“apocalyptic man ablaze: the hope of burning man’s effigy revealed in the risen holy fool”

7/27/2019 “Apocalyptic Man Ablaze: The Hope of Burning Man’s Effigy Revealed in the Risen Holy Fool”

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“Apocalyptic Man Ablaze: The Hope of Burning Man’s Effigy Revealed

in the Risen Holy Fool”

By John W. Morehead

“His head and hair were white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes were likeblazing fire. His feet were like bronze glowing in a furnace. His face was like the sun

shining in all its brilliance…”

– St. John’s vision of the Son of Man in Revelation 1:14-15a

“That which we seek when wide-eyed we came

As virgins entranced towards this huge burning flameStill flickers with hope! Our embers ignite

Rekindled by joy each year we unite.”1

– Poem by “Burner” Constance Hull

Abstract: The alternative heterotopic community of Bur ning Man festival demonstrates elements of human experience that can be interpreted as signals of transcendence. I n a post-

modern context, holy f oolishness provides an appropriate motif for engaging thi s communi ty

regarding these expressions of the sacred. Jesus as Holy F ool embodies divine wisdom in the

context of f estivity, overcomes the abusive powers of author i ty, and unveil s himself as the

Apocalyptic M an Ablaze off eri ng us the gif t wholeness and reconnection wi th the divine.

1 http://www.burningman.com/blackrockcity_yearround/tales/constance2.html

http://www.burningman.com/blackrockcity_yearround/tales/constance2.html






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Introduction

I first heard of the Burning Man festival outside Reno in the Black Rock Desert of

Nevada through newspaper articles and the Internet2 about five years ago. I was

immediately intrigued, not only by the size of the crowds that attend each year (near

40,000 for the 2006 event), but also by the reputation the festival has received in press

accounts. It is not uncommon to find nudity, sexual experimentation, and drug use as

prevalent themes in treatments of Burning Man in the popular media. Unfortunately,

many evangelicals are either unaware of the festival’s existence, or they too share in the

popular media’s fixation on some of the festival’s more salacious elements, which

represents only a fraction of what takes place and which does not represent the essence of

the significance of the meanings that can be taken away from an analysis of this event.

After studying this festival for several years on popular and academic levels, I had

the opportunity to attend and participate for the first time in 2006. I found the festival as

challenging as it was intriguing, even after my preparations through previous study, and

my other missions research and activities among religious and spiritual subcultures that

tend to unsettle many conservative evangelicals. From blinding dust storms and extremes

in weather between day and night, to the social inversion and experimentation that

playfully mocked aspects of American culture, to the prevalent nudity, to the amazing art

expressed in numerous forms, to the incredibly festive nightlife, Burning Man challenges

the senses as well as traditional sensibilities.

Space limitations and the missional apologetic focus of this paper preclude

lengthy discussion of the meaning of the festival, but this background is important to an

understanding of the context in which the missional apologetic is placed. This paper will

2 The official Burning Man website can be found at www.burningman.com.

http://www.burningman.com/






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begin with a summary of the festival in order to understand this context, and will then

discuss the cultural context of engagement. I will then begin to sketch the contours of a

form of theological and apologetic engagement that draws upon sociology and

anthropology. I will look at the significance of festival and festivity, and finally, I will

provide an apologetic approach that draws upon the motif of the holy fool in post-

modernity, and how the story of Jesus as holy fool who brings divine wisdom might be

communicated through this motif.

Burning Man Interpretive Summary

How should Burning Man be interpreted? What is the meaning or meanings of the

Burning Man festival? As mentioned above this is an important starting point in a

discussion of missional apologetic engagement. The festival has been described by its

creators as “an annual art festival and temporary community based on radical self

expression and self-reliance,” but even with this self -definition its founders and

participants desire “to keep the event free from the prison of interpretation, explanation,

and the insidious net of Meaning” (Davis 2005, 15). Even so, it is possible to apply

various academic disciplines in order to arrive at an interdisciplinary perspective on the

event from an outsider’s (etic) perspective, but one that does so with an eye toward a

sympathetic insider’s (emic) concerns.

A review of sociological and anthropological concepts such as Hakim Bey’s

Temporary Autonomous Zone (Bey 1991), and Victor Turner’s notions of liminality and

liminoid experiences resulting in strong social bonds of communitas (Turner 1969), leads

to an interpretation of Burning Man as a place where ritual and festivity create a

community which functions as “a liminoid counterworld of permission, [and where]



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participants experiment with desired sources of authenticity as a means of (re)creating

their identities” (St. John 2000, 177; emphasis in original). This festive counter -world

experiment serves as “an alternative cultural heterotopic community, that is, an alternate

social gathering invested with multiple meanings” (Ibid., 229; emphasis in original).

