Diana G. Tumminia
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- July 2005
- ISBN:
- 9780195176759
- eISBN:
- 9780199835720
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195176758.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
This ethnography details the UFO religion, Unarius Academy of Science, and their belief system, which includes visions, channeling, dreams, myths, healing, past-life therapy, and recovered memories. ...
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This ethnography details the UFO religion, Unarius Academy of Science, and their belief system, which includes visions, channeling, dreams, myths, healing, past-life therapy, and recovered memories. From the theoretical perspective of the social construction of reality, it analyzes the way members create their own social world of contact with extraterrestrials. Based on lengthy field research, the everyday life and history of one of America’s oldest contactee groups is described. The text explicates the lives of the founders, Ernest and Ruth Norman, who claimed to be Space Brothers from higher realms of knowledge that offer a celestial science to Earth. Max Weber’s theory of charisma is used to analyze Ruth Norman, who led the group as Uriel the Archangel, Goddess of Love. Since Unarius had a failed millennial prophecy of spaceships landing in 2001, the author compares them to the group Leon Festinger studied in the 1950s. In looking at the interpretive methods Unarius used to explain success rather than failure, the text discusses the reasons why prophecies rarely fail in the eyes of believers.Less
This ethnography details the UFO religion, Unarius Academy of Science, and their belief system, which includes visions, channeling, dreams, myths, healing, past-life therapy, and recovered memories. From the theoretical perspective of the social construction of reality, it analyzes the way members create their own social world of contact with extraterrestrials. Based on lengthy field research, the everyday life and history of one of America’s oldest contactee groups is described. The text explicates the lives of the founders, Ernest and Ruth Norman, who claimed to be Space Brothers from higher realms of knowledge that offer a celestial science to Earth. Max Weber’s theory of charisma is used to analyze Ruth Norman, who led the group as Uriel the Archangel, Goddess of Love. Since Unarius had a failed millennial prophecy of spaceships landing in 2001, the author compares them to the group Leon Festinger studied in the 1950s. In looking at the interpretive methods Unarius used to explain success rather than failure, the text discusses the reasons why prophecies rarely fail in the eyes of believers.
Francesca Aran Murphy
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780199219285
- eISBN:
- 9780191711664
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199219285.003.0007
- Subject:
- Religion, Theology
Because of their descriptive cast, narrative theologies are oriented to considering the future as the most significant tense; they thus recoup the ancient Christian millennarian tradition, as it ...
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Because of their descriptive cast, narrative theologies are oriented to considering the future as the most significant tense; they thus recoup the ancient Christian millennarian tradition, as it surfaces in, for instance, Joachim of Fiore. This focus on futurity indicates that the basic motivation in narrative theologies is the quest for scientific predictability. A philosophical theology which gives metaphysical status to the way in which scientific hypotheses are epistemically verified (in the future) is bound to say, with Hegel, that the truth of a proposition is what it becomes, just as the ‘truth’ of a story is its outcome. Rather than making God the epistemic outcome of human acts of knowledge or story-telling, this chapter proposes that God is a much livelier and energetic thing, love. The two foremost analogies of this dramatic love are tragedy and comedy. The book's thesis thus achieves the aim of narrative theologies to be true to the ‘God of the Gospel’ rather than the gods of our culture.Less
Because of their descriptive cast, narrative theologies are oriented to considering the future as the most significant tense; they thus recoup the ancient Christian millennarian tradition, as it surfaces in, for instance, Joachim of Fiore. This focus on futurity indicates that the basic motivation in narrative theologies is the quest for scientific predictability. A philosophical theology which gives metaphysical status to the way in which scientific hypotheses are epistemically verified (in the future) is bound to say, with Hegel, that the truth of a proposition is what it becomes, just as the ‘truth’ of a story is its outcome. Rather than making God the epistemic outcome of human acts of knowledge or story-telling, this chapter proposes that God is a much livelier and energetic thing, love. The two foremost analogies of this dramatic love are tragedy and comedy. The book's thesis thus achieves the aim of narrative theologies to be true to the ‘God of the Gospel’ rather than the gods of our culture.
Stephen Spector
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- January 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780195368024
- eISBN:
- 9780199867646
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195368024.003.0006
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society, Judaism
This chapter addresses criticisms of Christian Zionism. There are four principal charges: First, that evangelical Christians support aliyah (Jewish emigration to Israel) mainly because it speeds the ...
