Description
The year 2000 has created an intense expectation in American history. Since Jonestown and, even more so Waco, millennialist religious groups have been recognized as a major challenge to social control and law enforcement.
In this book, a cross-cultural volume, Catherine Wessinger reveals three patterns within millennial groups that are not mutually exclusive: assaulted millennial groups that are attacked by outsiders who fear and misunderstand the religion, fragile millennial groups that initiate violence to preserve the religious goal, and revolutionary millennial groups possessing an ideology that sanctions violence.
These essays bring academic expertise to bear on the operation of social order and in aiding law enforcement agencies. The book sets an agenda for academics and policy makers alike.
Table of Contents
"Dynamics of Millennial Beliefs, Persecution, and Violence," Catherine Wessinger
"Millennialism, Persecution, and Violence: The Mormons," Grant Underwood
"From Vision to Violence: The Wounded Knee Massacre," Michelene E. Pesantubbee
"David Koresh on Violence, Persecution, and the Millennium," Eugene V. Gallagher
"Shooting Dreads on Sight," Richard C. Salter
"Peoples Temple and Violence in America," Rebecca Moore
"The Magic of Death: The Suicides of the Solar Temple," Massimo Introvigne
"Aum Shinrikyo, Millennialism, and the Legitimation of Violence," Ian Reader
"Millenarian Tragedies in South Africa," Christine Steyn
"Mass Suicides among the Old Believers in Late 17th-Century Russia," Thomas Robbins
"The Taiping Revolution and Mao's Great Leap Forward," Scott Lowe
"Nazism as a Millennialist Movement," Robert Ellwood
"Japanese Lotus Millennialism," Jacqueline Stone
"Time, Authority, and Ethics in the Khmer Rouge," Richard C. Salter
"The ZOG Discourse in the American National Socialist Subculture," Jeffrey Kaplan
"The Justus Freemen Standoff," Jean E. Rosenfeld
"A Presentation to the Los Angeles Police Department," Jean E. Rosenfeld
"Millennial Violence in Contemporary America," Michael Barkun
About the Author
Catherine Wessinger is professor of the history of religions and chair of the Religious Studies Department at Loyola University, New Orleans. She is author of Annie Besant and Progressive Messianism and How the Millennium Comes Violently: From Jonestown to Heaven's Gate.
January 2000