Newswise — In his critical book "Marks of the Beast: The Left Behind Novels and the Struggle for Evangelical Identity" (NYU Press, 2005), Glenn W. Shuck provides a provocative study of American evangelicalism focusing on the best-selling Christian fiction "Left Behind" series by Timothy F. LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins.

"The 12-book 'Left Behind' series (13-books, as of March 1) describes a world much like our own, only one that grows darker as the series progresses and the world falls under the grip of Satan and his servant, the Anti-Christ," says Shuck.

More than 70 million copies of the Left Behind series have been sold, since the series debuted with "Left Behind" in 1995, presaged in 1980 by LaHaye's largely overlooked non-fiction title," The Battle for the Mind." Shuck's "Marks of the Beast" probes the reasons behind the novels' unprecedented appeal.

The themes of doomsday prophecy and imperative political activism "to make the world safe for evangelicalism" as put forth in the novels are of primary concern. "The novels contain a coded blueprint for the machinations of the New Christian Right," writes Shuck.

Following the events of Sept. 11, he describes how "Tim LaHaye "¦ believes that world leaders responded to the tragedy much as they would to "¦ something like the rapture." The rapture, ensuing tribulation, and rise of the Anti-Christ, all elements the authors find in the "Prophetic" portions of the Bible, especially Revelation, are central to the plots of the "Left Behind" series.

The series' portrayal of a post-apocalyptic world with its lessons and moral themes are what make the books potentially problematic for both believers and non-believers alike, Shuck says.

LaHaye and Jenkins have written on their website that "the pre-millenialist theology found in the 'Left Behind' series is the prominent view among evangelical Christians." The way in which LaHaye and Jenkins "act out" this theology in their books, Shuck says, represents an appropriation for the sake of fiction, suspense, and their own political agenda.

One must remember, Shuck writes, that to the authors the books are historical fiction. The characters may be invented and specific events fabricated, but the overarching plot of the novels - the specifics of the end times as interpreted by the authors from their reading of the Bible will, in fact, happen almost exactly " fictional devices aside " as depicted in the novels. "LaHaye seeks to remake American culture as a 'Shining City Upon a Hill,' at least before America's prospects inevitably dim during the Last Days," Shuck wrote elsewhere recently.

LaHaye represents an unusual figure in contemporary politics. While his name is unfamiliar to secular Americans, he has served on the Moral Majority's board of directors, and as cofounder and president of the Council For National Policy, cofounder of Concerned Women for America, along with his wife Beverly, and former co-chairman of Jack Kemp's 1988 presidential campaign. He has worked to influence local politics, school boards, and textbook selections.

Shuck describes how the Left Behind series give "readers insight into contemporary events, along with tactics for altering them." Its authors create an imaginary world, which offers alternative possibilities for our real world, with political activist LaHaye a real life representation of the fiction of the novels: a conservative evangelical seeking to affect the world while the end awaits.

More than anything, Shuck argues that the series' prophecies can be "self-fulfilling" and that those readers searching for signs of end-times prophecy may find it where it is not and, in the worst case scenario, they may create it themselves.

Shuck is a member of religion department at Williams College.

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CITATIONS

Marks of the Beast: The Left Behind Novels and the Struggle for Evangelical Identity