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This chapter addresses criticisms of Christian Zionism. There are four principal charges: First, that evangelical Christians support aliyah (Jewish emigration to Israel) mainly because it speeds the battle of Armageddon, the mass conversion or death of the Jews, and Christ’s Millennial kingdom. Second, that evangelicals’ true motive is to convert the Jews. Third, that Christian Zionist theology distorts Christianity: that it misunderstands biblical covenants and ignores the scriptural emphasis on doing justice, relieving suffering, and showing compassion to the oppressed, who, in this view, are the Palestinians. The fourth major criticism is that the evangelical Zionists’ biblical worldview allies them with extreme right-wing Israeli politicians in opposing any exchange of land for peace. The chapter discusses efforts to evangelize Jews, and notes the beliefs of Messianic Jews. It examines the claim by some evangelicals that Christians are the heirs to God’s promises to Israel; that the covenantal promises to the Jews are conditional; and that modern Israel is not the fulfillment of prophecy. The chapter notes the role of the Sabeel Ecumenical Liberation Theology Center in opposing Christian Zionism and Israeli policies. It also considers the limits on empathy toward the other in this conflict.Less
This chapter addresses criticisms of Christian Zionism. There are four principal charges: First, that evangelical Christians support aliyah (Jewish emigration to Israel) mainly because it speeds the battle of Armageddon, the mass conversion or death of the Jews, and Christ’s Millennial kingdom. Second, that evangelicals’ true motive is to convert the Jews. Third, that Christian Zionist theology distorts Christianity: that it misunderstands biblical covenants and ignores the scriptural emphasis on doing justice, relieving suffering, and showing compassion to the oppressed, who, in this view, are the Palestinians. The fourth major criticism is that the evangelical Zionists’ biblical worldview allies them with extreme right-wing Israeli politicians in opposing any exchange of land for peace. The chapter discusses efforts to evangelize Jews, and notes the beliefs of Messianic Jews. It examines the claim by some evangelicals that Christians are the heirs to God’s promises to Israel; that the covenantal promises to the Jews are conditional; and that modern Israel is not the fulfillment of prophecy. The chapter notes the role of the Sabeel Ecumenical Liberation Theology Center in opposing Christian Zionism and Israeli policies. It also considers the limits on empathy toward the other in this conflict.
Larry A. Braskamp
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- May 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780195323443
- eISBN:
- 9780199869145
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195323443.003.0010
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
After surveying the literature related to college students' religious expectations and experiences, Braskamp concludes that a majority of students want to explore questions of faith and meaning. His ...
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After surveying the literature related to college students' religious expectations and experiences, Braskamp concludes that a majority of students want to explore questions of faith and meaning. His portrait of college spirituality is complex, including the acknowledgement that three different subgroups (described as millennials, postmoderns, and the missionary generation) exist side by side on campus. Braskamp argues that a full picture of religion on campus has to include attention to the culture and community of the institution as well as to the curriculum and co‐curriculum.Less
After surveying the literature related to college students' religious expectations and experiences, Braskamp concludes that a majority of students want to explore questions of faith and meaning. His portrait of college spirituality is complex, including the acknowledgement that three different subgroups (described as millennials, postmoderns, and the missionary generation) exist side by side on campus. Braskamp argues that a full picture of religion on campus has to include attention to the culture and community of the institution as well as to the curriculum and co‐curriculum.
Richard T. Hughes
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- May 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780252042065
- eISBN:
- 9780252050800
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of Illinois Press
- DOI:
- 10.5622/illinois/9780252042065.001.0001
- Subject:
- Sociology, Race and Ethnicity
The first edition of Myths America Lives By explores five Great American Myths—the Chosen Nation, Nature’s Nation, the Christian Nation, the Millennial Nation, and the Innocent Nation. This revised ...
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The first edition of Myths America Lives By explores five Great American Myths—the Chosen Nation, Nature’s Nation, the Christian Nation, the Millennial Nation, and the Innocent Nation. This revised edition introduces a sixth myth—the myth of White Supremacy—and argues, first, that the myth of white supremacy is the primal American myth that informs all the others and, second, that one of the chief functions of the other five myths is to protect and obscure the myth of white supremacy, to hide it from our awareness, and to assure us that we remain innocent after all. With one chapter devoted to each of the myths, the book relies especially on the voices of black Americans to help readers understand the pervasive power of white supremacy in American life and culture and how white supremacy translates into systemic racism, on the one hand, and white privilege, on the other. The book also explores how manifest destiny, the American dream, and capitalism have depended on the Great American Myths for their viability in American culture.Less
The first edition of Myths America Lives By explores five Great American Myths—the Chosen Nation, Nature’s Nation, the Christian Nation, the Millennial Nation, and the Innocent Nation. This revised edition introduces a sixth myth—the myth of White Supremacy—and argues, first, that the myth of white supremacy is the primal American myth that informs all the others and, second, that one of the chief functions of the other five myths is to protect and obscure the myth of white supremacy, to hide it from our awareness, and to assure us that we remain innocent after all. With one chapter devoted to each of the myths, the book relies especially on the voices of black Americans to help readers understand the pervasive power of white supremacy in American life and culture and how white supremacy translates into systemic racism, on the one hand, and white privilege, on the other. The book also explores how manifest destiny, the American dream, and capitalism have depended on the Great American Myths for their viability in American culture.
