An Angel Directs the Storm: Apocalyptic Religion and American Empire

well written, and thoughtful. These are difficult times, the book helps with clarification.

The strength and purpose of this book by Christian theologian Michael Northcott of the University of Edinburgh is to provide a history of conservative Christianity in its varied forms as it relates to the apocalyptic vision shared by George W. Bush and his evangelical supporters. An irony that Northcott explains is how the Christian right came to their unequivocal support of Israel against the Arab Muslims. Considering the appalling history of how Christians have behaved toward Jews in Eastern and Western Europe, in Russia, in the United States, and elsewhere it is difficult to understand why they should now be championing the Jewish cause. The answer is as simple as it is stupid. The evangelicals think that by establishing and maintaining a Jewish state in Palestine they are helping to usher in the Rapture, Armageddon and the return of Christ and his 1,000-year reign of peace. They believe this because it is prophesied that the Jews will return to Palestine and resettle the biblical lands, rebuild Jerusalem "and in particular the Third Temple on the site currently occupied by the Dome of the Rock and the Al-Aqsa Mosque" before the apocalypse. (p. 61) Evangelical Christians have little interest in helping the Jewish people. Their real motivation for supporting Israel is to further their delusive sense of history. Not so incidentally it is further prophesied that this will be a horrific time for the Jews in Israel because of "fierce resistance" and "dreadful wars"; but those who survive "will ultimately recognize Christ as the true Messiah and so greet him at his Second Coming." (p. 61) In other words, what they think they are helping to usher in is a time of slaughter of the Jews and then the eventual ending of the Jewish religion as such. Amazing. Northcott calls this "dispensational" thinking from those Christians who are following the teachings of Biblist Charles Schofield, the Pentecostal Edward Irving, the dispensationist, Brethren leader John Nelson Darby and others. "According to Darby there are seven dispensations in human history, the first being the paradise of the Garden of Eden, and the last being the 1,000-year reign of saints referred to in Revelation 20.1 - 7." (p. 58) The "angel" directing the storm, the "angel invoked by George W. Bush in his Inaugural Speech in 2001," Northcott advises us, "is more like a prideful fallen angel than a humble servant of God." (p. 178) Northcott's position is certainly a giant step removed from that of the evangelical right in the United States. And it is always good to hear someone from within Christianity in opposition to the preemptive unilateralism of the Bush administration. However, I don't think the cause of humanity and this planet is furthered much by making distinctions between angels, good or bad. In a larger sense we are told to choose between the good angels of the West and the bad angels (or "devils") of the Middle East. Indeed radical Muslims call Westerners "devil