Eschatological Weeds

David French joins the Five-Timer’s Club on this edition of The Remnant. The conversation has ...

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David French joins the Five-Timer’s Club on this edition of The Remnant. The conversation has just about the widest scope possible, including everything from end times prophecy, to Protestantism versus Restorationism, to methods for surviving the zombie apocalypse, to the blessed Snyder cut.


Show Notes:

–David’s newsletter, The French Press

–David’s podcast with Sarah Isgur

–David, supposedly “breathing on the embers” of #BelieveAllWomen

–The (very involved) eschatology of Assemblies of God

–The Left Behind novel series

–The Restoration Movement

–The timelines of pre-and-post-millennialism

–The Late, Great Planet Earth

–Albrecht Durer’s fascinating series of Revelation woodcuts, Apocalypse

–Best places to be in a zombie apocalypse

–ExpressVPN.com/remnant for 3 extra months free

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Comments (23)
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  1. Avatar photo
    Dave IL

    es cat ə loj i kəl

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      Dave IL

      Great episode, though. I don't generally like super-hero movies, but Christopher Nolan's take on Batman is an exception. I certainly don't consider those movies "dark" despite the titles. The prisoner throws the bomb trigger out the window? Despite man's fallen nature, that scene is about as hopeful as you can get in a world shared with someone like The Joker.

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    Richard Maxton

    Another excellent podcast. I ALMOST agree with David that 'The Man of Steel' is underrated. The movie makes 2 fatal flaws to me, one bigger than the other. The lesser is that Superman kills Zod. I'm not a fan of Superman killing, but I can at least buy the Snyder-ish take that this is Superman's "never again" moment. So long as he holds that line going forward.
    The issue I can't abide is the portrayal of Pa Kent. The conversation after Clark saved the bus full of kids? NO. The moment where Pa stops Clark from saving him? NO. They should have played this moment more like Donner. If you have to kill Pa, do it with a heart attack, or stroke, or something that Clark can't fix. "All these powers, all these things I can do, and I couldn't save him." It's a great moment that shows Superman can be beaten. Pa was Clark's hero for the man he was, not because he sacrificed his life to save Clark's secret.

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  3. Joesyrup

    All the zombie talk points to a great future guest if you can get him -- one of America's great living authors, Colson Whitehead (2017 and 2020 fiction Pulitzers), wrote a zombie book -- Zone One. I'm not sure the two of you would have a productive political conversation, but you could talk zombies and pop culture and growing up in Manhattan in the 70s-80s. How about Holman Jenkins (WSJ) while we are at it.

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    Michelle O

    Am I the only person who, when contemplating the zombie apocalypse (or any other apocalypse, for that matter) is trying to figure out the fastest, most painless way to die? Given the option of dodging zombies and packs of looting humans, scrounging for canned dog food when my supplies run out, and dealing with being constantly in pain and filthy or death, I think I choose death.

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    JDW

    I may not be your typical listener but the interplay between you and David is really awesome.

    David
    In the comic books, DC is a late to the game when it comes to gritty. The gray shades were all Marvel in the olden days. DC was always white hat and black hat. I've always joked that Batman went to the wrong casting office and got on at DC when his directions were to Marvel. It's why I believe in modern times Batman is their biggest star. I like the gritty DC movies though and enjoy them as much as any Marvel movies.

    Nice analysis of the "restorationist" approach. To me salvation is so simple, and joining the church biblically is just getting saved, I don't go for exclusionary "churches". Now I think denominations serve their purpose. You need the teaching that you believe to be what is taught at your church. You don't want your children raised as post millenialists God forbid! :-).

    I see Methodists, Presbyterians, and Baptists all as brothers in Christ. So we can work together for sure.

    Jonah
    I think you do best when you dive deep and get theoretical. I despise Trump as my president but I do not hate him so of course I think you are dead on most of the time in your criticisms. Still the theory of conservatism podcasts are the sorts of conversations I have with my friends over coffee. We are weird yes but it is fun.

    Both
    Wood chipper machines would be great for zombies. Put a boom box (yeah I'm 52) in a strategic position to draw them in and process them out the other side as fertilizer. Perhaps Jonah's island idea would work but why one in the middle of the ocean. Just get one in a fast flowing river. The zombies would be swept downstream if they tried to cross.

    I'm late to comment but accept as my excuse it was Memorial Day weekend.

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    Angie

    I just thought of something else..I was brought up Catholic, my best friend in High School ( still my best friend) has Baptist...she invited me to one of their youth retreats...my parents allowed me to go , which was somewhat surprising, but I remember at that time ( mid 70's) there was an ecumenical effort from some priests and Baptists...to try and get along

    The Catholic Church didn't talk much about revelation, in fact, I never really read it all, till I was a little older...and they never mentioned a thing about rapture...I was 16

    So, the first night we were there they took us all to an auditorium to watch a movie...it was about the Rapture...scared the heck out of me, I got up and ran out of the room...and I was so confused...I had thought that while we had some differences, Baptists were still Christians..and here was something I knew nothing about and just terrified me on so many levels...( especially as I already had some Catholic guilt...lol)...

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    Angie

    This was awesome...my favorite so far, on every topic, but, I really liked the ending and how the world isn't going to end as far as politics go

    I love Super Hero Movies and I own quite a few of them...however, even when I was younger, though I could appreciate the excellence of say...the Batman movies...I was always slightly depressed with dystopian views of the world and good and bad. As I get older ( and I am about 12 years older than you guys are)...I just find that even if they are excellent...dystopia and bad news is not entertaining for me anymore...lol..and I think this coronavirus thing may make it worse, and maybe more awareness of my own mortality with age may be part of it too...not that they aren't good movies, but, it isn't entertaining for me to dwell on the bad stuff so much anymore...I like to escape to the fantasy ( literally and figuratively) of the world and people in etnertainment...enough bad news in real life and reality I guess..

    Thanks again for a great podcast

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    Dr. Livesey

    Never would've thought that a discussion that begins with eschatology and the theology of religious groupings that I've never had an interest in could turn into one of the best Remnant podcasts ever. It was just fantastic. Like all fantastic podcasts, it got me thinking in ways and on topics I wasn't familiar with.

    Did anyone actually use the phrase "immanentize the eschaton"? Did David French cite any specific Bible passages about humanity (and Jesus) not knowing just when the end times would come? Gotta listen again.

    I always thought that "Therefore, stay awake! For you do not know on which day your Lord will come," was the bottom line in the Bible, so I never thought more about it. All speculation about whether that day was just about to arrive seemed, well, sinful or almost sinful. The point seems to be to just stay ready (if the end times don't occur, your own personal end will, at some point, maybe by surprise, so it's actually practical advice).

    What this podcast delivered so well is the idea (OK, it's been around for a long time, but I'd forgotten) that eschatology, from religious believers and believers in substitutes for religion, can have a profound influence on political beliefs. French's description of the idea that people have profoundly different attitudes toward the ideas that humans should dominate nature / should be in harmony with it is something worth keeping in mind. It's one of those places where religion and politics meet very directly, and it's not a difference in beliefs that can be resolved easily, if at all.

    Maybe the definition of the best political/intellectual podcasts is that they leave you with questions you want to think about.


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  9. Doyle Moore

    Very well done.

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  10. Doyle Moore

    Very well done.

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