Thomas O Beebee
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- January 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780195339383
- eISBN:
- 9780199867097
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195339383.003.0004
- Subject:
- Literature, American, 20th Century Literature, American, 18th Century and Early American Literature
Literature has not neglected the fact that millennial expectations have hitherto always been defeated. Leon Festinger developed his theory of cognitive dissonance in part to explain the persistence ...
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Literature has not neglected the fact that millennial expectations have hitherto always been defeated. Leon Festinger developed his theory of cognitive dissonance in part to explain the persistence of belief in the face of disconfirmed prophecy. This chapter examines numerous literary examples of defeated millennium under the hypothesis that literature replaces cognitive dissonance with what I call reflective dissonance. It analyzes fictional texts’ rhetorics of reflection vs. persuasion, the types of possible worlds they construct, and the contribution these make to millennial discourse in the Americas. Three types of millennial defeat are posited: 1) defeated millennium nearly always takes historical examples as its objects of mimesis, and thus simply documents the defeats of millennial outbreaks by real-world forces; 2) pseudo-millennium shrinks millennial activity down to a simulation exercise, as in Ahab’s elevation of a whale hunt to a “final battle” between good and evil; and 3) dystopic millennium allows the millennial movement to “succeed,” but with a result far from the joy and plenitude promised by Revelation, and with the eschatechnologies of the New Order resembling those of a prison.Less
Literature has not neglected the fact that millennial expectations have hitherto always been defeated. Leon Festinger developed his theory of cognitive dissonance in part to explain the persistence of belief in the face of disconfirmed prophecy. This chapter examines numerous literary examples of defeated millennium under the hypothesis that literature replaces cognitive dissonance with what I call reflective dissonance. It analyzes fictional texts’ rhetorics of reflection vs. persuasion, the types of possible worlds they construct, and the contribution these make to millennial discourse in the Americas. Three types of millennial defeat are posited: 1) defeated millennium nearly always takes historical examples as its objects of mimesis, and thus simply documents the defeats of millennial outbreaks by real-world forces; 2) pseudo-millennium shrinks millennial activity down to a simulation exercise, as in Ahab’s elevation of a whale hunt to a “final battle” between good and evil; and 3) dystopic millennium allows the millennial movement to “succeed,” but with a result far from the joy and plenitude promised by Revelation, and with the eschatechnologies of the New Order resembling those of a prison.
Frank Graziano
- Published in print:
- 1999
- Published Online:
- February 2006
- ISBN:
- 9780195124323
- eISBN:
- 9780199784561
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195124324.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
The opening chapter of this book defines millennialism in its broadest sense, encompassing apocalypticism, messianism, and utopia. The subsequent chapters explore a wide range of colonial and modern ...
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The opening chapter of this book defines millennialism in its broadest sense, encompassing apocalypticism, messianism, and utopia. The subsequent chapters explore a wide range of colonial and modern movements, myths, and ideologies. as they pursue millennial themes through Latin American history. The study of Spanish messianic imperialism and perceptions of the New World as Eden and New Jerusalem provide European precedents. Extensive treatment of nativist and syncretic millennialism includes the Land-without-Evil, Taqui Onqoy, the Tzeltal Rebellion, the Caste War of the Yucatan, and the myths of Inkarrí and Quetzalcóatl, among many others. End-of-the-world sects and their messiahs are also considered, as are utopian communities, Pentecostalism, Liberation Theology, military messianism, and popular Catholicism. The discussion further encompasses the secular millennialism of revolutionaries and populists, including such figures as Lope de Aguirre, Túpac Amaru, Simón Bolívar, Augusto César Sandino, Juan and Evita Perón, Che Guevara, and Shining Path’s Abimael Guzmán.Less
The opening chapter of this book defines millennialism in its broadest sense, encompassing apocalypticism, messianism, and utopia. The subsequent chapters explore a wide range of colonial and modern movements, myths, and ideologies. as they pursue millennial themes through Latin American history. The study of Spanish messianic imperialism and perceptions of the New World as Eden and New Jerusalem provide European precedents. Extensive treatment of nativist and syncretic millennialism includes the Land-without-Evil, Taqui Onqoy, the Tzeltal Rebellion, the Caste War of the Yucatan, and the myths of Inkarrí and Quetzalcóatl, among many others. End-of-the-world sects and their messiahs are also considered, as are utopian communities, Pentecostalism, Liberation Theology, military messianism, and popular Catholicism. The discussion further encompasses the secular millennialism of revolutionaries and populists, including such figures as Lope de Aguirre, Túpac Amaru, Simón Bolívar, Augusto César Sandino, Juan and Evita Perón, Che Guevara, and Shining Path’s Abimael Guzmán.