Within this heterotopic community participants create and discover meaning and purpose

through ritual and art and thus achieve new understandings of self and community.3

S pace limitations preclude sufficient “unpacking” of the summary above, but the

interested reader may refer to the longer discussion available in my previous paper on this

topic.

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Cultural Context of Engagement

With a summary of the meaning of Burning Man in mind we turn our attention to

how this alternative community might best be missionally and apologetically engaged by

evangelicals. At the outset we must acknowledge that this community poses several

challenges to the evangelical subculture, and here two primary and related areas must be

taken into account.

First, in many ways Burning Man represents a counter-cultural reaction against

facets of modernity and Christendom. In my application above of St. John’s observations

related to the Australian ConFest community, Burning Man represents a counter -world

and counter -community that consciously creates an alternative in opposition to aspects of

modernity, including Christendom, which have been tried and found wanting.

3 Explorations of other academic interpretations of Burning Man may be found in Lee Gilmore, “Theater in

a Crowded Fire: Spirituality, Ritualization, and Cultural Performativity at the Burning Man Festival.” Ph.D.

diss., Graduate Theological Union, 2005; and Lee Gilmore & Mark Van Proyen (eds), AfterBurn:

Reflections on Burning Man (Albuquerque, NM: The University of New Mexico Press, 2005).4 John W. Mor ehead, “Burn, Baby, Burn, Christendom Inferno: Burning Man and the Festive Immolation

of Christendom Culture and Modernity,” unpublished paper for the Summer Missions Project at Salt Lake

Theological Seminary available electronically at

http://www.lop45.org/forum/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=32&PN=1 .

http://www.lop45.org/forum/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=32&PN=1





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(Regardless of whether Christianity has been properly understood this is the common

perception of many at Burning Man and our engagement with this alternative culture

must begin with the perceptions of our audience rather than the perceptions Christians

may hold by contrast.) Thus, any missional engagement with Burning Man must take this

counter-modernity and counter-Christendom ethos into account if it is to have any hopes

of communicating within this context.5

Second and related to the context of counter-modernity and counter-Christendom,

Burning Man expresses itself within a cultural context that exhibits a decidedly post-

modern and post-Christendom approach to spirituality. Christianity continues to play a

significant role in American culture, and may have been the dominant religion in

America and the Western world in the past, but in recent decades there has been a

“declining influence of religion – particularly Christianity” (Heelas & Woodhead 2005,

1). This has come about through a secularization of the West which in turn has led to a

spiritual re-enchantment6 process. This re-enchantment involves the preference for

spirituality rather than religion, and is characterized by an emphasis upon an

individualized, subjective, and eclectic spiritual quest. In this environment of the post-

modern spirituality seeker, Christianity is perceived negatively as a dogmatic institution

rather than a vibrant spirituality whose adherents have often failed to live up to the

moralizing they present to the culture. In reaction, many Burning Man participants have

either rejected Christianity outright, or consider it of no consequence as a viable option in

creating a spirituality suited for the challenges of the twenty-first century. This post-

5 John Drane discusses many of the implications of cultural change for the faith of Christians within post-

modernity in Faith in a Changing Culture: Creating Churches for the Next Century (London: Marshall

Pickering, 1997); and Cultural Change and Biblical Faith (Cumbria, UK: Paternoster Press, 2000).6 Christopher Partridge explores the ramifications of the re-enchantment thesis in The Re-Enchantment of

the West , vol. 1 (London & New York: T & T Clark International, 2004).



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Christendom context, with the increasing marginalization of the church, must be taken

into account given that a pre-Christian environment poses very different and less complex

communicational challenges than does a post-Christian environment.

Signals of Transcendence

Having considered the meaning of the Burning Man festival, and looked at its

cultural context, we now turn our attention to the development of an appropriate form of

theological and missiological engagement. This will involve several components. For the

first element in this process we turn to the noted sociologist Peter Berger for insights.

Peter Berger is University Professor of Sociology and Theology, and Director of

the Institute for the Study of Economic Culture at Boston University. Over the course of

his professional life he has authored numerous books that touch on society and religion.

Berger’s early works, such as The Sacred Canopy (1967), reflect the time in which he

became an academic “in a culture where the theory of secularization was widely

accepted” (Fitzgerald 2001, 11), and as such have often been referenced as arguments

against the validity of religious commitment. However, some of his later works

demonstrate a decidedly different perspective.

