Brexit, Babylon and Prophecy: Semiotics of the End Times

• Main Author: Steve Knowles
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2018-12-01
• Series: Religions
• Subjects: Brexit; prophecy; premillennialism; European Union; semiotics; Webb Keane
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1444/9/12/396

This article examines the predilection some Christian premillennialist preachers and teachers have with the semiotic association of geopolitics and biblical prophecy concerning the end times. This was epitomised in the run up to the United Kingdom&#8217;s referendum on continued membership of the European Union in June 2016. Since its inception, many premillennialists have interpreted the European Union as the place where the Antichrist emerges. Material objects associated with the European Union such as architecture, sculptures, currency and even posters, have been routinely highlighted as providing clear signs of the coming <i>eschaton</i>. Prophetic links between the European Union and satanic agencies, purported to be behind the ambition for an expanding European confederacy, ensured that many premillennialists voted to leave the European Union or were advised to do so in light of such prophetic signifiers. Utilising Webb Keane&#8217;s notion of representational economies, I argue that a premillennialist representational economy drives the search for signs in the everyday, and specifically those associated with the European Union. In this case, such semiotic promiscuity ratified the need to leave the European Union.