Table Of ContentAPOCALYPSE NOW?
How may people of faith respond wisely, constructively, and courageously
to the challenges of a time of terror? How might religious reasons in public
debate be a force for reconciliation rather than violence and hatred?
In a world in which religious arguments and religious motivations play
such a huge public role, there is an urgent responsibility for interpreting
what is happening, and engaging with religious views which are commonly
regarded as alien, threatening or dangerous.
In Apocalypse Now?, Duncan Forrester argues that disorders and atrocities
which include the Gulag, the Holocaust, 9/11, the Afghanistan and Iraq
wars, and the Tsunami disaster have shown us that we stand not at the end
of history but in the midst of an apocalyptic age of terror which has striking
similarities to the time in which Christianity was born.
Moving between two times of terror – the early Centuries of Christianity,
and today – Forrester asks how religious motivations can play a positive role
in the midst of conflicts and disasters. Reading the ‘signs of the times’ to
try to understand what is happening in today’s age of terror, Forrester
argues that there are huge resources in the Christian tradition that can be
productively deployed for a more constructive and faithful response. We are
at a turning point – this is a book which should be read.
For my little Granddaughters
Hannah, Ailsa, Katie and Mairi
That they may live and flourish
In times of Peace rather than of Terror
Apocalypse Now?
Reflections on Faith in a Time of Terror
DUNCAN B. FORRESTER
New College, University of Edinburgh
© Duncan B. Forrester 2005
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval
system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical,
photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior permission of the publisher.
Duncan B. Forrester has asserted his moral right under the Copyright, Designs and
Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as the author of this work.
Published by
Ashgate Publishing Limited Ashgate Publishing Company
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Ashgate website: http://www.ashgate.com
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
Forrester, Duncan B., 1933–
Apocalypse Now? : reflections on faith in a time of terror
1. war – Religious aspects – Christianity 2. Disasters – Religious aspects –
Christianity 3. Terrorism – Religious aspects – Christianity 4. Christianity and
politics 5. Christian ethics 6. Just war doctrine
I. Title
261.8'73
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Forrester, Duncan B., 1933–
Apocalypse Now? : reflections on faith in a time of terror / Duncan B. Forrester.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references (p. ) and index.
ISBN 0-7546-5260-2 (hardcover:alk. paper) – ISBN 0-7546-5273-4 (pbk.:alk. paper)
1. Terrorism–Religious aspects–Christianity. 2. Violence–Religious aspects–
Christianity. 3. Church and social problems. I. Title.
BT736.15.F67 2005
261.8'73–dc22
2005007231
ISBN 0 7546 5260 2 (Hbk)
ISBN 0 7546 5273 4 (Pbk)
Contents
Foreword vii
Acknowledgments ix
Prologue: Two ‘Terrible Manifestos’? 1
1 Vexed by a Rocking Cradle 11
2 Things Fall Apart: The Long, Bloody Twentieth Century 21
3 After the Cold War: The End of Ideology? 25
4 The Public Voice of Resurgent Religion 35
5 The Rebirth of Apocalyptic 49
6 Conflicting Virtues: Saints or Heroes? 65
7 Virtues in Conflict 77
8 Just War and Just Peacemaking 89
Epilogue: Forgiveness and Reconciliation 109
Postscript: Tsunami Now? 117
Bibliography 127
Index 137
v
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Foreword
This book represents one person’s reflections on the awesome and
confusing events which have followed the 9/11 attacks on the Twin Towers
and the Pentagon, and then on the natural but apocalyptic catastrophe that
hit the countries around the Indian Ocean on the day after Christmas Day,
in 2004, the day when Christians commemorate Stephen, the first Christian
martyr. This book makes no claim to being a systematic theological
response to a series of events of incredible savagery and violence, but it has
been suggested to me that my reflections, however fragmentary, might be
of use and interest to others who are trying to relate faith to these awful
events, who are seeking to ‘discern the signs of the times’, and respond
appropriately.
My debts in writing this book are many. Some parts of it in an early form
were the substance of the Ferguson Lectures which I delivered in the
University of Manchester in 2003. I am deeply grateful to Professor Elaine
Graham and her colleagues, and those who attended the lectures, for their
hospitality and for many helpful discussions. Other parts in an early form
were given as the Boutwood Lectures at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge
in the spring of 2004. The College welcomed me as a Visiting Fellow for a
term, and I had many stimulating discussions with members of the College,
particularly with the post-graduate students who lived with me on the
Leckhampton campus. This term gave me a precious opportunity for
reading and writing, and I am grateful to the Master, Professor Haroun
Ahmed, and his colleagues for their hospitality. I also enjoyed discussing the
contents of this book with staff and students at Liverpool Hope University,
where I was a Visiting Professor in Session 2003–4.
I am grateful to the many colleagues, students and friends who have
challenged, confirmed, or enriched my thinking, particularly research
students from contemporary apocalyptic situations such as the Rwanda
genocide, post-tsunami Sri Lanka, apartheid South Africa, the oppression of
Dalits in India, or inter-religious conflict in northern Nigeria. Colleagues and
friends such as Dr Michael Northcott, Dr Paul Middleton, Professor Will
Storrar, Professor Chris Rowland and Dr Cecilia Clegg have been generous
with their time. But above all, the wisdom and discernment of my wife,
Margaret, underlies all I do, and in this case her hand can be particularly
clearly seen in the postscript on the tsunami. I am grateful to all these, and
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viii Apocalypse Now?
many others, who are attempting to discern the signs of the times in this
age of terror, and how to respond with faith.
Duncan B. Forrester
Acknowledgments
I am grateful to the following for permission to use copyright material:
Faber and Faber Ltd for the extract from T.S. Eliot’s Murder in the Cathedral
in chapter seven; A.P. Watt Ltd for the extracts from W.B. Yeats’ poem
‘The Second Coming’ in chapters one and two; Revd Dr John Bell for
his meditation on the tsunami which was originally broadcast on BBC
TV; Sage Publications for material in chapters seven and eight derived from
my article, ‘Violence and Non-violence in Conflict Resolution: Some
Theological Reflections’, originally published in Studies in Christian Ethics, vol.
16 no. 2, pp. 64–79 1963, and Godfrey Rust for his poem which appears
at the end of chapter five.
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