In A Rumor of Angels Berger explained that he wanted “to draw a very rough

sketch of an approach to theologizing that began with ordinary human experience, more

specifically with elements of that experience that point toward a reality beyond the

ordinary.” This involved an inductive approach, informed by anthropology as well as

sociology, and resulted in a “search for ‘signals of transcendence’ in order to

‘transcendentalize secularity’” (Ibid., 13). By these signals of transcendence Berger

meant “phenomena that are to be found within the domain of our ‘natural’ reality but that



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with various religious themes and symbolism leads to its being legitimately understood as

a spiritual festival in many ways. Thus Berger and Eliade’s observations regarding play

and its relationship to time have relevance. With the notion of sacred time related to ritual

and play in mind, play at Burning Man represents far more than the activities of adults

pursuing meaningless abandon in an escape from and rebellion against the profane world.

Rather, play at Burning Man can be understood as a context wherein participants enter

into a sacred time of expression that “appears as if one were stepping not only from one

chronology into another, but from time into eternity” (Berger 1969, 58). Thus, play at

Burning Man represents an important signal of transcendence.

A second example provided by Berger is the “argument from hope” (Ibid., 60)

presented in the specific context of hope in the face of death. But this is not the only

context in which hope is expressed by human beings, and Berger also links this to

“human creation, justice or compassion” with an example he calls “humanitas – the artist

who, against all odds and even in failing health, strives to finish his creative act” (Ibid.,

62).

The argument from hope and Berger’s example of artistry are applicable to

Burning Man as exemplified through the theme for 2006 of “Hope & Fear: The Future.”

This theme was explored in light of Burning Man’s perceptions of the various challenges

to the human race in the twenty-first century, and was connected to and expressed

through art, as exemplified in the design for the structure supporting the effigy of the

Man, the figure which serves as the symbolic center for the festival.7 If we apply Berger’s

argument from hope to Burning Man then the art, ritual, festivity, and other various

activities expressed in expectation of hope by its participants represent expressions that

7 “Hope & Fear: The Future,” Burning Man Journal (Summer 2006): 4.



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can only be justified in light of a transcendent realm that provides ultimate vindication for

hope in the face of post-modern nihilism. Thus, the argument from hope provides another

indicator of Burning Man’s signals of transcendence.

A third example provided by Berger is the “argument from humor ” (Ibid., 69). In

this argument,

[t]he comic reflects the imprisonment of the human spirit in the world….By

laughing at the imprisonment of the human spirit, humor implies that this

imprisonment is not final but will be overcome, and by this implication provides

yet another signal of transcendence” (Ibid., 70).

Humor represents a significant facet of the playfulness expressed at Burning Man, and

much of this takes place as participants draw upon the symbolism and ideas of

mainstream society and then mocks “the ‘serious’ business of this world and the mighty

who carry it out” (Ibid.) in a process of social inversion. Interestingly, the use of humor

as a means of social inversion in Burning Man parallels the mocking of civic and

ecclesiastical powers historically in festivals such as the medieval Feast of Fools.

Another area might be noted as a “signal of transcendence,” although it is not

found in Berger’s discussion of this topic, and that is the argument from nudity. R. C.

Sproul includes a chapter discussion on nudity in one of his books in which he discusses

it within the context of a psychology of atheism (Sproul 1978, 107-136). He quotes

Sartre with reference to a sense of “shame-consciousness,” which is often connected to

nudity, particularly shame of the self before the Other (Ibid. 109). He also mentions the

work of Kierkegaard with his discussion of the human desire for self-concealment. With

nudity, especially in the West, human beings seem to have the conflicting desire to both

experience nudity in the other, and sometimes the self, but also the corresponding to

conceal one’s own nudity, and sometimes to show it to others as well. Sproul mentions



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that with this “we find irony, paradox and ambivalence in Western man’s idea of

nakedness/clothedness and concealment/openness” (Ibid., 118).

As mentioned in the introduction to this essay, nudity is a prominent element of

Burning Man, and one most often touched on in the media and evangelical treatments of

the festival. At Burning Man we see the same paradox exhibited in that the majority of

participants are clothed, but there is also a significant expression of nudity. But while

Christians might typically consider nudity as a “signal of debauchery” rather than a signal

of transcendence, in general the prevalence of nudity at Burning Man does not fit this

understanding. In my experience at the festival very little of the nudity seemed to be

about sexuality per se, but rather it appeared to be explored in the sense of freedom from

routine cultural restrictions, identity (re)creation, and bodily experimentation, and

perhaps even attempts at reconnecting with the divine. St. John came to similar

conclusions with reference to nudity and carnality at the ConFest alternative community

festival in Australia (St. John 2000). If these observations are accurate, then the nudity at

Burning Man represents an indication that festival participants desire new senses of

identity and understandings of the body that reconnect them with the sacred. Space

limitations preclude any detailed discussion on this latter point but an apologia could be

constructed from the psychology of religion and grounded in an argument that ceremonial

and festive nudity can represent a primordial human urge to return to Eden and to be

transparent before God. It would be an application of Sproul's apologetic discussion on

nudity, shame and transparency. In light of these considerations nudity serves as yet

another signal of transcendence.

