated by Chaim Rosenweig, who had been elaborately planning the assassination for some time. Although Steele takes matters into his own hands, he knows for certain what God’s plan is, but not how he individually fits into that plan. As he acts individually, God’s plan comes to be, but Steele’s role remains ambiguous. 13 Foucault, 226.

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with the consumer tendencies of late-capitalism, allows the majority of evangelicals to receive moral edification that promotes individualized salvation from pop novels and devotional texts rather than from theological education or reasoned logic. Premillennial dispensationalism, dependent on biblical literalism in the Left Behind series, presents a discourse of hard determinism with supernatural forces pulling the strings of individuals and society. The evangelical discourse offers the freedom of differing opinions, but that freedom is ideological, not material—it has no real bearing on social progression. Christian constructions of gender roles and valuations of individualism change in response to American historical circumstances, and the evangelical encounter with “late-capitalist” society functions no differently, yet they maintain their moral constructions as absolute. LaHaye’s insistence on the diabolical nature of secular humanism merely lends credence to the changing nature of biblical literalism as it encounters the effect “late-capitalism” has on the American mindset. The popular novel—its accessibility and its profits—is one such effect allowing LaHaye to fictionalize premillennial dispensationalism. The sympathetic reader uses a typological interpretation of the series, as well as most other literary works to achieve a sense of trust in both the author and the text. Typological interpretations were prevalent in Puritan society culminating in Cotton Mather’s writings as he compared with the Hebrew prophet Nehemiah and Native Americans with the Chaldeans, ancient enemies of the Israelites.14 According to Sacvan Bercovitch, typologies originally functioned for Christians to draw parallels between the Old and New Testaments.15 Figures and events in the were “types” or foreshadowings of figures in the New Testament, most explicitly types of Christ. More generally, typological interpretations operate to connect religious groups to their greater societies. Evangelicals typologically reading the Left Behind series connect various characters with their realistic counterparts. The intelligent, unbelieving Chaim Rosenweig represents the intellectual atheist. Hattie is the needy, immoral female searching for a source of truth. Rayford becomes the ideal, masculine Christian leader.

14 Sacvan Bercovitch, The Puritan Origins of the American Self, (New Haven: Yale, 1975), 33. 15 Ibid., 35.

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Sympathetic readers engage and accept the material as they related the fictional material to their own realistic concerns. Amy Johnson Frykholm’s conversation with Rachel provides a poignant example of how the books influence the reader’s social ideology. Embracing the eschatology wholeheartedly, she addresses the series in a way “that shows investment in the books as both a fictional narrative and a revelation of truth.”16 Although the characters are fictitious, the events are not, and the storyline carries the truth of the earth’s last days. Rachel states, “I’m a sucker. I mean, I believe this is exactly what is going to happen. I really do. I mean how else would it happen? Now if someone else wrote another story, then I’d have to check that out and compare them.”17 Rachel, being a new convert to evangelical Christianity, does not have the theological background to compare various interpretations of Revelation. For her, this is the interpretation. More so, “She is caught in a tension between the novels as fiction and the novels as a real representation of prophecy. She does not clearly divide fiction from truth…”18 Just as the novels fictionalize biblical narratives to use as typologies blurring the line between biblical narrative and fiction, sympathetic readers blur the lines between the series’ fiction and reality. Rachel demonstrates how the books’ readers combine fictional narratives, individual ideologies, and reality into participation with a specific conservative evangelical discourse. The texts not only exist as entertaining narratives, but also permeate the evangelical concerns of the readers. Rachel’s mixture of fiction and truth represents her desire for the conversion of her family. She associates Hattie and Chaim’s refusal of conversion with her mother’s refusal to convert. In this way, the fictional characters become personality archetypes for Rachel; thus, she is able to incorporate her fictional reading into her daily life. The events of the Tribulation are not the only “realities” for her, but the characters themselves translate into the ordinary people of her life.19 Typological interpretation allows a conduit to fictionalize biblical literalism while providing an entertainment value to the literature. The accepted discourse of biblical literalism underlies all of the characters in the series. The authors connect any hint of secular humanism with the antichrist. The result, through typological interpretation, is

16 Amy Johnson Frykholm, Rapture Culture: Left Behind in Evangelical America, (New York: Oxford, 2004), 54. 17 Ibid., 54. 18 Ibid., 55. 19 Ibid.

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the relation of progressive politics with diabolical influence. Conversely, the readers relate conservative policies regarding economics, morality, and politics with a divine initiative. The advent of mass media, first with pulp fiction, and more effectively with radio and television, allowed apocalyptic broadcasts to frighten and entertain while influencing readers toward an unstated goal. The Diffusion of Literalism Entertainment was not the sole authorizing force behind apocalyptic speculation in the 20th century. Fundamentalists had subjected America to their apocalyptic ideas in the battle against modernism. The evangelical and fundamentalist seminaries that trained populist pastors wrestled over the theological concept of biblical inerrancy that diverged into two distinct but related ideologies during the 1940’s and 50’s. Fuller Theological Seminary and Dallas Theological Seminary represent the two ideologies as both produced literalist populizers. Fuller Seminary supported Billy Graham in his early career and appointed him to its board of trustees. Hal Lindsey, author of the Late, Great Planet Earth graduated from Dallas Theological Seminary. The history of conservative and moderate evangelical seminaries in America demonstrates the infusion of America with biblical literalism. As evangelical seminary professors trained their students, those students instilled their churches and Christian book stores with biblical literalism and continue to do so. Both seminaries sought to combat European higher criticism and its challenge of the historical validity of the Bible and thus, its ability to govern human morals absolutely. They used literal interpretation in an attempt to validate the biblical text historically and ethically. For strict fundamentalists, biblical inerrancy meant that the Bible was without historical or scientific errors as God’s revelation. However, more progressive scholars, many having studied theology in Europe could not honestly state that the Bible was historically error-free, whether regarding genealogies or scientific interpretations. The progressive faculty at Fuller advocated that the Bible contained “incidental errors,” but did not hinder “God’s revelational purpose.”20 On the other hand, Dallas Theological Seminary maintained the fundamentalist explanation of inerrancy along with a strong

20 George Marsden, Reforming Fundamentalism: Fuller Seminary and the New Evangelicalism, (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1987), 212.

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emphasis on dispensationalism. The progressives eventually won the hard-fought battle at Fuller, and similar concessions were made at other institutions, such as Wheaton College and Evangelical Divinity School. The controversy over inerrancy focused on the essence of the Bible rather than on its function. Fundamentalists, combating modernism, argued that the Bible was scientifically verifiable, which from their perspective, placed the fundamentalist ideology on equal footing with progressive modernism. Both conservative and moderate evangelical seminaries maintained a biblical hermeneutic that absolutely supported Christological salvation and existential responsibility. It was the rationale for the support of the hermeneutic that brewed controversy. Billy Graham preached a Christian message based on a literal interpretation of the Bible that centered on religious salvation whereas Lindsey wrote about the world’s impending doom based on dispensationalism, which also has its origins in biblical literalism. The issues of biblical literalism and inerrancy have become the primary bond between evangelical seminaries as they result in similar social and political concerns. Professors defending inerrancy at Dallas Theological Seminary contrast rational literalism with “experientialism.”21 The professors at Dallas take a much stronger stance on dispensationalism than Fuller. However, Randall Ballmer indicates that although dispensationalism is the “underlying philosophy” at Dallas, the primary concern is the doctrine of biblical inerrancy.22 More so, since the seminary is training evangelical church leaders, they put a hard emphasis on communicating biblical inerrancy to future congregations through a literal hermeneutic. According to , professor of at Dallas, the individual can objectively address the issues of authorial intent, of both the human and divine authors by taking the Bible literally.23 However, biblical literalism does not carry the emotional weight that inerrancy does, yet the two concepts are virtually inseparable for evangelicals. For the vast majority of conservative evangelicals, inerrancy implies literal interpretation, and strict literal interpretation implies premillennial dispensationalism. Fuller eventually softened their

21 Randall Ballmer, Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory: A Journey into the Evangelical Subculture in America, (New York: Oxford, 1989), 39. 22 Ibid. 23 Ibid., 40.

