The Book I Haven’t Read Yet, But Already Have Opinions About
There’s always someone dangling a new book in front of me,
and I’m always wrestling with whether to add yet another title to the ever‑growing
to‑be‑read pile. Thankfully, most of those books are stacked on my e‑reader
instead of teetering in dangerous towers on the floor of my already overstuffed
home office.
The latest temptation is End Times Fascism: And the
Fight for the Living World by Naomi Klein and Astra Taylor. No, I
haven’t read it. I haven’t even bought it. Yet. But if you’re going to
couple end‑times theology (eschatology) with fascism, you’re going to get my
attention.
When the End Was Supposed to Be Soon — Very Soon
The earliest Christians took Jesus’ promised return
seriously — urgently, even. References to the Second Coming (or Parousia)
appear throughout the New Testament, and they make it clear that first‑century
believers expected Jesus to return within their lifetimes. His return wasn’t
imagined as a brief cameo; it was a total transformation of the spiritual,
political, and physical world. The old, broken order would vanish, replaced by
a perfect creation. [A Jesuit I once knew liked to joke that all of this
actually happened in the year 70. We just missed it.]
But as the years passed and persecutions began, the promised
return started to feel less imminent. Christian imagination shifted: the end
wouldn’t arrive peacefully — it would be ushered in through suffering,
upheaval, and cosmic conflict. By the late first century, the idea of a final
battle between good and evil had taken hold. The Book of Revelation is the best‑known
survivor of this apocalyptic genre, but it was part of a much larger ecosystem
of visions, angels, and end‑time expectations that carried on into the 3rd and
4th centuries.
Humanity’s Role: From Passive Waiting to Active
Participation
In the New Testament, Jesus tells believers to “watch” and
“be ready,” but he never says they can cause the end. Early Christians
believed the end was near, but they expected God to act.
Even so, seeds of a more activist eschatology appeared
early. Some Christians began interpreting persecution, martyrdom, or moral
purification as conditions that might hasten Christ’s return. Not quite
“triggering the apocalypse,” but definitely the beginning of the idea that
human behavior could influence the divine timetable.
By the Middle Ages, that seed had sprouted. Various
movements believed Christians could help bring about the end times through
social, political, or even military action. These ideas flared up during crises
and faded during calmer periods, but they mostly remained on the fringe.
The 19th Century: When Apocalyptic Activism Goes
Mainstream
Then came the 19th century — a century of revolutions,
collapsing empires, industrial upheaval, and theological innovation.
Eschatology moved from the margins to the center of Christian thought.
Victorian interpreters began reading Daniel, Ezekiel, Zechariah, and Revelation
as literal blueprints for current events. Prophecy wasn’t symbolic; it was
unfolding “in real time.”
The most striking development was the rise of movements that
believed Christians could prepare, hasten, or even trigger
the Second Coming. Scripture, they argued, laid out conditions for Christ’s
return, and believers could work to fulfill them.
In short: the 19th century transformed apocalyptic
expectation into apocalyptic activism.
Enter Klein and Taylor (I Think)
This is where I expect Klein and Taylor to pick up the
thread in End Times Fascism. Again, I haven’t read it yet, so I may be
wandering out into left field. But the argument seems clear enough.
Since World War II, the global order — imperfect as it is —
has generally succeeded in limiting large‑scale chaos. For apocalyptic
activists, that’s a problem. Chaos and cosmic conflict aren’t bugs in the
divine plan; they’re features. If you believe the end times require upheaval,
then a stable world order is an obstacle.
And if apocalyptic‑minded actors now hold real governmental
and institutional power, they may be working — consciously or not — to
accelerate chaos rather than prevent it.
And the Fascism Connection?
A long‑running theme in fascism scholarship is that fascist
movements don’t simply respond to crisis. They manufacture crisis to reorder
society. If I am right about Klein and Taylor, they may be warning us that today’s
apocalyptic activists may be doing the same — only now with access to state
power, global systems, and technologies capable of producing chaos on a planetary
scale.
But the end times will have to wait. I'm still reading.