Holy Fools in Post-Modernity



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Having looked at various signals of transcendence within Burning Man that

demonstrate this community’s interest in significant issues of daily life that point toward

God, and which can serve as points of missiological and apologetic points of contact, we

now turn our attention to discussion of the second component of engagement, the form of

communication.

Communication must be adapted and contextualized appropriately for differing

audiences, and this is the case for good missional engagement8 as well as for good

communication in other contexts. Missional apologetic methods that were effective in the

context of modernity will not be effective in post-modernity. Related to this

consideration, Peter Phan discusses a means of communicating wisdom within post-

modernity and notes two forms of communication that he sees as inappropriate within

this cultural context. The first is mythos or “the form of dramatic narratives explaining

the origin and operation of the universe and place of human beings within it” (2001, 730).

This was appropriate for previous cultures in history but is now depreciated in the West.

The second form of communication he discusses is logos or a means of communication

which emphasizes the rational and the printed text. Phan sees both of these methods as

inappropriate in post-modernity as “the royal road to wisdom by means of mythos and

logos is barred, at least for those who have experienced the tragic consequences of the

modern myth of progress” (Ibid. 731). In their place, Phan suggests mōrosophia, or “what

has been called ‘holy folly’ or ‘crazy wisdom’ or ‘foolish wisdom’ as an alternative route

to rekindle the love of wisdom in the hearts of women and men and” (Ibid.).

8 David J. Hesselgrave & Edward Rommen, Contextualization: Meanings, Methods and Models (Pasadena,

CA: William Carey Library, 2000).



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The concept of foolish wisdom has a long historical pedigree in the Judeo-

Christian tradition. Stewart traces this back to the Hebrew prophets such as Jeremiah,

Hosea, Isaiah, and Ezekiel (1999, 51-53). She also makes a solid case that connects Jesus

and the New Testament to this tradition of divine folly, as does Phan, who notes that

“[t]he Cross of Christ as the paradigm of God’s folly – foolish wisdom and wise

foolishness – is elaborated at length by Paul in his First Letter to the Corinthians” (2001,

739).

Welborn also addresses Paul’s discussion in 1 Corinthians and explores it in depth

(2002). While Paul has traditionally been understood to reference the foolishness of the

cross in 1 Corinthians 1:18 in light of its alleged “absurdity to the people of the ancient

world,” Welborn provides a convincing case that Paul drew upon foolishness from the

imagery of Greco-Roman theater and the character of the mime or clown in order to

communicate his message. If Welborn’s analysis is correct, Paul “portrays himself as a

well known figure in the mime: the befuddled orator” (Ibid., 430). This rhetorical strategy

was “practiced by a number of intellectuals in the early Empire,” due to the attractiveness

of the fool in his freedom in “the utterance of a dangerous truth” (Ibid. 433-434).

Just as Paul was able to draw upon the fool as a strategic rhetorical means of

communicating a great paradox to his audience concerning God’s wisdom, Christians can

seize upon the notion of holy foolishness as a means of communicating divine wisdom to

post-moderns. M ōrosophia may serve as a sound “pedagogical device to lead others to

wisdom” (Phan 2001, 742) within Burning Man.

Jesus as Holy Fool



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With the pedagogical value of holy foolishness in mind, we return to

consideration of Jesus within this holy fool tradition. Stewart notes that Christians shy

away from such considerations perhaps because of possible fears of irreverence.

However, she argues that we miss an important aspect of Christology if we neglect it.

Stewart does not shy away from this topic, and her discussion of it at some length

provides us with interesting observations.

Stewart’s touches on a number of areas such as Jesus’ embarrassing rejection in

Nazareth as nothing more than “the carpenter’s son” (Matt. 13:54-56), his frequent

connection to “bad company,” and his extension of table fellowship to social outcasts that

served as “a parody of the eschatological banquet, a mockery of traditional expectations”

(Stewart 1999, 77). She also mentions Jesus’ flouting of conventional wisdom related to

the interpretation of the Law (Matt. 5:17-18), and the apparent foolishness of his other

teachings wherein “[l]ove of enemies and returning good for evil are Christian mandates,

and ‘neighbors’ must be redefined as extending to everyone, without exception” (Ibid.