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stance on inerrancy, recognizing imperfection in both original and human record and subsequently, very few, if any, of their professors or students hold to a strict dispensational interpretation. Both seminaries, however, still hold the Bible as absolutely authoritative and applicable for socio-political concerns. Dallas Theological Seminary, for example, uses a literal interpretation of the Bible to prohibit training women for pastor positions based on Paul’s letters to Timothy. As evangelicals hold to the Bible as their absolute authority, various evangelical seminaries tie literalism to their view of inerrancy, which authorizes students leaving the seminaries to preach literalism in American pulpits advocating conservative social ethics. The Left Behind series aptly moderates between both the strict conservatism of Dallas and the more progressive Fuller. The authors indicate their belief in inerrancy by literally interpreting Revelation and fictionalizing the account according to premillennial dispensationalism. Yet, the characters consistently use biblical paradigms to support their worldly activities. The dualism represented by the Tribulation Force and Global Community indicates to the reader that there is the evangelical Christian perspective and a diabolical perspective with no middle position. Even if the evangelical reader is more moderate on the issue of inerrancy, if aware at all, the series still appeals because of conservative evangelical social interaction demonstrated by the characters. Inerrancy is the theological cornerstone of the populist literalist discourse. The Left Behind series offers no discussion on the theological subtleties of inerrancy, but assumes an authoritative, conservative discourse based on a literally-interpreted, conceptually-inerrant sacred text. The characters in the series identify as evangelicals by politically engaging Carpathia’s anti-biblical paradigm. They assume the validity of a conceptually inerrant sacred text and their interpretation of it, because their interpretation of Revelation materializes in specific divine judgments. Evangelicals can disregard theological differences over premillennial dispensationalism concerning the Left Behind series, because the novels advocate a general evangelical identity promoting conservative socio-political concerns. Biblical literalism and authority supports that identity; a base that all evangelicals share.

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Hal Lindsey’s Late Great Planet Earth The events of the 1970’s allowed dispensationalist Hal Lindsey to speculate the apocalypse was only a short time away. Lindsey, a student of at Dallas Theological Seminary, was a tugboat captain before his conversion to evangelical Christianity. Paul Boyer notes that Lindsey fits well into the category of prophecy populizers after World War II in that he was not a sophisticated trained theologian, but instead an individual who came out of the ranks of the populace to popularize premillennial dispensationalism.24 The Late Great Planet Earth, a publishing phenomenon selling over 28 million copies by 1990, combines the premillennial dispensational scheme with current political and geographical scenarios. Based on a literal interpretation of Revelation, he explains, for instance, why Russia might attack Israel and how the drying up of the Euphrates River will aid the Chinese army.25 Through these elaborations, Lindsey establishes the Bible’s divine authority through prophecy and fulfillment, which aids his apocalyptic thinking regarding political scenarios. The Late Great Planet Earth appeals to previously fulfilled prophecy that begins a chain of circular reasoning. Lindsey begins his book with a validation of Jesus as the messiah based on fulfilled prophecies from the Hebrew Bible. He argues that Daniel’s prediction of the princely messiah would come sixty-nine weeks (483 years using the “year-day” theory) after the rebuilding of the Temple. Lindsey continues his argument stating that this is the exact date when Jesus was born, thus fulfilling the Jewish prophecies of the long-awaited messiah. If Jesus is the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecies and the Bible is one coherent text, as it is for Lindsey, then other biblical prophecies must be equally valid. He rejects the interpretation of prophecy by mainstream biblical scholars stating: Many so-called Biblical scholars today try to “late date” such predictions as ’s to make his prophecies seem to be after the fact. To do this not only violates the consistent witness of the history of those times, but also makes the Jewish people religious charlatans and deceivers. The Jews would have had no reason to keep for posterity those writings of the prophets if they were a fraud.26

24 Paul Boyer, When Time Shall Be No More, (Cambridge: Harvard, 1992), 305. 25 Hal Lindsey, The Late Great Planet Earth, (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1970), 74. 26 Ibid., 25.

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Biblical literalism is the only available option for Lindsey, and because of his insistence of the validity of prophecy and fulfillment, he places the certainty of biblical literalism on fragile ground. Lindsey’s imaginative future constructions push the claims of biblical literalism to the brink of inaccuracy, an event which is not feasible for literalists. Lindsey, unlike original apocalyptic authors, does not claim to be God’s mouthpiece. As he concludes his book he adds the disclaimer: “I believe these forecasts are based upon sound deductions; however, please don’t get the idea that I think that I am infallibly right in the same way that a Biblical prophet speaking under the direct inspiration of God’s spirit was.”27 Although his specific predictions and scenarios may not happen precisely as he describes, he is absolutely certain that the literal interpretation of Revelation will come to pass. Lindsey, despite his failure to predict specific apocalyptic events, bases the validation of the Bible, or at least the literal interpretation of the Bible, upon the shoulders of fulfilled prophecy. The magnitude of the problem is due to the fact that if the biblical apocalyptic prophecies do not come to pass, then the conservative evangelical insistence of biblical inerrancy would become void. Events forecast in the future can always be pushed back farther and farther, of course, as Cotton Mather and William Miller exemplify, but the more time that passes, the greater the claim’s fragility. Lindsey based his predictions of Russia’s invasion of Israel, China’s march on the Middle East, and the inevitability of World War III upon specific current political ideologies, such as communism. However, as political situations continued to change in time, Lindsey’s logic had less validity. As former geo-political entities have dissolved, Lindsey’s prophetic speculations have placed the discourse of biblical literalism in a position of incredulity. Lindsey’s biblical literalism maintains conservative social roles, in that the Victorian woman’s idealization appears briefly in Lindsey’s text as the raptured wife. In his chapter discussing the rapture, Lindsey gives several imaginary accounts of various explanations for the disappearances. A professor who teaches philosophy of religion, a

27 Ibid., 181.

35

spokesperson for the United Nations, and a liberal pastor all give their various accounts. He quotes another individual saying: You really know what I think? I think all that talk about the Rapture and going to meet Jesus Christ in the air wasn’t crazy after all. I don’t know about you, brother, but I’m going to find myself a Bible and read all those verses my wife underlined. I wouldn’t listen to her while she was here, and now she’s—I don’t know where she is.28

The scenarios all involve the powerful and intellectual, and they are all left behind. In contrast, the “fanatical” wife is raptured, leaving behind her Bible for any to read. The submissive wife, the opposite of the world’s powerful and influential men, is the one who holds the truth, making her submission a powerful tool. Christianity, for Lindsey, has changed from communal piety to an individualistic, experiential morality. He states: Peace is available to the individual today as he invites Christ into his heart and allows Him to reign upon the throne of his life. But the Bible teaches that lasting peace will come to the world only after Christ returns and sits upon the throne of David in Jerusalem and establishes His historic kingdom on earth for a thousand years (Revelation 20:4-6).29

From his perspective, government has failed Christianity, because Christ is “no longer considered “relevant” in addressing social ills within the progressive ideology.30 Because society has neglected evangelical discourse, its communal concerns become trivial to immediate individual satisfaction. Individuals can experience “peace,” but only if they convert to evangelical Christianity, leaving the accomplishments of world peace and harmony until after the Second Advent. Perhaps this is why Lindsey passively accepts the inevitability of war and the encouragement to stockpile weapons in his later work Countdown to Armageddon. Individuals can have religious truth and hope, but there can be no collective peace without the catastrophe of the Tribulation, giving hope to individuals longing for the coming of Christ. Lindsey encourages individual evangelism as a means to control social behavior as the end of the world approaches. He does not specifically encourage Christians to work in government nor does he promote “dropping out of life,” but rather encourages individual readers to share the gospel with as many people as possible.31 Also, he encourages the reader to a life of “holy living” that is associated with personal morality and not with social concerns. Lindsey deduces that the

28 Ibid., 136-37. 29 Ibid., 170. 30 Ibid., 172. 31 Ibid., 171.

36

more individual Christians there are, the more society will naturally improve. This distinction leads him to validate only those churches which preach the “inerrant word of God,” tested by fulfilled prophecy and an emphasis on personal morality rather than social responsibility. When the rapture occurs, according to Lindsey, Christ will not take whole churches or of people, but rather individuals who define their morality by a belief in the second coming and biblical literalism. The individual’s evangelical discourse becomes sacred, dependent upon the conversion experience, which separates the saved and the damned. Summary The Left Behind series operates in a similar manner as the radio broadcast of War of the Worlds to give a sense of reality to a fictional narrative. Whereas Orson Welles’ production transformed English motifs into recognizable American “things,” the Left Behind series uses current American political situations and places to accomplish the same effect. The Antichrist’s takeover of the United Nations as well as vivid descriptions of present-day Chicago and the fictional description of a war-ravaged Chicago demonstrate LaHaye and Jenkins’ fictional-realism. The fictional-realism provides an entertainment aspect while advocating a sense of future possibility for Americans. The entertainment quality of mass media allows evangelicals to put forward a unified front on social issues advocating a specific conservative discourse. The structure of the popular novels does not allow critical theological reflection, but rather advocates accessible identities that the reader either accepts or rejects. Theological disagreements still exist over biblical inerrancy, as the cases of Fuller and Dallas seminaries demonstrate. However, theological nuances, however vital they may be, are not the most important message regarding the discourse. Uniformity against social liberalism under the auspices of an apocalyptic Christianity remains the vital identity the series offers. Because the authors of the series are recognizable evangelical names, evangelicals can engage the fictional material and accept its viability without question. The discourse involves both the speaker and the material spoken. In this case, a conservative evangelical authorship that advocates a conservative Christianity as a means for the certainty of individualized salvation.

