A NEW YEAR inspires reflections on the fin de siècle. In some circles the fin is interpreted with unnerving literalness. As The Economist noted last week: “Apocalyptic belief renews itself in ingenious ways.”

Christianity has always had its apocalyptic literature. Rapturism (more properly, Dispensational Premillennialism) is a distinctive modern exposition. It derives from a 19th-century British evangelist, John Nelson Darby. He believed that human history was divided into seven divine phases, or “dispensations”. History would end with a seven-year tribulation, followed by Armageddon and the millennial reign of Christ, all of which were imminent.

Darby’s influence in Britain has been limited by the sectarianism of his followers, the Exclusive Brethren. In America, however, his scheme is astonishingly popular among evangelical Christians. It is closely identified with the doctrine of Rapture. In the Rapture, the elect will literally be lifted up before Christ’s return, and thereby be spared the tribulation.

Rapturists expend great ingenuity in deriving the chronology of the end of the world. One recent effort perceives divine significance in the number 14,000; the End is therefore predicted for October 4, 2005, or 14,000 days after Israel’s capture of the Old City of Jerusalem in the Six-Day War.

Popular culture has been thoroughly imbued with the Rapture. The vehicle for this is a bestselling series of novels called Left Behind, by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins. To call the novels didactic would be like calling The Ring cycle long. Wooden in structure and nugatory in characterisation, their sole purpose is to dramatise what will happen in an electronic age when the saved are lifted heavenward, there to observe the seven years of torment visited upon those left behind.

Those who believe that all affairs of state will shortly come to an end are, for obvious reasons, inclined to political quietism. But there is one aspect of Rapturism that is potentially significant. Darby believed that the prophetic plan had been disrupted by the Jews’ rejection of Christ. Likewise, today’s Rapturists maintain that the Jews’ return to the Promised Land is essential to the fulfilment of God’s will, and that the modern state of Israel is a sign of Christ’s return. The usually tacit, but sometimes overt, message is that the Jews are wrong and must convert.

Rapturists thus count among the strongest supporters of Israel, while holding to a theology that undermines Israel's entire raison d’être. Israeli politicians, being pragmatists, tend not to worry too much about this, or at least not publicly. As one who values Israel precisely because it represents liberal, secular Enlightenment principles in a region where they are scarce, I hope that the politicians are right.

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