Mayans, Dead Sea Scrolls, and Google

So it's Saturday, Dec. 22nd. The World is still here (assuming the world didn't actually end, and then was replaced with a replica by the white mice but that's another story.)

There is something about apocalyptic prophecies that fascinate the Western consciousness.  The most recent of course are Harold Camping's end of the world on May 21, 2012 (later amended to October 21st, 2012), and now the Mayan Calendar end on December 21st, 2012.  I would have thought after May 21st online interest would wane but December 21st generated an even higher number of Google searches.

When you start looking at the Canadian search data you note that we paid little attention to the May 21st prophecies unlike our American neighbours, but we were very interested in Googling December 21st. Alberta and New Brunswick folks were searching "The End of the World", Saskatchewan and PEI focused on "Mayan Calendar", and La Belle Province was looking up "Fin du Monde."

This week I also noted Google's new project to digitize the Dead Sea Scrolls at the Israel Museum. This will open up the study of the original texts to a new generation of Bible and Religion scholars.  Yes, we have had transcriptions and translations, but as my Old Testament Professor Gus used to say "Do you understand what the text actually looks like?  Do you see the shape of the manuscript?"  You can see hesitations in the script, erased characters, and even modified texts, that aren't apparent in transcription.  My imagination conjures up images of the ancient scribe as he painstakingly and reverently copied his scroll.  Hopefully, this digital archive will spark new avenues of research.  One popular text is The War Scroll (1QM), popularly known as "The War of the Sons of Light Against the Sons of Darkness."  The scroll builds on Biblical traditions of the End of Days from the Old Testament books of Daniel and Ezekiel.  I don't doubt that this digital publication will also spark a new wave of interest in this text by amateur Biblical scholars and prophets; new fuel for the apocalyptically inclined.

The Internet is a powerful place to share belief, to engage with the faithful, and to ask difficult questions.   Speculation also runs wild here, tapping into our deepest fears.  We want to know what will happen next because we live in uncertain times.  I admit to uncertainties about my own future direction as I weigh life's decisions.  But on the big question "will the world be here tomorrow" that I can at least let go and not concern myself.  My faith puts me at ease that I do know, as the old hymn says, Who holds the future.  But I am fascinated with our quests online; we are hungry to know the unknowable.  Mostly we are going off on our own little pilgrimages, but occasionally our journeys overlap in a big way, as this week when we collectively tried to pull aside the curtain, and take a peek at tomorrow.  What will be the next nexus of faith online?

Photo credit: "Don't Panic", Patrick Hoesly, http://www.flickr.com/photos/zooboing/4637192255/

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