rapture

Daniel Hummel shows how deeply dispensation­alism has shaped American religion.

In theaters now, Nicholas Cage is taking us to the beginning of the end of time. A time when passengers vanish mid-flight, cars lose their drivers, and those who aren’t raptured face a violent world and a monumental choice: follow the Antichrist toward destruction or follow the righteous and be saved from the world. It’s the end of the world as we know it, and no one’s feeling fine.

Years ago, when the Left Behind series topped the bestseller lists, a friend and colleague of mine was on fire over the books.

The focused uncertainty of The Leftovers is a parable for our own more diffuse reality. This could make it a deeply theological show.

My friend believes that death is not the final story. Is she right?