Frank Graziano
- Published in print:
- 1999
- Published Online:
- February 2006
- ISBN:
- 9780195124323
- eISBN:
- 9780199784561
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195124324.003.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
This chapter defines the key terms millennial, millennialism, messianism, messiah, apocalypse, apocalyptic, and apocalypticism, then provides an overview of the attributes of millennial thought and ...
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This chapter defines the key terms millennial, millennialism, messianism, messiah, apocalypse, apocalyptic, and apocalypticism, then provides an overview of the attributes of millennial thought and action. The overview introduces such themes as messianic responses to social crisis, charisma, legitimacy, fragmentation and unification, ritual and symbolic violence, symbolic inversion, and polarization.Less
This chapter defines the key terms millennial, millennialism, messianism, messiah, apocalypse, apocalyptic, and apocalypticism, then provides an overview of the attributes of millennial thought and action. The overview introduces such themes as messianic responses to social crisis, charisma, legitimacy, fragmentation and unification, ritual and symbolic violence, symbolic inversion, and polarization.
Frank Graziano
- Published in print:
- 1999
- Published Online:
- February 2006
- ISBN:
- 9780195124323
- eISBN:
- 9780199784561
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195124324.003.0005
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
This chapter surveys utopian ideas in Latin America, from the European myths projected onto the New World during exploration to more recent endeavors to discover or build paradise on earth. Themes ...
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This chapter surveys utopian ideas in Latin America, from the European myths projected onto the New World during exploration to more recent endeavors to discover or build paradise on earth. Themes include pursuit of allusive utopian islands and enclaves, the relation of utopia and subversion, the projection of utopia into the future, and reunification of a fragmented world. The case studies focus on the Tupí-Guaraní Land-without-Evil, El Dorado, Christopher Columbus’s belief that he discovered terrestrial paradise, and the utopian missions founded by priests and friars, including the Jesuit Reductions of Paraguay and the missions of Bartolomé de Las Casas.Less
This chapter surveys utopian ideas in Latin America, from the European myths projected onto the New World during exploration to more recent endeavors to discover or build paradise on earth. Themes include pursuit of allusive utopian islands and enclaves, the relation of utopia and subversion, the projection of utopia into the future, and reunification of a fragmented world. The case studies focus on the Tupí-Guaraní Land-without-Evil, El Dorado, Christopher Columbus’s belief that he discovered terrestrial paradise, and the utopian missions founded by priests and friars, including the Jesuit Reductions of Paraguay and the missions of Bartolomé de Las Casas.
Diana G. Tumminia
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- July 2005
- ISBN:
- 9780195176759
- eISBN:
- 9780199835720
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195176758.003.0002
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
The author describes the setting, entry into the field, and the difficulty of writing an ethnography about a group with an unusual worldview. She meets members, who are called students, and the ...
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The author describes the setting, entry into the field, and the difficulty of writing an ethnography about a group with an unusual worldview. She meets members, who are called students, and the coordinator named Antares. The students explain their science and their belief in past-life therapy, cycles, and recovered memories. They glean knowledge from channeling, inspiration, and the practice of psychodrama. The 2001 millennial prophecy speaks of the arrival of a fleet of flying saucers that will lead an age of spiritual and scientific transformation.Less
The author describes the setting, entry into the field, and the difficulty of writing an ethnography about a group with an unusual worldview. She meets members, who are called students, and the coordinator named Antares. The students explain their science and their belief in past-life therapy, cycles, and recovered memories. They glean knowledge from channeling, inspiration, and the practice of psychodrama. The 2001 millennial prophecy speaks of the arrival of a fleet of flying saucers that will lead an age of spiritual and scientific transformation.
