Threads of the apocalypse are such an intricate part of American Culture that it seems as though every American institution, movement, or doctrine contains some shred of the apocalyptic tradition. From the very origins our society, from the historical voyages of Christopher Columbus to the American Revolution, belief in America as a “New Jerusalem” has dominated our social and intellectual development. Over the past five hundred years the United States has time and again taken on the role of redeemer nation in the arena of international politics. Social occurrences such as the Millerite movement, Shaker communes, and even the recent raids at Waco and Ruby Ridge are constant reminders that the myth of America as the land of the apocalypse is an inescapable and irrepressible facet of our national identity.

The origins of America’s self-image as the land of the apocalypse can be traced to our European “discoverer” Christopher Columbus. Contradictory to the historical opinion that Columbus’ motivations for sailing to the New World where purely scientific in nature, twentieth-century historians have uncovered a perplexing spiritual and rational dualism in Columbus that challenges this belief. Although it is true that Ferdinand and Isabella’s motivations for funding Columbus’ “enterprise of the Indies” were primarily economic and political in nature, the same cannot be said about the motivations of Columbus himself. There is evidence to suggest that Christopher Columbus believed that he was in fact destined to sail to the West Indies in order to spread Christianity to the indigenous peoples of the region who worshipped pagan religions. In his work “Book of Prophecies” Columbus establishes himself as a “Christ-bearer” through the Latin variation of his name “Christoferens.” In his dispensationalist view, Columbus believed that by uniting the world through Christianity he would in turn set the last stages of the apocalypse into action. When Columbus unknowingly discovered the New World with its abundant resources and array of indigenous tribes at the end of the 15th century, the belief that his discovery was the land of the New Jerusalem quickly spread throughout Europe. In the decades after Columbus’ discovery, wars would be fought and colonies would be made to ensure that the New Jerusalem know as America could grow, prosper, and inevitably usher in the end of human history. In the attempt by Europeans to Christianize the world, an entire population of Native Americans would loose their homes under the wrath of western expansion and manifest destiny. The belief that America was indeed the land of Apocalypse would result in the hegemony of an entire culture and further ingrain in our collective national consciousness the seeds of the Apocalyptic tradition.

Hundreds of years later, the echo of Columbus’ apocalyptic view of America still radiates. It was from this culture that theologian William Miller was able to gather momentum for the Millerite movement. As early as 1822 William Miller had constructed an apocalyptic timetable that forecast the Second Coming of Christ in the year 1843. Miller’s theories gained impetus in the cultural climate of the Second Great Awakening. In the intensely heated climate of religious conversion sweeping the nation, Miller’s theories began to catch on because of their premillenialist nature and their spiritual numerology that established an emanate return of Christ. Miller’s followers began to interpret the world around them through an end-times lens, even going so far as to view the financial depression of 1837 as a sign that the end was near. As Miller’s proposed date March 21, 1842 approached, his followers became more and more eager and even sold their homes and personal belonging in preparation for Christ’s return. After the date passed and Jesus did not return to Earth, there were several attempts to reconfigure Miller’s date. The followers of his beliefs exhibited textbook signs of cognitive dissonance, they continued to believe in Miller’s teachings even though they were faced with the harsh reality that his predictions were wrong. As years passed on the Millerite movement branched into more than a dozen splinter groups still in existence today that include the Church of Latter Day Saints and the Watchtower Society. It was the very remnant of Miller’s apocalyptic fuel that brought about the fiery demise of David Koresh and his followers in April of 1993. David Koresh was merely acting in accordance to William Miller’s tradition when he interpreted modern society and the actions of the government as signs that the apocalypse was close at hand. Waco was a wake up call to many Americans that the apocalyptic tradition is still a ready cultural force that can be awakened at any time.