99). Stewart discusses the price Jesus paid for this folly in terms of name calling

(madman, glutton, drunkard), his family’s estimation that he was mad (Mark 1:14-15), to

the claims of his opponents that he was a blasphemer and sinner, and the final price paid

in his passion where even in his final hours he was mocked by religious authorities as

well as the common people.

These examples should serve as reminders for evangelicals of the holy foolishness

embraced by Jesus, and yet few Christians explore this as a significant element of

Christology. Stewart provocatively suggests reasons why:

Following Jesus the Holy Fool is a radically different proposition, for example,than following ‘my buddy Jesus’ and practicing a Christianity which can only be



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described as self-indulgent. Precisely because contemporary Western Christianity

has become disconnected from the Holy Foolishness of Christ and from the

Dionysian elements of religion, the person of Jesus has been ‘tamed’ into amarketable construct far removed from the gospel of Jesus or from the living

Christ who can still be encountered in Third World nations….[Most Westerners]

cower in dread before the figure of a Dionysian Christ because he is too passionate, too alive, and too challenging to be attractive (Ibid., 176-177).

The presentation of the type of Jesus found commonly in evangelical churches

simply will not speak meaningfully to Burning Man participants. Only the robust Jesus as

Holy Fool, “Jesus the Jester or Jesus the Trickster” is appropriate as a Jesus “vested as ‘a

personification of festivity and fantasy’ in an age which has almost lost both” (Ibid.,

179). Mike Frost also speaks of Jesus as Jester and states that, “As the fool, Jesus was

able to transform the mindset of his culture, and thousands of cultures since, by using his

foolishness like a stalking horse. The prophet sneaks up on us” (1994, electronic copy of

forthcoming revised edition). The foolishness of Jesus that communicates divine wisdom

can also be drawn upon to “sneak up” on Burning Man participants.

Theology of Festivity

The final component to be considered in a missional apologetic before we

combine the elements and put forward the specific means of engagement is that of

festivity. Festival is the primary context of expression for the Burning Man community.

This presents serious challenges to Protestantism which lost its connection to festival.

While Roman Catholic and secular scholars have devoted serious attention to festivity,

this is not the case with Protestants. Festivity is not taken seriously either as a cultural

phenomenon or as a topic for scholarly exploration by most Protestants, and yet Catholic

scholars have argued “that festivals belong by rights among the greatest topics of

philosophical discussion” (Pieper 1999, back cover).



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One of the Protestants who has addressed festivals is Harvey Cox who argued that

human beings are “essentially festive and ritual creatures” (1969, 8; cf. Browning 1980).

As homo festivus and homo fantasia, human beings express festivity and fantasy through

festival as a form of “theatre of the body.” Cox argues that with the march of

secularization and the continued rejection of festivity “Christianity has often adjusted too

quickly to the categories of modernity” (Ibid. 15), and with this, important facets of what

it means to be human are neglected. As a result, Cox believes that there is a real need for

Christianity in the West to develop a theology of festivity.

In light of this festivity vacuum there is much to be learned theologically from

festivals as Max Harris suggests:

The popular elements in patronal saints’ day festivals, like Carnival, have often been demonized as pagan or heretical...Could it be that popular religious festivals

offer a source of theological wisdom, otherwise unarticulated and therefore

unnoticed by formal theology, that is worthy of a place alongside sacred text,reason, and ecclesiastical tradition? Such a perspective would partly balance the

standard sources of theology, which privilege clerical exegesis, educated reason,

and authoritative legitimation of tradition (2003, 28).

I share Harris’ assessment about the theological value of festivals in general, and the

same could be said of Burning Man in particular. In light of the intriguing idea that Harris

puts forward, and given the nature of Burning Man as a festive counter-community,

evangelicals must consider festivity as a major theological and missiological topic for

future exploration. It also represents a significant facet of the specific missional

apologetic at Burning Man and to this we now turn.

Apocalyptic Man Ablaze

Our missional apologetic approach draws upon the apocalyptic image of the Son

of Man described by John in Revelation 1:14-18:



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His head and hair were white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes were like

blazing fire. His feet were like bronze glowing in a furnace, and his voice was like

the sound of rushing waters. In his right hand he held seven stars, and out of hismouth came a sharp double-edged sword. His face was like the sun shining in all

its brilliance.