Elizabeth C. Matto
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- January 2018
- ISBN:
- 9781526105677
- eISBN:
- 9781526128522
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Manchester University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7228/manchester/9781526105677.001.0001
- Subject:
- Political Science, Democratization
Citizen now offers a comprehensive description of the composition and behavior of the Millennial Generation, an explanation and critique of the study of youth engagement, and a unique approach and ...
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Citizen now offers a comprehensive description of the composition and behavior of the Millennial Generation, an explanation and critique of the study of youth engagement, and a unique approach and methodology for appreciating how and why “citizen now” engages in politics and democracy. The text provides readers with a complete picture of the demographics and participation of Millennials and, through original analysis of newspaper content, a depiction of the frame through which the generation has been viewed. Although Millennials have been the object of much study and despite the despite the fairly common approach and methodology utilized by scholars, contrasting theoretical frameworks have limited our appreciation of their connection to politics. Unlike much of the research in this field, Citizen now considers youth political participation from the perspective of young adults themselves – specifically, young adults who’ve organized around an issue of great concern to Millennials, their economic well-being. By focusing not only on the generation’s actions but on the strategies and goals of these youth-led groups, the text offers both a path for future research and practical guidance on how to engage “citizen now” in politics and democracy.Less
Citizen now offers a comprehensive description of the composition and behavior of the Millennial Generation, an explanation and critique of the study of youth engagement, and a unique approach and methodology for appreciating how and why “citizen now” engages in politics and democracy. The text provides readers with a complete picture of the demographics and participation of Millennials and, through original analysis of newspaper content, a depiction of the frame through which the generation has been viewed. Although Millennials have been the object of much study and despite the despite the fairly common approach and methodology utilized by scholars, contrasting theoretical frameworks have limited our appreciation of their connection to politics. Unlike much of the research in this field, Citizen now considers youth political participation from the perspective of young adults themselves – specifically, young adults who’ve organized around an issue of great concern to Millennials, their economic well-being. By focusing not only on the generation’s actions but on the strategies and goals of these youth-led groups, the text offers both a path for future research and practical guidance on how to engage “citizen now” in politics and democracy.
John Dombrink
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- May 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780814795170
- eISBN:
- 9780814771365
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- NYU Press
- DOI:
- 10.18574/nyu/9780814795170.001.0001
- Subject:
- Political Science, American Politics
This book examines the ongoing contests and shifting political and social landscape of America in the Obama era as it applies to the core elements of the “culture war.” It considers a central ...
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This book examines the ongoing contests and shifting political and social landscape of America in the Obama era as it applies to the core elements of the “culture war.” It considers a central disjuncture: the liberalization of American society on many measures, at the same time as the enormous conservative pushback that continues, and a political polarization that still characterizes us in America in 2015. This book concludes that these “wedge issues,” successful in American politics for three decades, have lost their power. This “unwedging” is what characterizes America in 2015, especially amidst the effect of the rising importance of the millennial generation – a decidedly more secular and progressive generation on these issues. As one religious conservative leader recently wrote, such shifts in American society suggest that like-minded religious-based social conservatives should now view themselves as a “prophetic minority” rather than a “Moral Majority.” It seems improbable that these wedge issues will soon regain their potency.Less
This book examines the ongoing contests and shifting political and social landscape of America in the Obama era as it applies to the core elements of the “culture war.” It considers a central disjuncture: the liberalization of American society on many measures, at the same time as the enormous conservative pushback that continues, and a political polarization that still characterizes us in America in 2015. This book concludes that these “wedge issues,” successful in American politics for three decades, have lost their power. This “unwedging” is what characterizes America in 2015, especially amidst the effect of the rising importance of the millennial generation – a decidedly more secular and progressive generation on these issues. As one religious conservative leader recently wrote, such shifts in American society suggest that like-minded religious-based social conservatives should now view themselves as a “prophetic minority” rather than a “Moral Majority.” It seems improbable that these wedge issues will soon regain their potency.
Richard Landes
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199753598
- eISBN:
- 9780199897445
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199753598.003.0007
- Subject:
- Religion, World Religions
This chapter treats the career of Hong Xiuquan, a brilliant peasant boy who failed four tries to pass the imperial exams, and almost died of shame at the failure, during which time he received a ...
