Are we living in the \u201cend times\u201d? Many would agree that, some days, it feels like it. Vancouver School of Theology\u2019s Inter-Religious Studies program will host an apocalyptically themed conference this month called Visions of the End Times. Presenters will invite attendees to explore their fears and hopes for the future.<\/p>\n
As part of the conference, which runs May 23-25, the keynote speaker, psychologist Dr. Lionel Corbett, will give a free public lecture. In the May 23 talk, Corbett will discuss the psychology of apocalyptic thinking and religious violence.<\/p>\n
On the mornings of May 24 and 25, more than a dozen regional scholars will speak about concepts of the \u201cend times\u201d found in sacred texts, film, popular music and contemporary culture. Afternoon activities will include a multifaith panel of local religious leaders and a creative writing workshop.<\/p>\n
The conference had its genesis about three months before the U.S. election in a conversation between Rabbi Laura Duhan Kaplan, the director of Inter-Religious Studies at VST, and Harry Maier, professor of New Testament and early Christianity studies. The two professors contemplated why zombies are such a popular motif in contemporary culture. Are they a metaphor for soul-less humanity, for consumer culture consuming itself or a political world that has no awareness or conscience? This led to a discussion of the possibility of an academic conference on zombies in popular culture.<\/p>\n
\u201cThen,\u201d Duhan Kaplan explained to the Jewish Independent<\/em>, \u201cwe remembered we\u2019re faculty at a theology school, and that zombies sort of appear in the Bible, in Ezekiel\u2019s prophecy about the resurrection of the dead. So, we broadened the topic to Visions of the End Times and made the conference a VST project.\u201d<\/p>\n Duhan Kaplan said she expects the conference will yield lively discussion. \u201cMy prediction for the thread that runs through the conference [is that] we will debate whether the world is getting worse or better, or heading in any direction at all.\u201d<\/p>\n She said speakers will address topics such as extremism and religious violence, visions of the end times articulated by religious traditions, the meaning of end-times themes in music and film, the nature of utopian thinking, and a deeper look at end-times teachings in Jewish, Christian and Muslim scriptures. There will also be an open mic Tuesday evening featuring music and poetry of the end times, which Kaplan hopes will be \u201cwhimsical and fun.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI do believe that eschatological concepts [ideas resulting from the study of the end times] are helpful metaphors,\u201d she said. \u201cThey place even terrible events into a hopeful vision. When something bad happens, they say, \u2018Don\u2019t worry, it\u2019s just a blip on the way to a good end.\u2019 For example, when something bad happens, many Jews say, \u2018These are the footsteps of Mashiach.\u2019 Personally, I take great comfort in Isaiah\u2019s vision that \u2018the lion will lie down with the lamb.\u2019<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t think human beings will ever make a [peace] treaty that holds indefinitely,\u201d she continued. \u201cBut, while peace holds, people do experience a bit of \u2018the World to Come,\u2019 as we sometimes call the end times in Jewish thought.\u201d<\/p>\n