37

Mass media’s influence explains how the series operates as a functional discourse, but it does not necessarily address how it attracts such a large gathering of sympathetic readers. Uncle Tom’s Cabin and The Quaker City or, The Monks of Monk Hall also gathered a large number of sympathetic readers and produced profound effects, both nationally and locally. The effect of the Left Behind series on American society will not be known concretely for several years, however, a comparison with these other novels will yield similarities in structure and material demonstrating how the series has become such a popular publishing phenomenon.

38 Humane societies should evaluate economic systems not by rhetoric or ideology, but by whether or not they increase economic well-being for all individuals and groups, minimize poverty and hardship, increase the sum of human satisfaction, and enhance the quality of life. Hence the door is open to alternative economic systems. We need to democratize the and judge it by its responsiveness to human needs, testing results in terms of the common good.

Humanist Manifesto II (1973)

Chapter 3 The Left Behind series is a fictional narrative and must be analyzed as such. Comparing LaHaye’s nonfiction works with the series allows an intelligible deconstruction of the religious and political themes of the texts. Comparing the series with other fictional works provides an insight into how those themes are dispersed and their subsequent effects. Mass market novels and serials have many precedents in American history. Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin, sold an enormous amount of copies as historians have credited the work as one of many catalysts engendering the Civil War.1 In , George Lippard’s work satirized the wealthy while pushing for capitalistic reform. All three works are accessible with simple plots and familiar American places. The three fictional works will be compared in four different areas. The first area is how each text blends fiction and reality. All three works are closely tied to American political events, but are still works of fiction. The second area to compare is the goal of each text or series. All three writers have something specific s/he is attempting to accomplish. The third related area is how each text accomplishes its goal. Each author uses a specific strategy to inform his/her audience about a specific problem in order to sway that audience one particular way or another through fictional means. The fourth area to compare is how each text uses the apocalypse within the text. Although the Left Behind series is apocalyptic fiction, it still portrays a very precise use of the apocalypse. All of the literary works seek to sway the general American public toward a political opinion similar to the authors. In the novels, the focal point is the family. All three authors display how unjust political systems influence the nuclear family. Stowe

1 Peter W. Williams, America’s Religions: From Their Origins to the Twenty-First Century, (Chicago: Illinois, 2002), 196.

39 writes about families in dismay over separation. Lippard demonstrates the moral destruction of the family. The Left Behind series begins with a family separated by an act of God, but promises a glorious reunion. The series, however, is different from the others because of its lack of subtlety and ambiguity bordering on kitsch. Stowe, for example, gives several biblical passages that the characters use to both defend and attack slavery. Lippard uses a devious character as a hero to demonstrate capitalism’s corrosive effects. In the Left Behind series no dichotomous view exists regarding the Bible or the characters. The one-layered dualism exists between the Antichrist’s secular humanist regime and the evangelical rebels. The series operates similarly to other historic novels with a sense of immediacy and the use of recognizable places, but borders on kitsch causing the sympathetic reader to consume the proposed fictional identity to identify as an evangelical. The vast majority of Uncle Tom’s Cabin takes place on the cusp of the American Midwest in Ohio and Kentucky. Stowe creates her own characters instead of using actual persons to caricature, but the narrator suggests that the scenarios have their basis in reality.2 Financial trouble forces Mr. Shelby, a slave-holder, to sell Uncle Tom, a Christ- like heroine. Tom had earned the respect of his master so selling him brought a looming sense of uncertainty not knowing what kind of master to whom the slave-trader would sell Tom. Stowe groups Ohio and Kentucky with a kinder Northern atmosphere indicating that Southern masters treated their slaves harshly. Along with Tom, the slave- trader coerces Shelby to sell a talented boy, Harry, the son of George and Eliza. Eliza, confirming the news, chooses to take Harry and escape to Canada, despite having a somewhat pleasurable disposition in the Shelby’s home. Uncle Tom however ends up in the St. Clare household. The St. Clare’s, like the Shelby’s, have kind dispositions toward their slaves. Tom saves St. Clare’s daughter, Eva, from drowning initiating Tom’s eventual release from slavery. Before Tom is set free, St. Clare is murdered and financial troubles force his wife to sell Tom once again. A mean-spirited slave-holder, Legree, buys Tom. Stowe uses Legree to fictionalize the most horrible aspects of slavery. Legree eventually beats Tom to death before the Shelby’s can rescue him.

2 Harriet Beecher Stowe, Uncle Tom’s Cabin, (New York: Barnes and Noble Classics, 2003), 505.

40 Stowe addresses the relationship between fiction and reality in the conclusion of her novel. She states: The separate incidents that compose the narrative are, to a very great extent, authentic, occurring, many of them, either under her own observation, or that of her personal friends. She or her friends have observed characters the counterpart of almost all that are here introduced; and many of the sayings are word for word as heard herself, or reported to her.3

She continues to discuss specific characters, but is ambiguous regarding what events or characters have their basis in actual truth or are caricatures of the environment of slavery. The inclusion of the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850 as well as specific geographic landscapes, such as Cincinnati and northern Kentucky, gives a sense of reality to the fictional novel. The author’s admission of a sense of actuality and the familiarity of the landscape within the text suggest a believable narrative. Stowe’s goal is to demonstrate the horror of slavery in an ultimate attempt to politically abolish the practice. She accomplishes this goal in various ways, but most predominately in her appeal to a heroic, submissive form of Christianity centered on the nuclear family. As George complains of being punished without just cause, Eliza retorts, “Well, I always thought that I must obey my master and mistress, or I couldn’t be a Christian.”4 However, when Eliza is faced with the reality of her only son being sold to another master, she flees to Canada with her son, disobeying her master rather than having her family torn apart. Stowe’s fictional slaves, at their most heroic, are submissive to their masters by appealing to their understanding of Christianity. Uncle Tom becomes the paradigm of submissive Christianity, a “Christ-figure” who ultimately sacrifices his life for Christian virtue at the hands of an abusive master who beats him to death.5 Stowe’s ultimate hope of abolition comes through an appeal to Christian practice. The Fugitive Slave Law of 1850 disallowed people in northern states from helping escaped Southern slaves. Although Stowe idealizes submissive Christianity, when the issue of helping another in need comes into conflict with federal law, Stowe sides with those who obey Christian practice. Mrs. Bird, in a conversation with her husband, a

3 Harriet Beecher Stowe, Uncle Tom’s Cabin, (New York: Barnes and Noble, 2003),505. 4 Stowe, 20. 5 Peter W. Williams, America’s Religions: From their Origins to the Twenty-First Century, (Chicago: UP Illinois, 2002),196-97.

41 senator, shows her disdain for the law. She states, “Now, John, I don’t know anything about politics, but I can read my Bible; and there I see that I must feed the hungry, clothe the naked, and comfort the desolate; and that Bible I mean to follow.”6 Stowe appeals to a higher authority in the Bible rather than federal law. Federal allowance of slavery conflicts with Christianity’s higher teaching. Although this is the position Stowe takes, she incorporates how the preachers used the Bible to justify slavery. Ophelia St. Clare reports to her husband a sermon she heard critiquing the “ridiculous fuss that is made about slavery.”7 She explains the Bible was on their side, because it states that “some should be high and some low, and that some were born to rule and some to serve…”8 Stowe uses the to validate her own position in the fiction. Augustine St. Clare has his own religious conversion, accepting Christianity and disavowing slavery. He cannot, however, free his slaves before he is murdered attempting to disrupt a violent argument. Stowe interprets Christian practice, for slaves, as submission and obedience. For slaveholders, Christianity transforms into the action of emancipation. The Left Behind series divides its submissive and assertive actions according to gender roles. Women are to be submissive to their husbands and male religious leaders, whereas men attack secular humanism through witty comments and militant action. Female submission, however, is an attack against feminism, a byproduct of secular humanism. The certainty of religious salvation promised by evangelical identity and rapture make the differences between submission and aggression irrelevant. Both men and women compose the Tribulation Force, whose sole mission is to thwart the Antichrist. Men and women simply have different roles in that mission. Uncle Tom’s Cabin was not popularized as an apocalyptic novel, but Stowe appeals to a possible “day of vengeance.”9 Stowe concludes her novel saying: O, Church of Christ, read the signs of the times! Is not this power the spirit of HIM, whose kingdom is yet to come, and whose will to be done on earth as it is in heaven? But who may abide the day of his appearing? “for that day shall burn as an oven: and he shall appear as a swift witness against those that oppress the hireling in his wages, the