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This chapter treats the career of Hong Xiuquan, a brilliant peasant boy who failed four tries to pass the imperial exams, and almost died of shame at the failure, during which time he received a series of visions that led him to claim to be “God's Chinese Son,” the younger cousin of Jesus. Beginning as a profoundly demotic movement, and going through several phases of missionizing and iconoclasm, by 1850, his followers formed an army that conquered the entire south of China, including the ancient imperial capital of Nanjing. But rather than continue on to the Qing capital at Beijing, Hong became increasingly isolated in imperial splendor creating a uniquely bipolar millennialism that was at once radically egalitarian and hierarchical. By the time his kingdom fell in 1864, over 20–35 million Chinese had died, making their self-designation of Taiping—the “Great Peace” one of the most ironic terms in the history of millennialism.Less
This chapter treats the career of Hong Xiuquan, a brilliant peasant boy who failed four tries to pass the imperial exams, and almost died of shame at the failure, during which time he received a series of visions that led him to claim to be “God's Chinese Son,” the younger cousin of Jesus. Beginning as a profoundly demotic movement, and going through several phases of missionizing and iconoclasm, by 1850, his followers formed an army that conquered the entire south of China, including the ancient imperial capital of Nanjing. But rather than continue on to the Qing capital at Beijing, Hong became increasingly isolated in imperial splendor creating a uniquely bipolar millennialism that was at once radically egalitarian and hierarchical. By the time his kingdom fell in 1864, over 20–35 million Chinese had died, making their self-designation of Taiping—the “Great Peace” one of the most ironic terms in the history of millennialism.
Terryl L. Givens and Matthew J. Grow
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- January 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780195375732
- eISBN:
- 9780199918300
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195375732.003.0007
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
During Pratt’s imprisonment, the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles prepared to launch a joint British mission. Days after arriving in Illinois, Pratt participated in the mass healing occasion known as ...
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During Pratt’s imprisonment, the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles prepared to launch a joint British mission. Days after arriving in Illinois, Pratt participated in the mass healing occasion known as the “Day of God’s Power.” Weeks later, he departed with his family for New York, port of departure. In the city, he revised several of his works and published his theologically groundbreaking Treatise on Regeneration and Eternal Duration of Matter. After preaching with Joseph Smith in Philadelphia, he sailed to England, where he wrote many pamphlets, dozens of hymns, and edited the church’s periodical Millennial Star. He retrieved his family from the U.S. and labored in the midst of financial hardship. After departure of other apostles, he administered the British mission until he sailed for the “United States in fall 1842.Less
During Pratt’s imprisonment, the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles prepared to launch a joint British mission. Days after arriving in Illinois, Pratt participated in the mass healing occasion known as the “Day of God’s Power.” Weeks later, he departed with his family for New York, port of departure. In the city, he revised several of his works and published his theologically groundbreaking Treatise on Regeneration and Eternal Duration of Matter. After preaching with Joseph Smith in Philadelphia, he sailed to England, where he wrote many pamphlets, dozens of hymns, and edited the church’s periodical Millennial Star. He retrieved his family from the U.S. and labored in the midst of financial hardship. After departure of other apostles, he administered the British mission until he sailed for the “United States in fall 1842.
Jana Riess
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- August 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780190885205
- eISBN:
- 9780190938277
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780190885205.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
American Millennials—the generation born in the 1980s and 1990s—have been leaving organized religion in unprecedented numbers. For a long time, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was an ...
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American Millennials—the generation born in the 1980s and 1990s—have been leaving organized religion in unprecedented numbers. For a long time, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was an exception: nearly three-quarters of people who grew up Mormon stayed that way into adulthood. This book demonstrates that things are starting to change. Drawing on a large-scale national study of four generations of current and former Mormons as well as dozens of in-depth personal interviews, the text explores the religious beliefs and behaviors of young adult Mormons, finding that while their levels of belief remain strong, their institutional loyalties are less certain than their parents' and grandparents'. For a growing number of Millennials, the tensions between the Church's conservative ideals and their generation's commitment to individualism and pluralism prove too high, causing them to leave the faith—often experiencing deep personal anguish in the process. Those who remain within the fold are attempting to carefully balance the Church's strong emphasis on the traditional family with their generation's more inclusive definition that celebrates same-sex couples and women's equality. Mormon families are changing too. More Mormons are remaining single, parents are having fewer children, and more women are working outside the home than a generation ago.Less
American Millennials—the generation born in the 1980s and 1990s—have been leaving organized religion in unprecedented numbers. For a long time, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was an exception: nearly three-quarters of people who grew up Mormon stayed that way into adulthood. This book demonstrates that things are starting to change. Drawing on a large-scale national study of four generations of current and former Mormons as well as dozens of in-depth personal interviews, the text explores the religious beliefs and behaviors of young adult Mormons, finding that while their levels of belief remain strong, their institutional loyalties are less certain than their parents' and grandparents'. For a growing number of Millennials, the tensions between the Church's conservative ideals and their generation's commitment to individualism and pluralism prove too high, causing them to leave the faith—often experiencing deep personal anguish in the process. Those who remain within the fold are attempting to carefully balance the Church's strong emphasis on the traditional family with their generation's more inclusive definition that celebrates same-sex couples and women's equality. Mormon families are changing too. More Mormons are remaining single, parents are having fewer children, and more women are working outside the home than a generation ago.
