The end is near!
It’s eschatology and R.E.M. in part one of this two-part almost-the-end-of-the-season mega-episode. After discussing some of the greatest apocalyptic tunes in the history of rock and roll, your intrepid cohosts settle on a 1987 hit from R.E.M., “It’s the End of the World As We Know It (and I Feel Fine).” Along the way, Garrick tries to convince us that “The Final Countdown” by Europe is a song about the end of time, but of course it isn’t and Garrick probably already knows that. Timothy reminisces about the films that terrorized him in his fundamentalist childhood before defining “eschatology” and discussing different views of the end of time.
What Garrick and Timothy discover as they take a look at the end of time is that, in the late modern era, eschatologies shifted from looking forward to looking inward. In many contexts, the result has been a failure to talk about the end of time at all. And yet, an avoidance of this topic is no less harmful than an over-emphasis on it. The episode ends with a cliffhanger as the dynamic duo begins to list four essential truths about the end of time but then stops after the first one. To discover the rest of these essential truths, be sure to listen to part two of this episode.
This episode’s Toybox Hero Tournament is the most ridiculous encounter yet in a season that has been a veritable fountain of ridiculousness. Garrick puts on a bomber jacket and plays a song on his daughter’s ukulele, hoping to save himself from certain destruction by calming the wrath of an Amazonian superheroine. The superheroine is unimpressed and, now, there is one less ukulele in the world. Also, “Ukulele Wonder Women” would be the perfect name for an all-girl acoustic punk band.
The new cover art for this season was created by Dani Wallace (daniwallace.myportfolio.com).
In Today’s Episode about the End Times
Timothy Paul Jones, Ph.D., is C. Edwin Gheens Professor of Christian Ministry at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. He teaches in the areas of family ministry and applied apologetics. He has authored or edited more than a dozen books, including Why Should I Trust the Bible?, The God Who Goes Before You, Perspectives on Family Ministry, and Christian History Made Easy. Follow Dr. Jones at @DrTimothyPJones.
Garrick Bailey is a Ph.D. student in systematic theology at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, studying Herman Bavinck and Roman Catholicism under the supervision of Gregg Allison.
Links to Click
Good Times with the End Times (Part 2): podcast episode
A Theology for the Church: book edited by Daniel Akin
Rose Guide to End-Times Prophecy: book by Timothy Paul Jones
The Burning Hell: film by Estus Pirkle
All Along the Watchtower: song by Jimi Hendrix
Bad Moon Rising: song by Creedence Clearwater Revival
Fight Fire with Fire: song by Metallica
Four Horsemen: song by Metallica
99 Red Balloons: song by Nena
The Final Countdown: song by Europe
It’s the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine): song by R.E.M.
America’s Greatest Band: article by Eric Harvey
R.E.M.’s First Ever Show: article by J. Niimi
Oddfellows Local 151: song by R.E.M.
We Didn’t Start the Fire: song by Billy Joel
Murmur: album by R.E.M.
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The Closing Credits
Three Chords and the Truth: The Apologetics Podcast thanks B&H Academic for their sponsorship. Music for the podcast has been licensed through Artlist.io and performed by Trent Thompson. Brief excerpts of music played in each program are included solely for the purposes of comment and critique as allowed under the fair-use provision of U.S. copyright law. “The fair use of a copyrighted work … for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, … scholarship, or research, is not an infringement of copyright” (U.S. Code § 107, Limitations on exclusive rights: Fair use). Main image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.
