RELG 202: The End of the World as We Know It (HC) Fall 2017: Finding Books

"Apocalyptic visions and prophesies from Zarathustra to yesterday form the luxuriant panorama in Eugen Weber's profound and elegant book. Beginning with the ancients of the West and the Orient and, especially, with those from whom we received our religions, the Jews and earliest Christians, Weber finds that an absolute belief in the end of time, when good would do final battle with evil, was omnipresent. From this more than two millennia history, he redresses the historical and religious amnesia that has consigned the study of apocalypses and millennial thought to the ash heap of thought and belief."--BOOK JACKET.

Responds to the theory presented in the book listed above.

"The Unarius Academy of Science is one of the oldest UFO religions. Founded in 1954. The author pays particular attention to the ways Unarians adapt when their prophecies - and particularly their prediction that the Space Brothers would land in 2001 - do not materialize. For believers, she shows, prophecy seldom fails."

Presented here are case studies of contemporary millennial religions that either became violent, or had the potential for becoming violent. Wessinger provides the essential tools for understanding millennial beliefs and the complex internal mix that shapes a group s decision to embrace or reject violence.

"This volume focuses on theoretical approaches to the apocalyptic, past and present. Essays theorize the apocalyptic as it has arisen in a variety of religious traditions from Islam to Native American religion, drawing upon and engaging in a reflexive critique of theories from social psychology, sociology, and post-modern philosophy to do so."--BOOK JACKET.

Scholarly discussion of the use the rhetoric used by different advocates of apocalypse.

"Examining the doomsday scenarios and apocalyptic predictions of visionaries, televangelists, survivalists, and various other endtimes enthusiasts, as well as popular culture, film, music, fashion, and humor, Daniel Wojcik sheds new light on America's fascination with worldly destruction and transformation. Included in his sweeping examination are premillennial prophecy traditions, prophecies associated with visions of the Virgin Mary, secular ideas about nuclear apocalypse, the transformation of apocalyptic prophecy in the post-Cold War era, and emerging apocalyptic ideas associated with UFOs and extraterrestrials."

Classic study of what members of a group do when a key prophecy does not come about. Also see the scholarly reaction to this book.

Wessinger (history of religions, Loyola U.) presents 18 papers that explore three interrelated patterns of some millennial religious movements: violence by outsiders, the initiation of violence to preserve religious goals, and millennial ideologies that sanction violence.

Apocalyptic Anxiety traces the sources of American culture's obsession with predicting and preparing for the apocalypse. Author Anthony Aveni explores why Americans take millennial claims seriously, where and how end-of-the-world predictions emerge, how they develop within a broader historical framework, and what we can learn from doomsday predictions of the past. The book begins with the Millerites, the nineteenth-century religious sect of Pastor William Miller, who used biblical calculations to predict October 22, 1844 as the date for the Second Advent of Christ. Aveni also examines several other religious and philosophical movements that have centered on apocalyptic themes--Christian millennialism, the New Age movement and the Age of Aquarius, and various other nineteenth- and early twentieth-century religious sects, concluding with a focus on the Maya mystery of 2012 and the contemporary prophets who connected the end of the world as we know it with the overturning of the Maya calendar. Apocalyptic Anxiety places these seemingly never-ending stories of the world's end in the context of American history. This fascinating exploration of the deep historical and cultural roots of America's voracious appetite for apocalypse will appeal to students of American history and the histories of religion and science, as well as lay readers interested in American culture and doomsday prophecies.

The contemporary study of Jewish apocalypticism today recognizes the wealth and diversity of ancient traditions concerned with the "unveiling" of heavenly matters--understood to involve revealed wisdom, the revealed resolution of time, and revealed cosmology--in marked contrast to an earlier focus on eschatology as such. The shift in focus has had a more direct impact on the study of ancient "pseudepigraphic" literature, however, than in New Testament studies, where the narrower focus on eschatological expectation remains dominant. In this Companion, an international team of scholars draws out the implications of the newest scholarship for the variety of New Testament writings. Each entry presses the boundaries of current discussion regarding the nature of apocalypticism in application to a particular New Testament author. The cumulative effect is to reveal, as never before, early Christianity, its Christology, cosmology, and eschatology, as expressions of tendencies in Second Temple Judaism.

Essays on individual films or TV shows as well as a few essays on media and the apocalypse.

Volume 3 has chapters on various theories that try to explain religion and violence.

This history traces the development of apocalyptic literature from ancient Jewish and Christian works through the Middle Ages, and into the modern era, when social movements prophesy the world's destruction. Also available as an ebook.

Covers religions traditions and theories of religion and violence. Includes the essay "Apocalyptic Religion and Violence" by Professor Velji.

Recent (2011) collection. Essays cover various traditions and theoretical approaches.

"...an in-depth look at the subtle, pervasive ways in which prophecy belief shapes contemporary American thought and culture."

Published in 2011 it is one of the more current books. " There are essays on the "Big Five"--the most well-known cases of violent incidents involving NRMs: Jonestown, Waco, Solar Temple, the Aum Shunrikyo subway attack, and the Heaven's Gate suicides. But the book also provides a richer survey by examining a host of lesser-known groups. "