Richard Landes, Andrew Gow, and David C. Van Meter (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2003
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195161625
- eISBN:
- 9780199849666
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195161625.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, World Religions
The chapters in this book challenge prevailing views on the way in which apocalyptic concerns contributed to larger processes of social change at the first millennium. Several basic questions unify ...
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The chapters in this book challenge prevailing views on the way in which apocalyptic concerns contributed to larger processes of social change at the first millennium. Several basic questions unify the chapters: What chronological and theological assumptions underlay apocalyptic and millennial speculations around the Year 1000? How broadly disseminated were those speculations? Can we speak of a mentality of apocalyptic hopes and anxieties on the eve of the millennium? If so, how did authorities respond to or even contribute to the formation of this mentality? What were the social ramifications of apocalyptic hopes and anxieties, and of any efforts to suppress or redirect the more radical impulses that bred them? How did contemporaries conceptualize and then historicize the passing of the millennial date of 1000?Less
The chapters in this book challenge prevailing views on the way in which apocalyptic concerns contributed to larger processes of social change at the first millennium. Several basic questions unify the chapters: What chronological and theological assumptions underlay apocalyptic and millennial speculations around the Year 1000? How broadly disseminated were those speculations? Can we speak of a mentality of apocalyptic hopes and anxieties on the eve of the millennium? If so, how did authorities respond to or even contribute to the formation of this mentality? What were the social ramifications of apocalyptic hopes and anxieties, and of any efforts to suppress or redirect the more radical impulses that bred them? How did contemporaries conceptualize and then historicize the passing of the millennial date of 1000?
David C. Van Meter
- Published in print:
- 2003
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195161625
- eISBN:
- 9780199849666
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195161625.003.0016
- Subject:
- Religion, World Religions
At this point in the “new historiography” of the apocalyptic year 1000, if one may speak so confidently, it is no longer sufficient for historians to merely root around in the documents for evidence ...
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At this point in the “new historiography” of the apocalyptic year 1000, if one may speak so confidently, it is no longer sufficient for historians to merely root around in the documents for evidence of eschatological tensions and millennial rhetoric. One might fairly conclude that the abbots and bishops who were the most caught up in the debates and struggles surrounding the various reform programs fought to preserve something of a monopoly on eschatological conceptualizations. This chapter reconsiders in light of these musings, a fairly well known, yet vastly underexploited, apocalyptic text from around the year 1000: the letter of Richard of St. Vanne describing the two otherworldly visions of a monk of St. Vaast in Arras. Specifically, it examines the manner in which this letter functioned as millennial rhetoric aimed at persuading a specific audience-monks who were resisting the efforts of an outsider to reform them to adopt a clearly articulated program of action.Less
At this point in the “new historiography” of the apocalyptic year 1000, if one may speak so confidently, it is no longer sufficient for historians to merely root around in the documents for evidence of eschatological tensions and millennial rhetoric. One might fairly conclude that the abbots and bishops who were the most caught up in the debates and struggles surrounding the various reform programs fought to preserve something of a monopoly on eschatological conceptualizations. This chapter reconsiders in light of these musings, a fairly well known, yet vastly underexploited, apocalyptic text from around the year 1000: the letter of Richard of St. Vanne describing the two otherworldly visions of a monk of St. Vaast in Arras. Specifically, it examines the manner in which this letter functioned as millennial rhetoric aimed at persuading a specific audience-monks who were resisting the efforts of an outsider to reform them to adopt a clearly articulated program of action.
Johannes Fried
- Published in print:
- 2003
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195161625
- eISBN:
- 9780199849666
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195161625.003.0002
- Subject:
- Religion, World Religions
The Romantic and realist 19th century loved to paint those “terrors of the year 1000” in gaudy colors. One may argue that since the examples cited in this chapter derive from the period after the ...