6 Stowe, 93. 7 Ibid., 211. 8 Ibid. 9 Ibid.,515.

42 widow and the fatherless, and that turn aside the stranger in his right; and he shall break in pieces the oppressor.10

For Stowe, America has committed an egregious evil before God, both north and south are equally guilty. But God’s punishment, in the form of an apocalypse, can still be avoided. The apocalypse is not a theological certainty, but rather, a just punishment for a national transgression. There is no duality in Stowe’s declaration. Christian and non- Christian, Northerner and Southerner will be subject to the day of vengeance if America does not abolish slavery. In contrast, the apocalypse is an accepted reality in the Left Behind series. The narrative suggests secular humanism ushers in the Antichrist and the subsequent tribulation, but only because secularism is LaHaye’s primary concern. The premillennial dispensationalist interpretation accepts an inevitable rapture, tribulation, and singular world leader known as the Antichrist regardless of a predominant ideology. The individual’s only hope in lieu of this inevitability is evangelical identity; an identity that promises particularized hope and peace as well as inclusion in the future rapture. Attacking secular humanism, the series warns about the impending apocalypse for the purpose of personal conversion, instead of avoiding a “day of vengeance” as Stowe advocates. The Quaker City Lippard loosely based his novel on specific societal events around Philadelphia. Similar to Stowe, he uses fictional characters set in real places. Written between the fall of 1844 and spring of 1845, the novel portrayed the realistic living conditions of the poor affected by the depression of 1837-44, the same depression affecting the Millerite farmers of .11 The novel revolves around two contemporary Philadelphian scandals. The novel’s main plot invokes an 1843 case in which a Philadelphian, Singleton Mercer, was acquitted after killing Mahlon Herberton, who seduced Singleton’s sister upon the promise of marriage. The other scandal influencing Lippard’s text was the defrocking of Episcopalian bishop Benjamin T. Onderdonk for

10 Ibid. 11 David S. Reynolds, Introduction to The Quaker City or, The Monks of Monk Hall. A Romance of Philadelphia Life, Mystery, and Crime, (Amherst: UMass), 1995, xi.

43 seducing several of his female parishioners in 1844.12 The character portraying this hypocrisy is the reverend F.A.T. Pyne, who preaches against Catholic influences and immorality in the pulpit, but at night indulges in opium and promiscuity, even attempting to seduce his pseudo-daughter, Mabel. The Quaker City revolves around three loosely connected plots. The first book deals with the failed seduction of Mary Arlington by Gustavus Lorrimer. Mary’s brother, Byrnewood Arlington, who ironically is a seducer himself, later avenges the seduction attempt by killing Lorrimer. The second plot deals with Dora Livingstone’s desire to ascend into a higher social class. Born in poverty and then married to the wealthy Albert Livingstone, she prostitutes herself to the highest bidder in an attempt to marry a wealthier suitor, the hypocritical Algernon Fitz-Cowles, who pretends to be an English lord. Luke Harvey, Dora’s former lover, alerts Albert to his wife’s infidelity, which eventually prompts Albert to poison his wife. The third and most poignant plot is the seduction of Mabel, the illegitimate daughter of Devil-Bug, the diabolical steward of Monk Hall. The Reverend F.A.T. Pyne raises Mabel and then attempts to drug and rape his beautiful “daughter.” Devil-Bug rescues Mabel and presents her as the daughter of the wealthy Livingstone, changing her name to Izole Livingstone. She inherits a fortune and marries Luke Harvey. Whereas the vast majority of Stowe’s work was imaginative fiction, Lippard was able to caricature social events to promote his own ideals and critiques of capitalism. Lippard’s preferred tool is to demonstrate how capitalism destroys the moral fabric of the family. He focuses on how capitalism corrupted both genders equally. Throughout the story, both men and women are both corrupt and corruptible. The first book focuses on the seduction of Mary by the unsavory Gustavus Lorrimer. Mary merely becomes the spoils of a winning bet between Lorrimer and her brother, Byrnewood, who is not aware it is his sister who is the bargaining chip. Lorrimer, bored with his wealth, seeks some new escapade, a new seduction, and the innocent Mary becomes this new challenge. The standard conservative mores remain in place, for the male is able to seduce the innocent female with little repercussion, but the dishonored female is forever shamed, having lost her virginity outside of wedlock. Devil-Bug’s stewardess, Bess, is such a woman, having

12 Ibid., xxxvi.

44 been seduced at an early age; her only hope is a life of crime and prostitution. Mabel, on the other hand, resists the seduction attempts of both Pyne and Fitz-Cowles. After Pyne fails in his attempt to seduce Mabel, he sells the opportunity for seduction to Fitz-Cowles for one hundred dollars. Fitz-Cowles, however, also fails in his attempt to seduce her. In both cases Lippard demonstrates that the corrupting factor behind seduction is greed, a byproduct of capitalism’s contaminating influences. The incredibly wealthy Lorrimer has nothing to occupy his free time apart from the sport of corrupting innocent women. Pyne trades his hormonal desires for one hundred dollars; his corruption made complete by sexual desire and greed. Mabel is the only unspoiled heroine who succeeds in escaping the corrupting influences of capitalism. Lippard also demonstrates the feminine uses of sexuality in a capitalist society in the case of Dora Livingstone. She seduces Algernon Fitz-Cowles in an attempt to move higher up the social ladder. Although a victim of Fitz-Cowles’ charade of royalty, her infidelity stokes the jealous rage of her husband. Dora Livingstone does not have the individual innocence of Mabel or Mary; however, her promiscuity stems not from bare sexual desire, but rather from greed. “Lippard is showing how women in a twisted society driven by lust and money,” Reynolds argues, “become victims of a massive male power struggle, falling prey to male-constructed images of romance and social advancement.”13 Not only are men and women equally guilty under capitalism, but Lippard toys with the ideology of American domesticity, as seen in the various scandals, affairs, and most notably, in the “apparent incest” with her “father,” F.A.T. Pyne.14 Despite the parody of American domesticity, his novel still adheres to Victorian gender roles, where the result of feminine immorality is ruin, death, or crime. The lives of the male antagonists also end in failure, but not for their sexual promiscuity, but rather for their greed and materialism driven by corrupt capitalism. Michael Denning states: The Lippard stories mark a clash between the older narrative pattern and the new ideology of separate spheres. His hostility to the middle class ‘aristocracy’, the ‘merchant princes’, is based less on their exploitation of working women than on the perception that, despite the professed belief in feminine ‘influence’, their ‘home’ is a paradise of seducers. The manners and gentility of the new sex/gender system are masks for hypocrisy. Monk-hall is a nightmare parody of the bourgeois home. This is why

13 Ibid., xxiii. 14 Ibid.

45 Parson Pyne, the popular anti-Catholic minister who drugs and rapes Mabel, who thinks she is his daughter, is so central.15

Lippard, by adhering to Victorian social norms is able to parody those norms as corrupted by capitalism. Just how Lippard adheres to those social norms remains ambivalent within the text because of the various layers and character interactions. Those who live according to Victorian morality on the surface, revel at Monk Hall in the evening. For Lippard, capitalism corrupts both the individual who transcends gender roles and the individual who lives by them. Lippard’s use of the apocalyptic theme is perhaps the most different from Stowe or Lahaye. The apocalypse is neither a certainty nor a possibility, but rather a mythical interpretation justifying the innocent and condemning the corrupt. Devil-Bug, the most horrific character of the novel, dreams of Philadelphia’s judgment and destruction in apocalyptic prose. Because of its corruption, the voice in the dream compares Philadelphia to Sodom. Lippard’s condemnation of capitalist society and its effects upon individuals intertwine in Devil-Bug’s dream. There is no judgment for Devil-Bug, but rather, the divine condemns and destroys Philadelphia because of its corrupting bourgeois capitalism. David Reynolds argues that Devil-Bug is the most sincere character of the novel, although perhaps the most devious. He states: [Lippard] illustrates the claim of antebellum criminal reformers that crime results largely from adverse social conditions. In his role as the master of Musquito and Glow-worm, he is initially analogous to a harsh slaveowner, barking commands to them in racist terms, but ultimately becomes a kind of emancipator, assigning them punitive power and freeing them by letting them participate in his suicide.16

Despite his position as an agent of immorality for the aristocracy, he is not thoroughly corrupt. His paternal instincts overpower his immorality as he rescues his daughter, Mabel, from the clutches of her seducing “father.” Despite Devil-Bug’s life of crime, Lippard declares him innocent, because bourgeois capitalism has corrupted him. The ambiguity of a character such as Devil-Bug is absent in the Left Behind series. The Antichrist, Carpathia, and like-minded characters never wrestle over acts of genocide, war, or deceit. The authors treat them as diabolical pawns advocating secular humanism and ultimate power. The authors characterize evangelical characters as

15 Michael Denning, Mechanic Accents: Dime Novels and Working Class-Culture in America, (New York: Verso, 1987), 97. 16 Reynolds, xl.

