The entertainment industry is fascinated with end-of-the-world scenarios. Nothing sells overpriced popcorn and soda like superheroes and regular Joes facing down the apocalypse on the big screen. Advances in CGI technology now make it possible to depict scenes of epic destruction that were out of reach to earlier filmmakers.

Much of our fascination with the end of the world has been fueled—directly or indirectly—by imagery from the Bible’s closing text, the Book of Revelation. Scholars consider this writing to be the last added to the New Testament. It’s history has been so fraught with conflict and debate and that it was almost left out of the Bible altogether.

Written during a period of intense persecution against Jews and Christians by the Roman empire, the writer of the Book of Revelation adopted a fascinating strategy of resistance. Rather than risking direct reprisal by directly critiquing the Roman empire, the author opted for symbolism and imagery. This book teams with angels and demons, dragons and beasts, judgments and catastrophes.

Of course, this canvas of metaphor and imagery invites us to project our own concerns onto the book, leading to endless debates over conflicting interpretations. And perhaps, this is the real value of the book. While we are interpreting it’s strange passages, we are simultaneously interpreting our own outlook on faith. As we argue for particular interpretations, we are at the same time arguing for our way of seeing the world.

At Continuum Church, we have decided to wade into the debate. Not to produce an ironclad defense of our favored outlook. But to engage in the time honored process of interpretation. To work with each other to discover what is lurking in the recesses of our faith. To unearth our fears in the face of oppression and injustice.

And in the process, we might just discover that an entirely new world is possible. It might even be closer than we think.