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The Romantic and realist 19th century loved to paint those “terrors of the year 1000” in gaudy colors. One may argue that since the examples cited in this chapter derive from the period after the foreboding year 1000, they therefore fail to convey true premillennial fear. A single document that is comparable to the previously mentioned sources but dates from an earlier period survives. This document, a letter by a monk of Saint-Germain to a bishop of Verdun, indicates no fundamental change in behavior that might have resulted in the staying of a millennial judgment. Numerous contemporary commentators in the Burgundian-Lotharingian area around 960 understood the approaching, biblically significant interval of a thousand years since the birth of Christ as important and predictably identified the hitherto unknown Hungarians as the apocalyptic peoples of Gog and Magog.Less
The Romantic and realist 19th century loved to paint those “terrors of the year 1000” in gaudy colors. One may argue that since the examples cited in this chapter derive from the period after the foreboding year 1000, they therefore fail to convey true premillennial fear. A single document that is comparable to the previously mentioned sources but dates from an earlier period survives. This document, a letter by a monk of Saint-Germain to a bishop of Verdun, indicates no fundamental change in behavior that might have resulted in the staying of a millennial judgment. Numerous contemporary commentators in the Burgundian-Lotharingian area around 960 understood the approaching, biblically significant interval of a thousand years since the birth of Christ as important and predictably identified the hitherto unknown Hungarians as the apocalyptic peoples of Gog and Magog.
Michael Como
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195188615
- eISBN:
- 9780199851751
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195188615.003.0003
- Subject:
- Religion, Buddhism
This chapter discusses the tenjukoku tapestry of the Suiko court with Ōfube's mass millennial cult. However, a surprisingly deep and broad set of connections emerges. Thematically, both cult and ...
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This chapter discusses the tenjukoku tapestry of the Suiko court with Ōfube's mass millennial cult. However, a surprisingly deep and broad set of connections emerges. Thematically, both cult and tapestry also highlight the symbol of the tachibana, and both indicate a focus on the world of life beyond death. Perhaps most important of all, both the millennial cult and tapestry inscription, are explicitly connected with the Hata kinship group and Yamashiro Province, an early center of Shōtoku worship. This chapter examines these connections through a survey of a broad range of immigrant deities and ancestors of the Shōtoku cult's earliest adherents. These figures provide essential clues for understanding both the development of early Pure Land belief in the Japanese islands and the contemporaneous rise of millennial movements centered on the tokoyo deity.Less
This chapter discusses the tenjukoku tapestry of the Suiko court with Ōfube's mass millennial cult. However, a surprisingly deep and broad set of connections emerges. Thematically, both cult and tapestry also highlight the symbol of the tachibana, and both indicate a focus on the world of life beyond death. Perhaps most important of all, both the millennial cult and tapestry inscription, are explicitly connected with the Hata kinship group and Yamashiro Province, an early center of Shōtoku worship. This chapter examines these connections through a survey of a broad range of immigrant deities and ancestors of the Shōtoku cult's earliest adherents. These figures provide essential clues for understanding both the development of early Pure Land belief in the Japanese islands and the contemporaneous rise of millennial movements centered on the tokoyo deity.
Willard Spiegelman
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195368130
- eISBN:
- 9780199852192
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195368130.003.0014
- Subject:
- Literature, Poetry
This chapter examines poetry collections of the 1990s including those by Jorie Graham, Charles Simic, and Donald Justice. It aims to trace any millennial intimations in the works of these poets and ...
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This chapter examines poetry collections of the 1990s including those by Jorie Graham, Charles Simic, and Donald Justice. It aims to trace any millennial intimations in the works of these poets and investigates whether endedness or the demarcation of an era make an unconscious if not an inevitable appearance in the works of poets who have other overt concerns and themes. The findings indicate that a staple of contemporary poetry is the autobiographical reminiscence which attests to William Wordsworth's long and various legacies and to the transformations of nostalgia during the past two centuries.Less
This chapter examines poetry collections of the 1990s including those by Jorie Graham, Charles Simic, and Donald Justice. It aims to trace any millennial intimations in the works of these poets and investigates whether endedness or the demarcation of an era make an unconscious if not an inevitable appearance in the works of poets who have other overt concerns and themes. The findings indicate that a staple of contemporary poetry is the autobiographical reminiscence which attests to William Wordsworth's long and various legacies and to the transformations of nostalgia during the past two centuries.