In his vision John poetically describes Christ in fiery imagery, with blazing eyes, glowing

feet, and a face shining like the sun. This imagery of the blazing apocalyptic

(“unveiling”) Son of Man revealing himself to John is contrasted with the literal effigy of

the Man set ablaze at the conclusions of the Burning Man festival. The burn represents

the highlight of the festival and it is rich with symbolism. While each individual is left to

themselves to apply their own meaning to the symbolism of the destruction of the Man,

many Burners attach great significance to him as a figure of hope that dies each year only

to rise and be reborn again in the following year. Our missional apologetic will seek to

communicate Jesus as the fulfillment of the hopes of the Burning Man community as

exemplified in their activities as signals of transcendence, and invested in the burn of the

Man, and in this way Jesus is understood as the Apocalyptic Man Ablaze, the true

Burning Man unveiled to John the Apostle.

This interpretation of the burning of the Man is shared in the context of festival

with its emphasis on social inversion. This can be connected directly to the Christian

narrative which has had a strong influence on festivals historically such as the Feast of

Fools and Carnival. Harris discusses this connection specifically in connection with the

former:

The Feast of Fools, with its explicit justification in the Magnificat, noisily

proclaimed the Christian basis for festive roles of reversal….’Christ’s utterancesabout children and the Kingdom of Heaven, Isaiah’s prophecy that a little child

shall lead them (Isaiah 11:6), and the theme of inversion and the world turned

upside-down found in texts like the ‘Magnificat’.. (Harris 2003, 141).



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Festivals thus have a historic connection to Christianity, one of the most obvious

being that of Carnival with its connection to Lent. Carnival is a Roman Catholic

celebration with the carnival season being a holiday period that is celebrated during the

two weeks before the traditional Christian fasting of Lent. Lent is a time of preparation

for Holy Week, and its forty days of observance are symbolic of forty day periods of

religious significance found in the Judeo-Christian narrative, most especially Jesus’

retreat into the wilderness for a time of fasting and temptation.

Aspects of the celebration of Carnival during the Renaissance are particularly

important to our apologetic as we seek to make a connection to Burning Man. During this

period the carnival involved a procession or parade which then culminated in the spiritual

re-enactment of Lent. This procession involved a number of characters who enacted a

drama. These characters came to be represented in tarot cards9 such as the Italian

Visconti-Sforza tarot or “tarocchi dating to the middle of the fifteenth century” which

incorporated the artistic imagery of Bonifacio Bembo (Moakley 1966, 19). Two of the

more interesting symbolic figures of the procession and the tarot are the Fool and the

Carnival King. Moakley says that, “The Fool is to be dressed very gaily in red and yellow

adorned with bells, and is to be shown riding on an ass. Here is the first evidence of the

tendency of the Fool to usurp the place of the first..” (Ibid., 49). In addition to the Fool

we must consider the Carnival King. In the Carnival procession “he is the principal

victim of the triumph of Death, and he rises hopefully from the grave in the triumph of

Eternity” (Ibid. 55). Although the medieval Carnival prohibited an actual death the

9 Although the tarot later came to be associated with divination it originally began as a game variously

known as Triumphs. Only later was the tarot used for various esoteric purposes. See John Drane, Ross

Clifford & Philip Johnson, Beyond Prediction: The Tarot and Your Spirituality (Oxford: Lion Publishing,

2001).



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execution of the Carnival King was an “execution in effigy” which involved “the

cremation of King Carnival” (Ibid., 58).

The similarities of the Fool and the Carnival King to the Christian narrative

should be evident to evangelicals, with the Fool riding on an ass (evoking images of

Jesus’ Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem), and the execution of the Carnival King (evoking

Jesus’ death). In addition, the effigy cremation of the Carnival King finds a parallel in the

effigy of the Man set ablaze at the conclusion of Burning Man. Beyond these interesting

points of contact, we can draw upon the medieval carnival and its tarot imagery in the

construction of a contextualized apologetic.

The tarot cards involve “symbolic depictions of life and its meaning in many

ancient cultural contexts” (Drane, Clifford & Johnson 2001, 26). The imagery of the

cards tap into universal archetypes and a symbolic world, and as such they can be used to

communicate “a universal human story” (Ibid. 25). This symbolic imagery not only

touches on the mundane of life but also portrays the spiritual journey. This leads to the

premiere figure in the deck, the character of The Fool. The Fool is the Jester, a comedic

and carnival figure. Yet the Fool also embraces the wisdom of God through his

foolishness. Consider the symbolism of the Fool in the Rider Waite tarot deck:

This is the most powerful card in the entire deck. The Fool strolls towards a

precipice unconcerned. The world is alive with his presence and he carries the

most powerful spiritual symbols of all.

