by JPL » Tue 29 Jan 2008, 19:45:29
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Just sharing this for you guys.
Alex
Hi Alex,
No, I don't think you are a loon. Biblical prophecy has been a bit of an interest of mine in recent years. We certainly live in interesting times & all of us (Christian or no) would ignore the words of long-dead sages at our peril (IMHO).
One of the national treasures of France is the 'Tapestry of the Apocalypse' in the medieval castle of Angers on the Loire. Made at the end of the 14'th century it is 6 metres high & over 100 metres long.
http://contentdm.kenyon.edu/cgi-bin/thu ... ISOPTR=492
There is an interesting mixture of images there - the picture above is of the 'beast' (the multi-lion-headed figure) plus the famous many-headed dragon. It is a very detailed piece & quite a fascinating study of the 14'th century mindset.
The tapestry was commissioned at the end of a very tumultous period of history - towards the end of the 'hundred years war', also post black-death, plus Europe was also now a hundred years or so into the 'little ice age' and things had in general, gone so horribly wrong, a lot of people at the time thought it really was the 'end of the world'.
So it is a very relavent piece. For reasons I won't go into now, I spent a lot of time studying the tapestry & one thing that became clear, the author's were clearly under the impression that the 'end of days' was upon them - right then. In particular there were many personal images there. For example, at no point in 'Revelations' does it mention the devil in person conducting the 'siege of Angers' - yet it is there in the last frame. Also there is a lot of imagery about fertility - when 'Christ' comes the land seems to bloom again with flowers, wheras the land under 'the beast' seems dark, cold & barren. Put all this in context with the 'blasted lands' of France at the end of the 14'th century.
Anyhow, I will wrap up. The tapestry seems to wrap up a lot of things that I think might be important to Christians both then & now. There is a mixture of both personal suffering, a world 'gone mad' & also a spiritual link to the suffering of Christ & the prophesied 'end of days'. This all speaks to me of a classic (Jungian) Architype - the apocolypse as a vision, a contact with God, a spiritual catharrsis & also a response of the human soul to external circumstances beyond their control.
In this respect, John's 'Apocalypse' exists in all places, and at all times. It is a universal vision, a response to external circumstance beyond our control, of an 'end of days' and also of a 'new beginning'. That small, spiritual part inside us that says, 'And so it shall be made anew...'
So this vision, this 'end of the world belief', this architype, however interpreted, it is a precious thing. It is not something to be derided, rather it is, if anything could be termed as such, a spur to personal, spiritual & global change, a true 'Gift from God'.
JP