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When the band Have A Nice Life contacted me about writing an introduction to Antiochean history for their listeners, I was initially skeptical. Antiocheanism is infamous among Historians - every text is incomplete, historical data sketchy at best, confirmation from secondary sources practically nonexistent. There are still people who claim that Antiochus never existed at all, and even amongst religious scholars Antiocheanism is more likely to recieve quizzical looks than nods of recognition. I've dedicated much of my life to the study of these strange fragments, these often beautiful and moving and disturbing scraps of history, but the idea of trying to distill it all into something for the average music listener just seemed, well, impossible.
As time passed, however, and Dan, Tim and I spoke further, I became more and more excited about the project. Any attempt to grab hold of the historical Antiochus and his teachings is bound to be a frustrating one - the sheer impenetrability of what documents exist guarantees this. But perhaps undertaking such a project with the objective of capturing, not exact historical accuracy, but the feel of the man and his beliefs, would allow me to bring this fascinating subject further into the public eye. Both Dan and Tim assured me that they didn't feel their music was going to meet with much success ("We're playing songs in a dead genre about believers in a dead religion," Tim remarked, "Who's going to want to listen to that?"), but, regardless of the outcome, I think the effort itself is worthwhile.
If it were you that had disappeared, unknown, into history, you would want someone to try and remember you. You would want someone to try and understand.
So that's what I'll do.
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Professor of Religious History, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, 2007