I

The Dilemma

There has been an unfortunate tendency within the ongoing conversation of the prophetic to, predictably so, distort the complex tension of the prophetic. Those who hold high the apocalyptic nature of the prophetic often equate such a notion of the prophetic with a simplistic end time scenario in which the Jews and state of Israel are unduly romanticized and beyond the pale of legitimate criticism. This rather simplistic identification with the Jews-Israel-end time apocalyptic prophetic is fraught with problems. It is quite understandable, therefore, why the more thoughtful see the prophetic in a more ethical sense. Many of the Jewish prophets and the Beatitudes-Sermon on the Mount hold high the principles of justice and peacemaking. It is this higher ethic that, when rightly understood, ponders the disproportion of power between the Israeli state and Palestinians living in Gaza, West Bank, Israel or dispersed because of Israeli economic and military power.

Those who take the position that the apocalyptic prophetic trumps and marginalizes the ethical prophetic often become docile servants for the perpetuation of a graphic and tragic injustice between the state of Israel and the Palestinians. Those who hold high the banner of the ethical prophetic often dismiss the apocalyptic prophetic as reactionaries and witless biblicists of American-Israeli power that aids and abets injustice and fans the flames of war. In short, there has been and continues to be those who adhere to an either-or approach to the dilemma. Should the apocalyptic subordinate the ethical or the ethical the apocalyptic? Much, of course, hinges on what we mean by apocalyptic and ethical prophetic.

 II

Beyond the Dilemma

The Greek word from which we get apocalyptic means ‘unveiling, revealing, unconcealing’—that which has been hidden and concealed is now being unconcealed and revealed. The issue, of course, is what is being revealed in such historic moments, such Kairos events that are unfolding before us? The simplistic approach equates the return of the Jews to Palestine in the 19^th century, the founding of the state of Israel in 1948, Israeli victory in the 1967 war as part of God’s unveiling of prophetic portents that herald the end of time. But, is such an interpretation that simple and obvious. Can we be absolutely sure about what is being revealed and unconcealed in this mysterious and unfolding drama? Is there a mystery at work that still eludes us? In short, if the apocalyptic is understood as something happening, something being afoot in the Middle East and global politics that is occurring and yet the deeper and fuller meaning and content still being illusive, we can take a position of waiting and attentiveness. It is this ability to wait upon, to be attentive to a deeper mystery that is beyond our ken that might open up some possibilities for a more positive approach to the apocalyptic prophetic (in opposition to the more simplistic approach that often dominates the day). 

There are those who hold high the ethical prophetic in opposition to the more simplistic apocalyptic prophetic, but such an approach can miss the subtler and more mysterious reality of an unfolding and revealing in our historic Kairos moment—to only equate Kairos with the ethical prophetic might mean a missing of the deeper reality of what is straining to be revealed at this moment of history. It is absolutely necessary that the ethical prophetic (justice-peacemaking) be an imperative in this dialogue, but an excessive attention to such an approach might conceal much. There is always the danger, of course, of the ethical prophetic becoming excessively ideological. This can be a temptation of liberationist theology.

III

Two Questions

 We need, in conclusion, to ask ourselves two questions: What does the cruder notion of the apocalyptic conceal and what might a subtle approach of the apocalyptic yet reveal? What does the ethical and liberationist approach to the prophetic reveal and what conceal? As we inch closer to answering such questions, our understanding of the prophetic will be more mature, incisive and insightful. Much, though, hangs in a precarious balance—attention and waiting are the means of authentic hearing—a passing through the portal into a genuine prophetic insight and vocation. 

Ron Dart