In Avengers: Infinity War, Thanos, a giant purple alien, succeeds in his plan to kill half the universe using magical stones because a Norse god wasn’t able to kill him in time. This occurs immediately after Thanos reversed time to recreate one of those stones that rested in a robot’s forehead and was destroyed by the robot’s witch girlfriend.
When phrased in this manner, Infinity War sounds ridiculous. And, as a fan, that’s not totally unfair. But the ridiculousness is completely believable within the context of the film. And I know that believability isn’t just a result of my affinity for superheroes; Infinity War was critically praised and grossed over two billion dollars. Despite the strange and arguably ridiculous events that form its plot, the film was a success by every metric.
Now, consider Revelation 12:1-8. We see a woman, clothed with the sun, moon, and stars, giving birth to a child that a seven-headed red dragon seeks to devour. Whilst waiting, he casts a third of the stars onto the earth. When the child is born, he is taken up by God to His throne so that he is not eaten. While the woman flees, Michael and a fleet of angels fight the dragon and fallen angels, with Heaven emerging the victor.
Momentarily setting aside the symbolism, this passage seems more straightforward to consider than Infinity War. Granted, this is one small and arguably straightforward section of a much larger book, but the aforementioned scene is only a small section of Infinity War’s final battle. And when symbolism is considered, it is clear what is going on: the woman is Mary, the child Christ, and the dragon Satan. The last point is even explicitly stated in the next verse: “And that great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, who is called the devil and Satan” (Revelation 12:9). This is very typical Christian mythology which is found throughout the whole Bible.
So why is it that we don’t read Revelation? If you ask many Christians, including people I personally know, there’s a good chance they have not read it and are daunted by the idea. In fact, I chose to blog on it because I have always thought the imagery was fascinating, being high concept and fantastical like the books and movies I love, but I had never engaged with it to the degree it deserved. We know the medievals read it, considering the incredible imagery of the “Apocalypse of St. Victor” and the concerns surrounding the turn of the millennium. So what has changed?
Simply put, Revelation is, as Bultmann said, “mythological talk.” Modern Christians don’t engage with mythology like medieval ones do; that has been a central theme of this course. Modernity wants to understand the “historical” Jesus and whether the Bible is “scientifically accurate.” And we see this reflected in the Marvel films, with the constant techno-babble and pseudo-scientific explanations of even what is portrayed as magic in the comics. We still have mythology, but it is mythology that is reflective of modernity. So taking a book like Revelation, which is so deeply steeped in mythology, can turn modern Christians away.
To see how this plays out, consider The Passion of the Christ. The film is known for being a gruesome and realistic take on the Passion, demonstrating it in heart-wrenching detail. But when you compare it to John’s rendition, none of these details are present. The only real physical description included is “And the soldiers platting a crown of thorns, put it upon his head; and they put on him a purple garment” (John 19:2). Instead, it is focused on showing that “these things were done, that the scripture might be fulfilled” (John 19:36).
Now compare that to the description of Christ in Revelation 1, also written by John:
“And his head and his hairs were white, as white wool, and as snow, and his eyes were as a flame of fire, And his feet like unto fine brass, as in a burning furnace. And his voice as the sound of many waters. And he had in his right hand seven stars. And from his mouth came out a sharp two edged sword: and his face was as the sun shineth in his power” (Revelation 1:14-16)
Here we get a detailed description of Christ in His Majesty. And the rest of the book includes a similar level of description, like with the throne and the living creatures in Chapter 4. With battles of Heaven and Hell, Christ revealed in His Majesty, and the descriptive language to pull from, it feels obvious to represent this in a film, now that we have the special effects to do so. And yet, we don’t have one, nor does this imagery tend to appear in art like it used to. The question then becomes if it is even necessary to see Jesus as God when we can see Him as human.
For another example, consider the earlier passage from Chapter 12. Scientifically speaking, how can one be “clothed with the sun?” How can the stars be cast down? Can dragons exist? Admittedly, my normal response is somewhat dismissive of the question: since God created the world, He is not bound by its laws and therefore none of this is “contradictory” to scientific principles. But it is a fair question, viewing science as the study of the world that God created. Even the medieval Christians were concerned with aspects of this, considering their focus on what our resurrected bodies will be like. So why even bother with Revelation?
The point of Christianity is to see God, and we can only do that through mythology. To throw it all away, as Bultmann suggests, would be to gut Christianity and make it pointless. And Revelation is deeply steeped in mythology. In it, we see God in His Majesty, and we see the Judgment where we will see God perfectly:
“And I saw the dead, great and small, standing in the presence of the throne, and the books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged by those things which were written in the books, according to their works” (Revelation 20:12)
Compare this to Steven’s vision: he “saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God” (Acts 7:55). Revelation reveals God to us, the thing we are always trying to see. Christ’s fulfillment of the prophecies has been proven, the church has begun, and now to conclude the Bible, we see the glory in explicit form reflecting the Psalms. Revelation may be a hard book to read, especially for a modern Christian, but it is a necessary one.
Thus, I encourage you, especially if you haven’t, to give Revelation a read. Embrace the mythology, and learn to see God.
--Chad Berkich
I'm persuaded! Excellent point about the way the Marvel movies rely on a modern "mythology" of techno-babble and pseudo-scientific explanations, clearly intended to make the stories seem "real," but at what level? The superhero movies are compelling because they deal in the same kinds of questions that myths do: with origins and meaning and the battle between good and evil. Which is more "real": what we experience through our senses or what we apprehend through our imagination? Without our imagination and intellect to interpret them, our sense perceptions would be meaningless noise—no narrative, no purpose (which, as I am thinking about it, raises interesting questions about animals' stories...) Perhaps Bonaventure's "Itinerarium" can help us here. But why hasn't anyone made a movie of Revelation?! Or maybe, we have...we just don't see them as such?
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