The bright sunshine accompanies the fool because his presence dispels all

darkness. He walks among the mountain tops – the abode of the creator. Across

his shoulder he carries the shepherd’s staff, which is also found in the Hermit

card, and at the end of the staff is a bag containing a free gift for those who meethim. In his other hand the Fool holds the white rose, which only appears on the

Death card. At his feet there is a white dog following him, different from the evil

dog on the Moon card and is a symbol for those who follow their master.



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The Fool, who is young in years, is the true spiritual guide. He holds the

shepherds crook, because it is he who brings spiritual direction. The good

shepherd knows his sheep by name and they know his voice. Following theshepherd brings eternal life as he holds the white rose taken from the Grim

Reaper. The shepherd as our guide is a free gift. (Ibid., 93)

Through the use of tarot imagery and symbolism we can “connect the dots” and

bring together the various elements we have discussed previously including the history

and symbolism of Carnival and Lent, the biblical story, and Burning Man into a narrative

form of a missional apologetic relevant to Burning Man. This approach must be

communicated by evangelicals within the context of identification with and empathy for

Burning Man participants, and include the facets of community, participation, and

missional incarnation in this subculture.



20

Life is a journey, and we come to the desert of Burning Man as a part of that

journey. We engage in various activities such as play, humor, and hope that express our

deepest desires for a sense of Spirit in and beyond our lives and the creation. The context

of Burning Man is creativity and festivity, yet the desert environment also involves

isolation and a time of personal testing. This contrast of festivity and self-denial that we

experience at Burning Man is common to other peoples, cultures, and times, and such as

the medieval celebration of Carnival and Lent. Just as Carnival would often end in the

cremated effigy of the executed Carnival King, the Burning Man festival culminates in

the symbolic burning of the Man. But something is different in the Man in that in him we

as Burning Man participants invest our hopes and dreams in anticipation of his rising

again the next year. By way of personal interpretation and application of this carnival and

festival symbolism past and present, the celebration of the carnival of life introduces us to

themes of enjoyment and festivity but also sets the stage for our individual spiritual

journeys and times of testing.

With this understanding we turn to the spiritual tool of the tarot as a means of

understanding ourselves and our journey in this festive place. In the tarot the carnival of

life is symbolically represented particularly in the character of the Fool. He moves

through life engaging in festivity and is ignored by the world that dismisses him as a

worthless jester. However, through his jesting the Fool engages in holy foolishness and

through his divine wisdom subverts the wisdom of the powers which damage our

connections to nature, to self, to community, and to the divine. The work of the Fool

climaxes in his death. Seemingly defeated, he mocks the powers by rising from the dead,

forever alive. He is symbolically present not only in the tarot, but also in the effigy of the



21

Burning Man. Thus, the Fool unveils himself (apocalyptic) as the true Burning Man,

rising and shining with fiery brilliance.

Conclusion

The Apocalyptic Man Ablaze can be shared in a variety of ways, both through

interactive dialogue involving the tarot cards, as well as through performance art that

involves actors, dancers, and jesters acting out the characters and symbolism of the tarot

and its connection to carnival, festival, and Burning Man. Through these means of

missional apologetic engagement we can extend an invitation to Burning Man

participants:

The Fool has always been with us, calling us from death to new life, empowering

us on the roller coaster of life. He is our universal hero, ‘the wind beneath our

wings’. He invites us to be his dancing partner. As we begin to move our feet inthe divine dance, the choreography progressively leads us to abandon all the

negative energies properly depicted in the Tarot cards. As we are swept into the

Fool’s positive embrace, we intuitively know who we want to explore life with.The Tarot beyond prediction is a call to broaden our horizons beyond our

consciousness and to reconnect our souls with the divine source of all life. Let’s

dance. (Ibid., 133)



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BIBLIOGRAPHY/WORKS CITED

Berger, Peter. 1969. A Rumor of Angels: Modern Society and the Rediscovery of the

Supernatural . Garden City: Anchor/Doubleday.

Browning, Robert L. 1980. “Festivity – From a Protestant Perspective,” Religious Education 75/3 (May-June): 273-281.

Chad, Martin. 1999. “Carnival: A Theology of Laughter and a Ritual for Social Change,”

Worship 73/1 (January): 45-53.

Cox, Harvey. 1969. The Feast of Fools: A Theological Essay on Feasting and Festivity.

New York: Harper & Row Publishers.

Drane, John, Ross Clifford & Philip Johnson. 2001. Beyond Prediction: The Tarot and

Your Spirituality. Oxford: Lion Publishing.

Eliade, Mircea. 1954. The Myth of the Eternal Return, or, Cosmos and History.

Princeton: Princeton University Press.

