The Left Behind series is not significant for its literary merits, which are few, but because it is the latest example of “end-time” eschatology, the belief that we are living out the final pages of history.

It may seem like trivial pulp to sophisticated readers, but the sheer enormity of its sales and influence demands serious attention from scholars, attention that has not been forthcoming. …It appeared in America in its present form over a century ago under the aegis of fundamentalist “Bible prophecy” conferences and spawned a plethora of colorful charts depicting God’s “Plan for the Ages.”

…For those who cling to a belief in this divine blueprint, its spiritual fruit is a sense of comfort and even a kind of smug fatalism. It is also a breathtaking trivialization of Jesus’ vision of the reign of God.

from When Jesus Came to Harvard