46 ultimately good, although they do struggle with various Christian concerns. Chloe struggles with her role as the submissive wife, but eventually concedes her place as wife, mother, and home-maker. Rayford strives to understand his role in the cosmic war against Satan and the Antichrist, mistakenly thinking he is to assassinate Carpathia. The text clearly divides good evangelical characters from evil characters influenced by secular humanism. Those identifying as evangelicals would discern some ambiguity among Tribulation Force characters, because their concerns are evangelical matters. Frykholm notes that the vast majority of Left Behind readers are already evangelicals devoted to beliefs in the rapture and dispensational eschatology.17 Thus, “Left Behind confirms the rightness of their beliefs and affirms their religious identities.”18 Reader Reception Comparison One can categorize the religiously motivated Left Behind narrative as religious art. For an analysis of the Left Behind series within the realm of religious art, the use of the term “univocality” might better be termed “kitsch.” Colleen McDannell distinguishes between art and kitsch stating, “While art asks much of its viewers, kitsch provokes immediate emotions that are vividly recognizable.”19 People often use the term to distinguish between “high” art and “low” art, but McDannell insists such a distinction is no longer useful.20 She distinguishes the term kitsch by two other responses to such phenomena: the aesthetic response and the ethical response. The “aesthetic” response to kitsch designates art, which is mass-produced and inferior to the original piece, as kitsch.21 The ethical response to kitsch reacts to art that is not merely an aesthetic failure, but “contains a negative moral dimension.”22 These two responses are necessary for understanding the relationship between the narrative and the reader of the Left Behind series. Having sold over 62 million copies, the series certainly belongs to the category of mass-produced and consumed art. Evangelicals might consider the series aesthetic kitsch, but not ethical kitsch, as it supports evangelical identity as well as avoiding explicit sexuality and gratuitous violence.

17 Ibid., 67. 18 Ibid. 19 Colleen McDannell, Material Christianity: Religion and Popular Culture in America, (New Haven: Yale, 1995), 163. 20 Ibid., 165. 21 Ibid. 22 Ibid.

47 Within the history of American Christianity, art has played a large role in the straightforward communication of religious principles. McDannell states: Artists use religious objects and images in their work, but clergy do not place art in their churches that blurs the boundaries between seriousness and humor, consumerism and Christianity, art and kitsch. Irony is not a religious value. Religious art, even more than secular art, has to be aesthetically pure and theologically proper.23

Parishioners rarely judge religious art solely on its aesthetic principles, but rather on its moral and theological content, especially within evangelical Christianity. Frank E. Gaebelein, an evangelical theologian associated with Fuller Seminary, warned that “Evangelicals had better be concerned about the aesthetic problem, [because a] tide of cheap and perverse artistic expression is constantly eroding the shoreline of noble standards and godly living.”24 McDannell concludes, “If good art purified and uplifted Christians, he seemed to say, then bad art perverted and debased them.”25 The “aesthetic problem” became a non-sequitur with the advent of the evangelical subculture, complete with its own music, novels, and artistic representations. Evangelicals can always assume their subculture art is both morally and aesthetically noble, because it reaffirms their most basic beliefs by reinforcing an evangelical identity. In some cases, evangelicals may confuse the aesthetic and ethical responses to kitsch. One may designate a piece of art that is aesthetically kitsch but ethically superior in that it adheres to the evangelical discourse, as something aesthetically sublime on the basis of its moral content. According to Gaebelein’s logic of the relationship of aesthetics to ethics, a piece of art that demonstrated “noble standards and godly living,” could be considered something aesthetically valuable, which helps to explain some of the critics’ insistence on the series’ literary quality. The Left Behind series, a product of the evangelical subculture that has infiltrated the secular marketplace, follows the paradigm of morally acceptable art that articulates accessible messages to its readers that reaffirm evangelical concerns. LaHaye’s concern with secular humanism resounds throughout the entire series, as the authors characterize Carpathia and Fortunado as completely evil, hypocritical characters establishing a regime

23 Ibid., 167. 24 quoted in McDannell, 188. 25 Ibid.

48 of religious tolerance and liberal politics. The text describes the final result of seven years of hypocritical, liberal politics: The private sector—what was left of it—was in disarray as well. Carpathia’s tentacles had reached so far into every avenue of life and commerce that the virtual bankruptcy of the international government was certain to cripple everyone within days. Enoch had read of great depressions and bank failures throughout history, but no one had seen anything as far-reaching as this. Muggings, robberies, break-ins—all the unsavory acts that had been the purview of the underworld—now had become part and parcel of everyday life for all.26

Readers of the series know that Carpathia from the beginning promised a global utopia based on the establishment of a global religion, economy, and government. However, the second advent of Jesus finalizes the evangelical message—the ultimate and total failure of secular humanism to progressively cure the world’s ills. The reader cannot empathetically associate with Carpathia, regardless of his/her politics, because to do so is to associate with a diabolical evil, a Satan-possessed world leader intent on destroying the last remnant of good—evangelicals—in the world. By establishing “univocality” within the series, LaHaye and Jenkins eradicate any ambiguity, or irony, within the text. The series narrative is not a piece of art meant for serious reflection or contemplation, but rather to disparage liberalism as diabolical and reinforce the goodness of evangelical Christianity associated with conservative American politics. Within the series, prophecy belief combines with literal interpretation to add another facet to the evangelical identity. With the final global catastrophe, Leah, one of the Tribulation Force members, ponders the world. She concludes to herself: No one in his right mind could see all that had gone over the last seven years, starting with the Rapture, and still claim not to know this was the ultimate battle between good and evil, heaven and hell, God and the devil. So if it was not unbelief, as had been Leah’s own problem in the pre-Rapture world, what was it? Were people insane? No, she decided, they were self-possessed, narcissistic, vain, proud. In a word, evil. They saw the acts of God and turned their backs on Him, choosing the pleasures of sin over eternity with Christ.27

The combination of the narrator’s explanation and Leah’s own thoughts demonstrates the kitsch quality of the narrative. Leah thinks to herself, and is interrupted by the narrator’s own questions, to which she responds as though it was merely one voice speaking the entire time. The reader’s difficulty is that these prophesied events have yet to happen in

26 Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins, Glorious Appearing: The End of Days (Wheaton: Tyndale, 2004), 35. 27 Ibid., 178 (emphasis theirs).

49 the material world, they have only occurred in the series’ narrative. The reader, however, is only given one explanation for the rejection of such signs—or perhaps, in some cases, the rejection of the validity of the series—evil. Narcissism and evil now receive the blame for rejection of the apocalyptic scenario, with no other option available. The lack of ambiguity between good and evil, Christ and anti-Christ transforms the discourse of literal interpretation into aesthetic kitsch. The “evil” Carpathia announces to the Global Community that he will win the battle against Jesus in a scenario reminiscent of Jesus’ actions. He states that “The only living beings on planet Earth will be trustworthy citizens, lovers of peace and harmony and tranquility, which I offer with love for all from the depths of my being.”28 The narrator dismisses Carpathia’s claims as narcissistic and politically motivated, whereas Jesus makes similar grandiose claims about his place in the universe.29 Rayford, the main protagonist, responds to Jesus’ claims by recognizing: How lowly, humble, and compassionate He sounded. He was merely speaking the truth, reminding his children what they enjoyed in Him. The truth of the Word of God, coming from the Living Word, again drove Rayford to his knees, along with his friends and the entire Jewish remnant.30

Carpathia’s claims are actually prophetic of the utter destruction Jesus causes as he destroys the Global Community and establishes a paradise for his own “loyal citizens.” The narrator judges each claim; Carpathia is narcissistic, hypocritical, and satanic, whereas Jesus is the “truth” who speaks the “truth,” i.e. the Bible. The character of Jesus in the text only speaks directly from the New Testament, reflecting on the claims made of him and his actions. Having Jesus speak only in this way reifies biblical literalism in that the primary divine character speaks the “words of God,” which happen to be biblical. The authors not only reinforce the literal discourse, but by having Jesus speak the vernacular of the discourse also suggest a supernatural basis for the discourse, which the reader must accept as true if s/he does not want to be left behind. The divide between Christ and anti-Christ, good and evil, truth and lie hinges upon the literal interpretation of the Bible. In the narrative biblical literalism is the only instrument able to disrupt inherent individual corruption, at least until the Second Advent. Even during the Second

