Review by erinthemoon -- Roadmap to the End of Days

[erinthemoon]

[Following is a volunteer review of "Roadmap to the End of Days" by Daniel Friedmann.]

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2 out of 4 stars

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Roadmap to the End of Days by Daniel Friedmann is the third installment in the Inspired Studies series, a trilogy of books regarding the Book of Genesis and how it pertains to the birth of the Universe and early human history. This book asserts that the application of the Bible and other Abrahamic texts as historical documents illustrate patterns throughout human history which the author then projects into the future in order to predict the End Times.

While the book is competently written and lacks any distracting typos, it has all the charm of a scientific research paper with none of the intellectual rigor. The author is clearly an intelligent writer, but he struggles to both assert and defend his own arguments, frequently making claims (“...there is a Divine Plan dictating a definite time for every particular event”) then promptly undercutting his own claim by backpedaling (“However, humans have free will, so we control the exact timing of when events actually occur. Thus, events will happen around but not exactly at their default time”) which fails to convince.

Large sections of Bible citations and theological rhetoric are broken up with novel but poorly executed and clumsy metaphors and similes, which serve to confuse rather than clarify arguments for the reader. For example, human history is likened to a glass maze where the maze’s exit is the End of Days. Why? Because sometimes it appeared that the End Times were upon us, “seemingly just one glass pane away from the exit of the maze” but it was revealed that “there was still some time remaining”.

Despite my criticisms, Roadmap to the End of Days would probably best serve as introductory material for those interested in learning about the Old Testament and Jewish mysticism. Prior to reading this book, I had little knowledge of Jewish mysticism and no knowledge of what Christianity and Judaism believe will happen during the Messianic Era after the End of Days. The glossary and appendices are informative and well-researched, it’s just a shame that they are so informative at the service of a series of weak arguments.

I rate this book 2 out of 4 stars. It does not warrant a lower rating because it’s competently written and assembled, but it does not warrant a higher rating because, while it’s only 175 pages, it’s an utter slog to read and totally unconvincing. Roadmap to the End of Days will probably be remembered as nothing more than another unhinged apocalyptic prediction that will fail to reach fruition.

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Roadmap to the End of Days
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