Beastly Boasts and Apocalyptic Affects

Reading Revelation in a Time of Trump and a Time of Plague

Bibliographic Data

ID3354589
AuthorsStephen D Moore (0000-0002-4207-7941, Drew University, corresponding author)
Year2020
Volume11
Issue7
Pages346
Publication date2020-07-10
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueReligions (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2077-1444 • E-ISSN: 2077-1444
PublisherMDPI AG (PUBLISHER • IT)
DOI10.3390/rel11070346
OpenAlexW3041921384
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited36

Waxing "biblical," Donald Trump has described the COVID-19 pandemic as a "plague." In a different but related register, millions of Christians worldwide have interpreted the pandemic as one of the eschatological plagues prophesied in the Book of Revelation. This article appropriates the reading tactics of Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari, together with the resources of affect theory, to connect the Book of Revelation with both the Trump phenomenon and the COVID-19 pandemic. Specifically, the article attempts to relate Revelation's Beast to Trump (to unleash the Beast against Trump) non-eschatologically, in a non-representationalist reading strategy, and to analyze how Trump has manipulated the pandemic for his post-ideological ends

Ancient history · Art · Ideology · Linguistics · Literature · Pandemic · Political science · Politics · Revelation · Theology · Biblical Studies and Interpretation · History · Law · Media, Religion, Digital Communication · Medicine · Philosophy · Violence, Religion, and Philosophy

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