28 Ibid., 263. 29 Ibid., 283. 30 Ibid., 284.

50 Advent, Jesus speaks biblical words as his weapon of choice to purify the world of diabolical influences. In the Left Behind series the corruption of the world resulted from an absence of the literalist discourse, not any particular form of economic government, as in the case of The Quaker City. However effective biblical literalism might have been for reform, only supernatural activity can rectify the world, in an effort to repopulate it with evangelical Christians. Conclusion The primary motif distinguishing Lippard’s and LaHaye’s narrative paradigms is their basis of humanity’s corruption. Lippard critiques the bourgeois capitalist system for degrading the inherent goodness of humanity. LaHaye and Jenkins, on the other hand, base society’s immorality on humanity’s evil nature, which grows worse with the rejection of biblical literalism. Individual humans, however, can obtain supernatural help though evangelical conversion which will combat their evil nature. The Left Behind discourse is incapable of critiquing capitalist society, because the authors contrast individual religion with the social cohesion of secular humanism. American capitalism is the economic paradigm which supports individualism. A specific evangelical identity is necessary to form any type of political cohesion powerful enough to influence American society. The literalist discourse is the only certain source of authority for American evangelicals as well as providing biblical typologies to further cement evangelical identity. The Left Behind series, as a fictional creation combining the elements of literalism, individualism, and , allows and encourages the reader to form a bond between an authoritative morality, fiction, and social action by suspending imagination. LaHaye and Jenkins champion the series’ influence upon individuals. The authors published another book collecting testimonies of people who claimed to have conversion experiences based on reading the books. One of the individuals, Lori, was a non-evangelical who converted to evangelical Christianity after reading the series. Lori’s parents were missionaries who had raised her as a Christian; however, after she married her husband Woody and started a family, religion took less of a priority in her family’s

51 life.31 Lori’s more immediate concerns were her obsessive fear of gaining weight and her deteriorating marriage.32 After reading the series, she was reminded of her missionary upbringing and asked herself, “If the Rapture happened right now, would I go to heaven? Well, if I didn’t go up in the Rapture, would I get a second chance during the Tribulation? But if I die before the Rapture, then what?”33 Convicted by her disdain of religion while reading the series, the authors state that she recognized “the horror of her sins in the light of Lord’s holiness.”34 Convinced she was a changed person, she stopped swearing, threw away her tranquilizers, and started eating regularly. In her own words, Lori says: The thing that makes it most exciting is the Bible. For the first time in my life I have a desire to read it—and I understand it! Suddenly , and the apostles Peter, Paul, and John are real people instead of merely names. And best of all, Jesus, my wonderful Savior, is alive. He is the head of our home. I recognize His voice as I read His precious Word.35

Lori’s childhood gave her the necessary information to identify as an evangelical, but after reading the series and becoming convinced of the validity of the rapture narrative, she related the narrative’s evangelical identity to a personal ideology dependent on the literalist discourse prevalent in the series. Her own admission about the Bible’s place in her life as well as her literalist hermeneutic translates into a combination of love for and obedience to the divine. Before engaging the series Lori cared little for religion in general, but after the conversion experience resulting from her engagement, she modeled her life after the evangelical identity the text advocates. Lippard’s novel and the Left Behind series have little in common regarding ideologies, but both novels demonstrate how sympathetic readers consume and engage texts relevant to their own concerns, whether it is religious ideology or economic factors. The Left Behind series, Uncle Tom’s Cabin, and The Quaker City are similar in the way they blend fiction with reality to accomplish their specific goals. All three narratives approach socio-political ideologies using apocalyptic prose to clarify the

31 Tim LaHaye, Jerry B. Jenkins, and Norman B. Rohrer, These Shall Not Be Left Behind: True Stories of Changed Lives, (Wheaton: Tyndale, 2003), 14. The reader must take into account that the authors are overly sympathetic with the accounts recorded in this text and published the text to substantiate their own perspectives. 32 Ibid. 33 Ibid. 34 Ibid. 35 Ibid., 17, (emphasis in original).

52 authors’ intent and influence the reader. LaHaye and Jenkins’ series is the most lucid of the three as it attacks secular humanism. Its lucidity is best characterized as kitsch as it embraces evangelical identity without any sense of ambiguity. As kitsch, it advocates a fictional, evangelical identity in the form of a literalist discourse encouraging the reader to embrace that identity in hope of not being left behind. This relationship, for the evangelical reader, involves both individualism as well as continued consumption within the industry culture.

53 Conclusion The Left Behind series is not an apocalyptic text as classically defined by biblical scholars. Instead, it is a reproduction of an original apocalyptic text, Revelation, which depends upon a literalist hermeneutic in order to obtain a premillennial dispensationalist interpretation. The narrative combines fiction, theology, and social morality in an attempt to evangelize the reader, and to give him or her hope of being raptured. The narrative displays its merit not by its intrinsic aesthetic structure or even its religious message, but rather by its useful consumption. The reciprocal relationship between individuals living in a “late-capitalist” society and the influence that society presses upon the individual results in a blurring between the distinctions of sacred and secular, art and kitsch, imagination and reality. The content of the literary series stems from LaHaye’s nonfiction writings and follows the ideological and utopian functions of mass cultural works. LaHaye, through his literal interpretation of Revelation, construes world events as signs of the impending apocalypse. In addition to the First World War and the Bolshevik Revolution, he identifies diabolical philosophies, especially secular humanism, as precursors to the rise of the Antichrist and the future tribulation. Secular humanism, for LaHaye, directly contradicts the “holy living” he associates with a study of prophecy as it supports liberal politics, homosexuality, and the transgression of traditional gender roles. LaHaye and Jenkins intertwine their conservative evangelical views into the series using a rapture narrative and literalist discourse. They advocate a literal interpretation as both the basis for the rapture and tribulation as well as for the conservative morality encouraged in the series. The literalist discourse offers a specific and certain evangelical identity that readers can consume while being entertained by the greater rapture narrative. Jameson concludes that cultural works use a paradigm consisting of ideological and utopian components. The ideological component of the series is the critique against secular humanism, which relates the fictional narrative to actual evangelical concerns. The utopian dimension hints toward the return of Jesus through the actions and morality of the evangelical characters. The characters demonstrate ideal evangelical morality as they form the Tribulation Force, which battles against the secular humanist regime of the

54 Antichrist. The dualism between evangelical and secular humanist forces clarifies the righteousness of evangelical Christianity presenting a concrete identity to the reader. Mass media in the twentieth century allowed apocalyptic narratives to be used as entertainment as well as advocating the literalist discourse. Orson Welle’s transformed War of the Worlds from a British novel to a believable radio broadcast that distressed American listeners. He manipulated individual imaginations by changing British motifs to more recognizable American names and places. Greater concerns about economic depression and impending war influenced interpretations about the apocalyptic scenario. Some interpreted the event literally, believing extra-terrestrials had invaded earth, whereas others thought it was a German ruse or divine judgment. The broadcast demonstrates that the trust people place in a specific medium is just as important as the content dispersed. In the case of the radio broadcast, Orson Welle’s manipulated American’s trust in radio. The Left Behind series uses the trust evangelicals place in evangelical leaders to advocate a conservative Christian identity. This identity consists of a biblical literalism that challenges assumed secular humanist domination. Michel Foucault argues that discourse involves both speaker and content as individuals trust different mediums. In the Left Behind series, the discourse focuses on the ideology of secular humanism, an ideological enemy that encompasses a number of politically progressive actions. LaHaye negatively creates an evangelical identity by averting secular humanism’s materiality. The identity advocated is not solely the creation of a fictional narrative, but has its origins in evangelical concerns over biblical inerrancy. Both Dallas Theological Seminary and Fuller Theological Seminary teach biblical inerrancy as it regards ethics and social concerns although they differ on the theological intricacies over original biblical manuscripts and historical references. Hal Lindsey, a student at Dallas Theological Seminary used his understanding of inerrancy and biblical literalism to interpret previous events surrounding communism and the Chinese army to argue the apocalypse was imminent. Lindsey’s use of biblical literalism and apocalyptic claims weakened as time continued without any prophetic validity. The series avoids this problem because of its fictional basis. Instead, it proposes the literalist discourse in a prophetic mode, not on the basis of fulfilled prophecy, but rather on the degradation of morality and society.

