On December 10, Adventist Forum held its Friday Forum Book Club to discuss The End of the Scroll: Biblical Apocalyptic Trajectories by Herold Weiss.
Weiss, professor emeritus of religious studies at Saint Mary’s College, joined for the discussion about his book, along with John R. Jones, associate professor of New Testament studies at La Sierra University.
In introduction, Weiss explained how the book project grew from a 2018 article he published on Spectrum, written in response to the 25th anniversary of the standoff and tragedy at Waco, Texas. “[The anniversary was] making us realize what can go wrong with apocalypticism,” he saI’d.
“I think that the relevance of predicting the second coming has come to an end, and apocalypticism now is a cultural item that is made fun of in a way. Once you cry wolf for 20 centuries, the other shepherds don’t respond and come to help you. So, I am using the word “end” with its two meanings. End can mean termination, but it can also mean purpose. The ‘end of the scroll’ is both the end of apocalyptic predictions and the purpose for having written apocalyptic literature.”
Watch the entire discussion below, or on Spectrum’s Vimeo channel by clicking here.
Alex Aamodt is interim managing editor of SpectrumMagazine.org
Image credit: Energion Publications/Spectrum
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