Paperback Apocalypse: How the Christian Church Was Left Behind

by Robert M. Price

The great popularity of The Left Behind novels by Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins attests to the strong appeal of apocalyptic beliefs in many conservative Christian communities. As biblical scholar Robert M. Price reveals in this history and critique of Christian end-time beliefs, LaHaye and Jenkins's famous novels are just the latest examples of a long tradition of popular fundamentalist eschatology. Price traces the origin and scriptural basis, which is sometimes astonishingly skimpy, for such beliefs as the Rapture, the Second Coming, the Antichrist, and Messianic prophecy. He emphasizes that the writers of the New Testament consistently set a first-century deadline for the return of Jesus Christ, and yet the stubborn fact that the Second Coming obviously did not occur has not deterred fundamentalist Christians from blindly predicting the event throughout the centuries up to the present day. Price then critiques the raft of previous apocalyptic novels before turning to the Left Behind series. He offers both literary and theological criticism, while explaining the psychological appeal of the books. Finally, he offers a parody chapter on the Left Behind series called "Tribulation Farce."With its approachable, engaging style, The Paperback Apocalypse makes complex scholarly research accessible to the interested lay reader. Seminarians, religion scholars, interested observers of the American religious scene, and even fans of the Left Behind series will learn much from Price's in-depth scholarship.

Genres: Religion, Nonfiction

390 pages, Paperback

First published December 6, 2007

About the author

Robert McNair Price is an American theologian and writer. He teaches philosophy and religion at the Johnnie Colemon Theological Seminary, is professor of biblical criticism at the Center for Inquiry Institute, and the author of a number of books on theology and the historicity of Jesus, asserting the Christ myth theory.

A former Baptist minister, he was the editor of the Journal of Higher Criticism from 1994 until it ceased publication in 2003. He has also written extensively about the Cthulhu Mythos, a "shared universe" created by H.P. Lovecraft.

Reviews

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

Prof. Robert Price reads a whole ark-load of cheesy "end-times" pulp novels so YOU don't have to! Five stars, because his analysis of this genre in light of REAL biblical scholarship is unique. I read the first "Left Behind" book--the writing isn't the worst I've read, but the story is just plain silly, because it's stuck with a childish, fundy take on all that trippy, garbled Revelation weirdness. Price gives it all a kick in the left behind.

[Ana Mardoll · Rating 3 out of 5]

Paperback Apocalypse / 978-1-59102-583-2

I would have bought "Paperback Apocalypse" anyway, just because I'm a huge fan of Robert Price, but I have a secondary interest in the "Left Behind" phenomena courtesy of Fred Clark's Slactivist "Left Behind" writings, where he deconstructs the genre literally a page at a time. And while I realize that Price could never have come close to that level of detail in a slim paperback volume, I still expected so much more.

In the opening pages of "Paperback Apocalypse", Price admits to being a devoted fan of apocalyptic fiction, and perhaps therein lies the root of the problem. The layout of this book is poor; the tone flits between highly conversational and deeply scholarly and seems somewhat uncomfortable with either approach.

With regards to the layout: Price starts initially with Messianic prophecy, rather than apocalyptic (i.e. 'end times') prophecy. This is not a bad topic for consideration, but it is jarring when the purported focus of this book is end times prophecy and the "Left Behind" phenomena. Indeed, much of the Messianic prophecy here probably could and should have been part of a separate novel, rather than this one. When Price does get to end time prophecy, he chooses to deal with Biblical prophecy first, then provide summaries of various "Left Behind"-esque fictional works, and then provide a final, more in-depth summary of the actual "Left Behind" writings of LaHaye and Jenkins. This last bit is, for all intents and purposes, the last chapter in the book, which feels jarring. To my mind, a better layout would have been to outline "Left Behind" first, tie in other similar works of fiction, and *then* carefully dissect where the information is supposedly located in the Bible and why those passages are interpreted differently by Price.

As for the tone: The opening chapters dealing with Messianic prophecy and end times prophecy are, for the most part, deeply scholarly, whereas the later "summarize every end times book and movie" chapters are extremely conversational - but not in a good way. Price cannot seem to decide how harsh he wants to appear with regards to the LaHaye/Jenkins books - he repeatedly reassures us that Jenkins is a very skilled writer (a contention that I, personally, disagree with), and that the Narm moments in the series occur not because of bad writing but because of bad theology. However, I think it is foolish to assume that all the bad elements of "Left Behind" are rooted in bad theology and not bad writing - after all, if you have Strawman Jews filling your novel in order to serve your theological purposes, you are not free from the charge of bad writing: why couldn't Jenkins write *better* Jews instead of silly strawmen ones? And so forth.

Random asides from Price (such as the odd revelation that he wants to alter "Real Men Love Jesus" bumper stickers to read "Real Sissies Love Jesus") undermine the scholarly tone and approach; and the blatant summaries of books and movies rather than actually dealing directly with the theology within seem to undermine the point of the book. Is this a scholarly approach, or a movie guide written by a fan of the genre?

I hate to criticize Price. I think there's a great deal of value to this book, and a lot of interesting information here - either for people interested in learning about the various "Left Behind" precursors available in the popular media, or for people interested in Messianic prophecy and the roots and reasons behind apocalyptic prophecy. However, the overall marketing of this book - that it illustrates "how the Christian Church was Left Behind" was, in light of all this, a poor move on the editor's part - seemingly an effort to cash in on the many books examining the "Left Behind" phenomena. If that's all your interested, there are better books out there that deal with the subject.

~ Ana Mardoll

[Jc · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bob is up to his usual antics. This time he is taking on Tim LaHaye & Jerry Jenkins "Left Behind" nonsense. What makes Bob's book work, however, is not the LaHaye/Jenkins knocks, but the nice history of modern apocalyptic writing, and it's ancient background, that Bob weaves into the Left Behind silliness. He also talks about how extremist apocalyptic beliefs have in recent decades infiltrated main line churches and American politics.

[Marty · Rating 5 out of 5]

This put to rest a question that I had of the facination with the end times of many people. Who and more importantly why did it retain popularity? The answer was pretty eye opening and both scary and sad.

[Dancingfoolvb · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very interesting review of the history and misinterpretation of the Book of Revelation.

[Zach Christensen · Rating 1 out of 5]

I wanted to like this book. I have a deep sense of enjoyment whenever Dispensationalism is defaced. I have heard Price speak, debate, and have read his work on other topics like the historical Jesus, and I at least enjoyed listening to what he had to say. But this book was so convoluted that I frequently lost track of where he was going with arguments and illustrations. A much simpler book is "The Rapture Exposed" by Barbara Rossing.