55 Comparing the Left Behind series with other popular American novels revealed differences regarding Christianity’s representation and the apocalypse as well as similarities regarding the portrayal of morality. Harriet Beecher Stowe’s heroic characters portrayed a submissive form of Christianity. Children, slaves, and women were the heroes of the story and Uncle Tom’s death typified Christological sacrifice. Publicizing the horrors of slavery before the Civil War, Stowe alluded to a possible “day of vengeance” that can be avoided if America emancipated its slaves. The Left Behind series, on the other hand, assumes the reality of an impending apocalypse, regardless of individual or national morality. The series portrays a heroic Christianity battling against the secular humanism of the Antichrist militarily, intellectually, and politically. Only women are heroic when they are submissive. Charles Lippard’s novel attacked the corrupt capitalism of Philadelphia by parodying and fictionalizing local events. Lippard demonstrated how the family morally deteriorated when consumed with greed and wealth through the characters of F.A.T Pyne and Dora Livingstone. However, Devil-Bug, a devious character, displayed the most virtue, rescuing his daughter from an attempted rape at the hands of the Christian minister, F.A.T. Pyne. Lippard’s book attracted interest from the lower-class because of its attack on the Philadelphian elite as well as its relative inexpensiveness. He used apocalyptic prose in Devil-Bug’s dream to clarify his judgment of Philadelphia. For the majority of the text, he uses religion and religious leaders to condemn capitalism and corruption. Contrary to the Left Behind series, religion, for Lippard, cannot cure society’s ills, but rather, is itself already corrupted by capitalism. The series does use familial moral deterioration to solidify its discourse. The secular humanist world leader, Carpathia, impregnates Hattie, the airline stewardess turned world leader secretary. After hearing of her pregnancy, he breaks off his engagement to her and encourages her to have an abortion. Hattie refuses and is subsequently poisoned, causing a miscarriage. The plot—a stretch considering the present political climate—demonstrates how far the immorality of secular humanism spreads. The series displays a clear dualism between the evil of secular humanism and the righteousness of evangelical Christianity creating religious kitsch.

56 Late-Capitalism and Religious Consumption The Left Behind series must be evaluated within the context of late-capitalism and the use of commodified religious goods. Jameson concludes that capitalism fragments the aesthetic production of traditional group activity; activities that have their source in national, ethnic, and religious identities. Individual consumption under capitalism may dissolve cohesive social groups, but it also creates new social groups based on a consumed identities as opposed to social or theological similarities. Theodore Adorno states: The straightforward comparison of modern mass formations with biological phenomena can hardly be regarded as valid since the members of contemporary masses are at least prima facie individuals, the children of a liberal, competitive and individualistic society, and conditioned to maintain themselves as independent, self-sustaining units; they are continuously admonished to be ‘rugged’ and warned against surrender.1

Millions of individuals, in the case of the publishing phenomenon, choose to consume the same product. One cannot, however, divorce consumer culture from individual reading habits. Thus, Jameson is correct about how capitalism fragments social cohesion and Adorno is also correct about how the culture industry can create new social groups. The series illustrates both realities as evangelical Christianity transcends race and class boundaries, and yet, a reinforced belief in the rapture supports a common identity bound together by desire for a conservative morality. The overwhelming reception of the novels has created a mass formation similar to Adorno’s explanation of the creation of fascist mass formations. It is not my intention to suggest that LaHaye and Jenkins are fascists, but rather to suggest that in the absence of a religious hierarchy the authors have used a particular relationship between love and obedience to create like-minded converts. “The less an objective idea such as religious salvation plays a role in mass formation and the more mass manipulation becomes the sole aim,” Adorno states, “the more thoroughly uninhibited love has to be repressed and molded into obedience.”2 Such a conclusion may not seem to fit an analysis of the Left Behind series, because the rapture is a form of religious salvation. Two important points must be made at this time. First, the literalist discourse represented by the series demonstrates two forms of religious salvation. There is the personal relationship with the

1 Theodore Adorno, The Culture Industry, (New York: Routledge, 1991), 135. 2 Ibid., 137-38.

57 divine that signifies a general evangelical identity and theological salvation, but the raptural event represents a material salvation in which believers escape the wrath of God during the tribulation. Identifying as an evangelical is a prerequisite to the material salvation of the rapture. Thus, evangelical identity is the primary form of salvation; a salvation lacking material evidence. Second, the Left Behind series is a narrative and not an individual fascist demagogue. Within the narrative love and obedience are inseparable. Love for Jesus includes obedience to him, which for the authors takes the form of conservative political thinking. Adorno continues, “The mechanism which transforms libido into the bond between leader and followers, and between the followers themselves, is that of identification.”3 Because both the rapture and utopian society are veiled in the series, the reader is left with a lengthy fictionalizing of conservative evangelical identity to be consumed for the purpose of not being “left behind” when the rapture occurs. After reading the series, the individual’s primary motive is escaping the judgment of the tribulation. But this does not address why an individual would continue to enjoy and consume the series after the point of conversion, except that the reader attains pleasure by his/her consumption of evangelical identity. The story follows the lives of those left behind in an effort to convert the non-evangelical so that s/he will be ready for the return of Christ in the rapture. Thus, to identify as an evangelical after reading the series gives the individual reader the necessary certainty of his/her place in the rapture while advocating a life of obedience to the conservative discourse in the name of Jesus’ love combining identification, obedience, and love. By identifying as an evangelical Christian as a result of consuming the series, the reader is engaged in a “loving” relationship with Jesus based on the conversion experience, which translates into an “obedient” life based on biblical literalism, i.e. traditional gender roles, conservative political paradigm, etc. The kitsch quality of the narrative reflects a source of propaganda addressed to evangelicals (and those who identify as evangelicals after reading the series) that characterizes them as a persecuted minority while championing their specific morality. The diffusion of premillennial dispensationalism and the evangelical discourse has no

3 Ibid., 139, (emphasis in original).

58 basis in rational, political progression, but rather through rhetorical repetition and ideological pondering that mimics the construction of a fascist society. Adorno states: Fascism does not altogether speak the untruth when it refers to its own irrational powers, however faked the mythology which ideologically rationalizes the irrational may be. Since it would be impossible for fascism to win the masses through rational arguments, its propaganda must necessarily be deflected from discursive thinking; it must be oriented psychologically, and has to mobilize irrational, unconscious, regressive process.4

The evangelical discourse refers to itself as proof of its own validity. It cannot engage secular humanism in rational debate, because it has its own mythology, its own ideology, its own language, and its own rationality.5 In fact, the series’ description of utopia differs little between the secular humanist vision represented by the global community and results of Jesus’ immanent reign. First, the general concept of social justice is present, although from an evangelical perspective. All non-evangelicals alive at the judgment are condemned to eternal damnation, leaving only evangelical Christians alive to participate in the new millennium. Second, after Jesus has condemned the satanic influences in the world, a natural order of superabundance and distribution takes place.6 Regardless of the similarities in the overall accomplishments of each discourse, the Left Behind series hearkens back to traditional morality, remembering a more ideal society, a mythological “Christian” society that may or may not have existed. Adorno concludes, “Fascist propaganda has only to reproduce the existent mentality for its own purposes; it need not induce a change – and the compulsive repetition which is one of its foremost characteristics will be at one with the necessity for this continuous reproduction.”7 It is the reproduction of the evangelical discourse that aids the relationship between narrative and reality. The storyline of each book progresses through the tribulation with the characters encountering militant responses to religious rebellion, but the literalist discourse is consistent throughout the entire series. The series’ readers must choose to either identify with the secular humanists, and thus, with a diabolical force, or with a righteous evangelical identity. The failure to recognize other valid political or religious

4 Adorno, 149. 5 Adorno’s use of the term “irrational” refers to the contradiction of material interests in favor of ideological or fascist interests. 6 Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins, Glorious Appearing: The End of Days (Wheaton: Tyndale, 2004), 336- 37. 7 Adorno, 150.

59 alternatives turns the popular novel into aesthetic/ethical kitsch. Kitsch suspends logical analysis making any propaganda inherent in the text accessible and acceptable. Kitsch is the logical conclusion of a society that produces aesthetic works for the purposes of consumption and efficiency. R. Laurence Moore points out that starting in the 1950’s: Religion accepted its responsibility to provide entertainment but at the same time acknowledged that entertainment could be delivered in various ways and by various sponsors. For many Americans the spiritual help available in churches or in movie houses or on television or at a businessman’s prayer breakfast tended to become equivalent.” …From one perspective, however, it was becoming hard to view religion as something distinct from popular culture.8

Moore traces the development of Christian attitudes toward leisure activities in America from the Puritans to Evangelical Christians. The Puritans saw entertainment as something “worldly,” as something immoral; however, in the twentieth century, with the technologies of mass communication, conservative Evangelicals used these communicative forms as a means of influencing American values. Consumer culture has so blended the means and the message as to make them virtually inseparable. Will Herberg remarked, “It is only too evident that the religiousness characteristic of America today is very often a religiousness without religion, a religiousness with almost any kind of content or none, a way of sociability or ‘belonging’ rather than a way of reorienting life to God.”9 This sociability has evolved mainstream evangelicalism into its own separate society, a “Christian” society, which is still primarily dependent upon the marketplace and biblical literalism, producing a “spiritual consumerism.” Evangelicals have created an identical consumer market of religious goods, mimicking the greater pop culture of American society. In 1987, Evangelical pop music sales records topped 300 million dollars, or eight percent of the music market at large. In Christian bookstores, one can purchase not only “Christian” self-help books pertaining to law, medicine, or sex, but also t-shirts with clever Christian messages, coffee mugs with Bible verses on them, decorative vases, and figurines. All this in edition to a plethora of tailor-made Bibles, which one can choose between bonded or genuine leather, hardcover or softcover, men’s, women’s, or teen’s devotional Bibles, which leads Wayne Elzey to

8 Laurence R. Moore, Selling God: American Religion in the Marketplace of Culture, (New York: Oxford, 1994), 241. 9 Will Herber, Protestant, Catholic, Jew, (Garden City, 1955), 260, quoted in Moore, 243.