America has also proven to be a land that is open to apocalyptic re-interpretation. The theological movement attributed to the Shakers offered a uniquely different interpretation of the end time prophecies. Sometime in the 1760’s Ann Lee had a vision that America was the land of the new millenium, and that she and her followers must go to America to begin building the Promised Land. Ann Lee and her followers came to America in 1774, and over time their religion began to spread throughout New England and eventual as far west as Kentucky, Ohio, and Indiana. Ann Lee’s interpretation of the apocalypse was radically different than the traditional interpretations because she believed that the apocalypse occurred internally rather than externally. Ann Lee received a second vision while in America that in order for the apocalypse to occur, humankind must “bare the cross of chastity.” By bearing this cross and coming together to live in communes, Ann believed that she and her followers were in fact living in the new millenium. The Second Coming of Christ emerged as a reconciled community of believers living together for a common good. In service and preparation for the day when Heaven and Earth would merge, the Shakers were devoted to the promotion of social good. They acted as one of the first social organizations in the New World, functioning as both a place where the poor could come to find food and shelter and as an orphanage to unwanted children. The Shaker’s devout apocalyptic beliefs had a profound impact on American society through their efforts in support of abolition and women’s suffrage as well as their previously mentioned attempts of social welfare.

The legacy of Columbus’ voyage to the new world, the Millerite movement, and the Shaker movement remind us that the apocalyptic tradition is alive and well in America and has been throughout the entire course of our history. The apocalyptic belief is unparalleled in its ability to sustain itself over time in ways that John of Patamos could never have imagined. It is hard to say whether or not the apocalyptic tradition will ever lose its hold on American culture, but judging from our history the probability of that happening is highly unlikely.

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One week before Valentine’s Day archeologists in Italy discover this set of bones, human skeletons locked in an embrace for more than 5,000 years.

The discovery of ancient skeletons is no new phenomenon, but this sort of intimacy is truly rare. These bones, nearly fused together after thousands of years, are older than Greece and Rome, the pyramids at Giza, and the alleged birth of Jesus Christ. More than five millennia ago, one man and one woman embraced. We do not know their story, only a record of this one gesture.

To contemplate these bones is to wreck the mind with the scope of human history.

Yet, in spite of this remarkable proof of our long and winding history, there are those who deny quantifiable facts to insist upon “proof” in the book of Genesis that the world is little more than 6,000 years old (and I quote “give or take a few hundred years”).

Of course, there is greater proof than these newly discovered bones in Italy to refute these highly antiquated and absurd notions. Consider this 3.3 Million year-old skull of a baby girl unearthed in Ethiopia late last year. The skeleton is of the species Australopithecus afarensis, an early precursor of homo-sapiens.

This skeleton is the oldest, intact, pre-human skeleton ever discovered; a discovery unreported in the mass media. Might the reason for this incoherent silence be that these bones refute the very notion of Christian creationism?

How can intelligent men and woman look to these bones, encased in thousands of years of dust, and still believe in the myth of the Christian creation?

There was no Garden of Eden. No Adam and Eve. No snake with his tempting apple. At best, these stories are parables that were never meant to be taken literally. At worst, they were merely ways to understand the world before the applications of reason and science.

Placed under the slightest amount or rigorous scrutiny, the Christian creation myths become as outlandish as those of the Greeks, Romans, Egyptians, Norse, or any other culture that has assigned supernatural meaning to the origin of our world.

We know now that the emergence of humanity has been a slow and awkward evolution over the course of millions of years. Yes, there are still holes in this grand evolutionary puzzle, but discoveries such as these are helping to fill the missing gaps.

Let us imagine a greater story than that of Eden, but one that does not require quite as much “faith.” It is the story of primordial humans, barely even recognizable as such, learning to hunt and gather, form communities, work as a civilization, raise the young, care for the aging, speak, write, and create. This grand narrative is the story of humanity, free from Gods and Masters.

The greatest story ever told will be the one that is still being written as our understanding of the world and our place in it continues to grow. We may at last come to know who we are and how we got here, but it will take valor to reject the calcified beliefs of our mothers and fathers who did the best they could with what little they knew.

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