Conclusion: Both Now and Not Yet
Conclusion: Both Now and Not Yet
Reading in the Shadow of the Rapture
The conclusion offers some remarks on the prequels and sequel to the main Left Behind series in order to speculate on how rapture fiction as a popular genre might develop in the future, and how these developments might influence the changing face of American evangelicalism. The chapter considers why prophecy expositors are increasingly drawn to the novel as a means of communicating their theological ideas, and whether dispensational theology can emerge from the fictional form of the novel intact and unscathed. It argues that the novel allows expositors to capitalize on the inherent slipperiness and indeterminacy of literary language in order to work through some of the tensions and contradictions that lie at the heart of contemporary dispensational prophecy belief. It concludes that the popular evangelical novel may now be the primary terrain on which theological innovation is forged.
Keywords: Prequels, Sequel, Rapture fiction, Language, The novel
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