The Sacred and the Profane: The Nature of Religion (New York: HarcourtBrace & World, Inc.

Falassi, Alessandro (ed). 1967. Time Out of Time: Essays on the Festival . University of New Mexico Press.

Fitzgerald, Paul J. 2001. “Faithful Sociology: Peter Berger’s Religious Project,”

Religious Studies Review 27/1 (January): 10-17.

Frost, Michael. 1994. Jesus the Fool: The Mission of the Unconventional Christ .

Albatross Books. Prepublication manuscript of forthcoming expanded and updatededition.

Gilhus, Ingvild Saelid. 1990. “Carnival in Religion: The Feast of Fools in France,” Numen 37 (June): 24-52.

Harris, Max. 2003. Carnival and Other Christian Festivals: Folk Theology and Folk

Performance. University of Texas Press, Austin.

Heelas, Paul & Linda Woodhead. 2005. The Spiritual Revolution: Why Religion is Giving

Way to Spirituality. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing.

Hutton, Ronald. 1996. The Stations of the Sun: A History of the Ritual Year in Britain.

Oxford: Oxford University Press.



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Moakley, Gertrude. 1966. The Tarot Cards Painted by Bonifacio Bembo For the

Visconti-Sforza Family. New York: New York Public Library.

Phan, Peter C. 2001. “The Wisdom of Holy Fools in Postmodernity,” Theological Studies

62: 730-752.

Pieper, Josef. 1999. In Tune with the World: A Theory of Festivity. South Bend: St.Augustine’s Press.

St. John, Graham. 2000. “Alternative Cultural Heterotopia: ConFest as Australia’sMarginal Centre.” Ph.D. diss., La Trobe University, electronic version at

www.confest.org/thesis/; accessed 14 September 2006.

Santino, Jack (ed). 1994. Halloween and Festivals of Death and Life. Knoxville:University of Tennessee Press.

Sproul, R. C. 1978. If There Is a God, Why Are There Atheists? Minneapolis, MN:Bethany Fellowship.

Starkloff, Carl F. 1997 “Church Structure and Communitas: Victor Turner and

Ecclesiology,” Theological Studies 58: 643-668.

Stewart, Elizabeth-Anne. 1999. Jesus the Holy Fool . Franklin, Wisconsin: Sheed &

Ward.

Tongeren, Louis Van, Paulus G. J. Post, G.A. Rouwhorst & A. Sheer (eds). 2001.

Christian Feast and Festival: The Dynamics of Western Liturgy and Culture. Leuven:

Peeters.

Turner, Victor. 1969. The Ritual Process: Structure and Anti-Structure. Chicago, IL: Aldine.

Dramas, Fields, and Metaphors: Symbolic Action in Human Society. Ithaca,

NY: Cornell University Press.

───. (ed). 1982. Celebration: Studies in Festivity and Ritual . Washington, D.C.:Smithsonian Institution Press.

From Ritual to Theater: The Human Seriousness of Play. New York, NY:

PAJ Publications.

The Anthropology of Performance. New York: PAJ Publications.

Welborn, Laurence L. 2002. “Paul’s Appropriation of the Role of the Fool in 1

Corinthians 1-4,” Biblical Interpretation 10/4: 420-435.

http://www.confest.org/thesis/





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Photo credits:

Burning Man image on page 1, reproduced by permission. Copyright 2006 by Rick Egan,http://www.moonski.net/burningman/, and Burning Man LLC.

The Fool Illustration on page 19 from the Rider-Waite Tarot Deck, known also as theRider Tarot and the Waite Tarot, reproduced by permission of U.S. Games Systems, Inc.,Stamford, CT 06902 USA. Copyright 1971 by U.S. Games Systems, Inc. Further

reproduction prohibited. The Rider-Waite Tarot Deck is a registered trademark of U.S.

Games Systems, Inc.

http://www.moonski.net/burningman/





Revisions:

Feedback from Ken for revisions.

On page 12 he suggests I need to develop the discussion of Paul’s rhetorical strategy of

the holy fool more fully, at least in footnotes.

On page 14 with the mention of the Jesus in evangelical churches not speaking

meaningfully to Burning Man as contrasted with Jesus the Jester, need to strengthen and

expand.

On page 17 with distinction between Carnival and Lent, Ken suggests this is academic

view. Modify this discussion in light of Chad Martin’s article.

Philip’s suggestion: connect the dots on Paul’s discussion of Jesus as embodiment of

wisdom, and connect this to postmodern concerns for such a concept.

“apocalyptic man ablaze: the hope of burning man’s effigy revealed in the risen holy fool”

Documents