Output details

Revelation: The Final Judgement 1 x 60 mins (Channel 4, March 2010)

This documentary is a visual exploration of the theology of the Book of Revelation, written and presented by Dr Beckford as part of a Channel 4 series on the interpretation of the Bible (The Bible: A History, Channel 4, 2010). The documentary aesthetic juxtaposes Caribbean and North American evangelical conservative interpretations of the Book of Revelation with interpretations from 17th Century English Christian radicalism and late twentieth century North American Black Liberation Theology. The synthesis of this engagement is a new contextual and constructive neo-apocalyptic reading of the book. The new reading is situated within the post-war African Caribbean diaspora political struggle against structural inequality and proposes a new political practice and orientation for African-Caribbean churches.

The documentary identifies traditional and radical interpretations of the Book of Revelation and the concrete social and political outcomes of these perspectives. As a non-fiction film, it utilises and combines aspects of the expository, observational and participatory documentary film modes or techniques. These documentary modes facilitate ethnographic (interviews, participant observation), auto/ethnographic (evocative and analytic disclosures) research methods and also diachronic and synchronic analysis of textual and historical sources. As both record and signifying practice, this documentary narrative aesthetic is also ‘double-voiced.’ On a poetic or subliminal level the narrative is a critique of colonial Christianity and the apoliticsim of black Pentecostal churches in Britain.

Key questions:

1. Why is the Book of Revelation deemed controversial in late modern Western Christian culture(s)?

2. How have conservatives and radicals interpreted the book, particularly the themes of empire, the beast and heaven?

3. What are some of the socio-political outcomes of particular radical reading strategies?

The programme was broadcast on BBC2 in March 2010 (initial audience 1 million viewers) and subsequently made available on Channel 4 On Demand.