The Apocalyptic Imagination: An Introduction to Jewish Apocalyptic Literature (Biblical Resource) Review

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The Apocalyptic Imagination: An Introduction to Jewish Apocalyptic Literature (Biblical Resource) ReviewJohn Collins is probably the foremost scholar on apocalyptic literature today. Quite rightly Collins begins his book with a definition of this genre. Apocalypticism is "revelatory liturature in a which a revelation is mediated by an otherworldly being to a human recipient." Is that all? No, there's more that Collins has in mind. This revelation discloses a transcendent reality which envisages eschatological salvation (temporal) and another supernatural world (spatial).

With this definition in mind, Collins excludes much which had been called apocalyptic literature. He excludes Akkadian literature and the more modern political apocalypticism (see
Zimbaro's _Enc of Apoc Lit_) and discounts Persian apocalypticism. Then Collins begins a survey of apocalypticism as he knows it, beginning with the Book of Enoch. The reader is then taken through the Book of Daniel and other 2nd Temple, Diaspora, and Qumran literature until one arrives at early Christianity.

Along the way, what had seemed to be the parameters of a well-defined genre of literature have expanded. When Collins begins to discuss Christian literature, it becomes apparent that that book which had lent its name to Collins' genre of literature was not a pure form of that genre. On page 269 Collins must concede that the Revelation of John is not just an apocalypse but revelation _and_ prophecy.

Collins concludes that apocalypticism was not just the work of one group or movement, but different groups during different situations aand time, and maybe there was no group or movement behind a particular piece of literature at all (p 281).The Apocalyptic Imagination: An Introduction to Jewish Apocalyptic Literature (Biblical Resource) Overview

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Before I Die Review

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Before I Die ReviewBefore I Die by Jenny Downham was the most difficult book I've ever had to read. Ever harder to review. I finished it a month ago, but it's taken me this much time to allow some of the ache to go away before I could get it down. It's the story of Tessa, who is 17 and dying of cancer. She lives with her father and younger brother and occasionally sees her estranged mother. Tessa has made of a list of the things that she wants to do before she dies. Many of the things on the list are stereotypical of the average teen: have sex, try drugs. Others are deeper: fall in love, not say no to anyone for an entire day. She completes much of her list, but the ramifications of some of them aren't what she hoped for. Sex with someone she doesn't know or love doesn't fulfill her; drugs are strange and take away what little happiness she has in life. Tessa's father struggles with his daughter's impending death. He feeds her organic food and vitamins in the unspoken hope that somehow, something will change. He and Tessa fight each other as she tries to live what little life she has left to the fullest and he tries to protect her. How do you put limits on or ground a teenager who is going to die? How can you keep her from experiences when all she wants is to feel? She swoops in and out of depression, refusing the leave the bed for days, then suddenly wanting adventure. Her best friend gets pregnant, her parents start moving closer to each other, she falls in love with the boy next door; all sorts of exciting experiences show themselves just as she can't be there to see how any of it turns out. I was shocked to find out that the author of this book was a middle-aged woman; she speaks so authentically as a teenage girl. This book is heartbreaking and uplifting all at once. Tessa is so real that I found myself hoping against hope that somehow the ending would change. But her peace and acceptance toward death was moving. As Tessa's soul drifts away on the final page, so do the words. As the mother of teenage children, this was an especially hard read, but I'm glad I did. Tessa discovers that life is worth living the best you can, even if the best you can is only 17 years.Before I Die Overview

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Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch Review

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Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch ReviewBad news. The Apocalypse is coming. Soon. Luckily, Heaven and Hell have left the business with the Anti-Christ in the hands of Crowley and Aziraphale, demon and angel respectively. Now they have misplaced the Anti-Christ and pretty much decided they really like humanity a lot more than their either of their bosses.
In the first edition, the full title of this book was "The Nice & Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch." "Nice," in this context, meaning precisely correct. Agnes saw it all coming, from her being burned alive as a witch to the air force base where Armageddon will begin ("Peas is our professiune."). Agnes, her descendant, Anathema, the Four Horseman - Horsepersons - and the Other Four Horseman (a different chapter of Hell's Angels); it all comes together with the serried ranks of angels and demons gathered overhead.
Yes, this is an hysterically funny book. A satire and a parody, it lampoons everything in sight. From Elvis sightings to televangelists to the destruction of all intelligent life ("nothing left but dust and fundamentalists."), little escapes the scathing wit of Gaiman and Pratchett.
Of course the demon, Crowley, drives a 1926 Bentley. Of course any tape left in its glove box for more than two weeks turns into something by Queen. Of course the flaming sword used by War is delivered to her by International Express.
And what happens to the telephone solicitor, Lisa Morrow? Come on now, you secretly thought all telephone solicitors deserved it, right?
In the tradition of Jonathan Swift and Mark Twain, the satire makes a point. That point may be unpalatable to the religiously inflexible, or to those whose sense of righteousness hampers their sense of humor. Critics of Swift and Twain would find much to criticize in Good Omens. But Pratchett and Gaiman demonstrate that we don't need Heaven or Hell to have Good and Evil in the world; we have all we need in ourselves. It's the humanity of Adam Young, the Adversary, the Angel of the Bottomless Pit, etc., it's his human-ness that ultimately makes all the difference.
Don't read this book in bed; you'll keep your spouse awake, laughing out loud. But there's nothing else bad that can be said about it. Ineffability may be beyond our understanding, but humor, even humor in the face of the End of the World, we can understand.
Try this book. I will predict, with Agnes, you'll like it.Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch Overview

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