60 remark, ““[m]odern Bibles are compromises. They hitch a state-of-the-art technology to a state-of-the-heart theology.”10 The Left Behind series markets a conservative theology in the form of the popular novel. Moore states: A sizable portion of the Protestant Evangelical community has made its peace with commercial culture by deciding to become a ‘bigger road side attraction.’ If that requires arranging church services to accommodate nightclubs atop space needles, or equipping churches with skating rinks and bowling alleys, then so be it. The promoters of Christian commercial culture in Orange County, California, wisely decided to publish its own Yellow Pages. That was the only easy way to distinguish the Christian product from the competition.11

The need for a Christian Yellow Pages implies that evangelicals are looking to financially support other evangelicals. Their products and services are in some way superior to the products and services provided by non-evangelicals. Evangelicals still value prayer, fasting, and church attendance, but a capitalist society values the number of cds one owns and the quantity of Christian books filling one’s shelves. Both now measure evangelical “spirituality.” The creation of the in the 1980’s along with the political ideas accompanying Reagan’s presidency (Lahaye was instrumental in both) is the prime example of these ideas which have carried over into the nineties and the new millennium. This odd mix of dispensationalism and politics causes Moore to remark, “The political activism of fundamentalists and Pentecostals has struck some observers as an anomaly. They asked: are not most of them premillennialists who see the near approach of the Rapture followed in seven years by Armageddon? Why should they care who governs the mass of mortals who are doomed to extinction?”12 He concludes, “Strong belief energizes people. With respect to the politics of the 1980’s, signs that the world had entered the ‘end times’ brought various enemies into sharp focus for Protestant fundamentalists. Politics was a way of holy revenge that separated those who knew why Christ was coming again from those who did not.”13 In the Left Behind series, politics is still a separating factor, but it is not a separation between those who know why Christ is coming again from those who are ignorant, but rather a separation between those for

10 Wayne Elzey, “Liminality and Symbiosis in Popular American ,” Trends in American Religion and the Protestant World, ed. Martin E. Marty, (New York: K.G. Saur, 1992), 218. 11 Laurence R. Moore, 255. 12 Ibid., 250. 13 Ibid.

61 whom Christ is coming again and those who will be left behind. As evangelicals rely on typological interpretations, the series no longer merely entertains, but transforms the literalist discourse into political action. Combining familiarity of places, biblical literalism, and typologies, the series operates to suspend fictional imagination strengthening the bond between reader, text, and in Jean Baudrillard’s terms, the assumed “Real.”14 Jean Baudrillard is a postmodern critique of literature and society. Speaking of science fiction and simulacra, Baudrillard states, “The models no longer constitute either transcendence or projection, they no longer constitute the imaginary in relation to the real, they are themselves an anticipation of the real, and thus leave no room for any sort of fictional anticipation—they are immanent, and thus leave no room for any kind of imaginary transcendence.”15 The series may not completely fit the typical definition of science fiction, but it operates in the same way by projecting an all but certain future revolving around the suspension of fictional anticipation. Lori’s conversion example offers a poignant illustration of the relationship between reality and fiction. The reader’s imagination is bound to the series as a narrative, but its accessible discourse—a simulacrum—does not allow the reader to experience fictional transcendence. Instead, engagement with the reifying narrative leads to further identification as an evangelical for the like-minded reader, conversion to evangelical Christianity for the sympathetic non-identified reader, or rejection from the skeptic. The inclusion of modern places familiar to the readers, such as the Steele Building in Chicago and the future of Baghdad (i.e. Babylon) as well as lengthy dialogues and monologues espousing a literal hermeneutic of the Bible continue to blur the individual’s imagination. Characters such as Chloe, Chaim, and Hattie no longer function as fictional creations, but rather as typologies of the evangelical experience. The unbelieving, promiscuous sister is Hattie, the agnostic, intellectual coworker is Chaim, and the young, educated evangelical mother is Chloe. The fictional simulacrum allows the reader to bridge the gap between the “Real” and the fiction. The use of a literal hermeneutic allows evangelical readers to relax the tension between reading the Left Behind novels and identifying as an evangelical. It is the force

14 Jean Baurdrillard, Simulacra and Simulation, (Ann Arbor: Michigan, 1994), 122. 15 Ibid.

62 pushing the individual into the evangelical simulacrum. The evangelical subculture, mimicking the culture industry, relies on literalism to advocate coherent messages concerning liberal politics, homosexuality, gender roles, and capitalism. It allows Christianity’s sacred text to become a powerful tool veiling those individuals advocating the hermeneutic. The central difference between the two utopian visions, the secular humanist and the evangelical Christian is not their ends, but rather their means. As a reification of evangelical identity within a rapture narrative, the Left Behind series has its own means and ends. Its primary goal is to educate the individual about the severity of the tribulation as well as allowing the individual to identify with the evangelical discourse to have a hope of rapture. Yet the reader must identify in some way with the characters that are experiencing the tribulation if they are to escape the wrath of God. This is why the characters fall prey to evangelical typological interpretation. By relating fictional characters to real people, the narrative reifies the conservative discourse for the evangelical reader by relaxing any tension between imagination and reality. Afterthoughts A concise analysis of the Left Behind series proved to be a sophisticated task for several reasons. First, evangelicals are not the only individuals buying and reading the series. Although they make up the majority of those consuming the texts, the series is appealing to others for entertainment. Evangelical Christians also make up a large and diverse social group. They are not necessarily politically conservative nor can one relegate them to a specific economic class. The accessible narrative and literalist discourse does not necessarily apply to all evangelicals. However, the series advocates both premillennial dispensationalism and biblical literalism and has become a publishing phenomenon suggesting that a vast majority of evangelicals are, at least, sympathetic to the series’ content. The importance of discourse theory is vital in studying evangelicals because of the number of variables involved with the group. There are different levels of involvement and interest within the evangelical subculture. For instance, one evangelical attending a megachurch may attend several services a week and devote his/her leisure time to church activities or independent Bible study. On the other hand, another person identifying as an evangelical may attend church sporadically with little interest in

63 theology or religion and disagree with the pastor on a number of issues. Thus, one cannot necessarily assume that evangelical leaders, such as or Tim LaHaye, speak for all evangelicals. They do, however, use mass communication and politically present conservative morality. The self-appointed leaders do speak for a specific, authoritative evangelical church. Discourse theory is vital because the content spoken is not necessarily the most important aspect of evangelical identity. Rather, the evangelical spokesperson is trustworthy because s/he identifies as an evangelical. In a society where religious authority can be accepted or rejected, the combination of reliable speaker and content has more validity than simply agreeable content or a charismatic leader. Evangelicals lack a strict religious hierarchy, and perhaps, an authoritative evangelical theology. Evangelical political, social, and religious leaders speak for the community even if some members of the community disagree with the particular message. The specific content or endowed speaker is not necessarily a prerequisite for the acceptance of a given message. The evangelical discourse portrayed in the series focuses beyond the material. Neither the rapture, tribulation, nor life after death has any material substance, but these are vital to the discourse the Left Behind series offers. By transcending the material ramifications for religious and political beliefs and actions, the discourse can transcend rationality. The series offers an identity that ignores the material ramifications of political action in exchange for future religious salvation, and yet, the suspension of imagination turns political action into a form of religious . The overarching promise of religious salvation transcends any individual political responsibility. The certainty of salvation solidifies the political, moral, and social ramifications necessary for the attainment of that salvation. The basis of evangelical Christianity’s message does not have a secure material foundation. The majority of scholarship done on the present state of evangelical Christianity tends to focus on gender roles. Although evangelical beliefs greatly revolve around submissive female role and traditional masculinity and femininity, I am not convinced this is the basis for the evangelical discourse. The Bible remains the sole authority for evangelicals. More specifically, the literal interpretation of the Bible is the basis for the majority of social and political actions. The relationship between biblical literalism mimics the age-old question of the chicken and the egg. Do evangelicals hold

64 to biblical literalism to sustain specific gender roles or do they uphold specific gender roles because of their biblical literalism? That question, like the amount of influence the Left Behind series has upon conservative politics, is not easily answered. Evangelicals are gaining an enormous amount of political influence, and as the certainty of their own discourse grows, so will American society’s embrace of that discourse, unless the rapture occurs first.

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