Millennialism, Persecution, and Violence

Millennialism, Persecution, and Violence
Author: Catherine Wessinger
Publisher: Syracuse University Press
Total Pages: 432
Release: 2000
Genre: Millennialism
ISBN: 9780815628095

In this book a cross-cultural and comparative volume, Catherine Wessinger reveal three patterns within millennial groups that are not mutually exclusive: assaulted millennial groups which 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 violece.

Global Visions of Violence

Global Visions of Violence
Author: Jason Bruner
Publisher: Rutgers University Press
Total Pages: 105
Release: 2022-12-09
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1978830858

In Global Visions of Violence, the editors and contributors argue that violence creates a lens, bridge, and method for interdisciplinary collaboration that examines Christianity worldwide in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. By analyzing the myriad ways violence, persecution, and suffering impact Christians and the imagination of Christian identity globally, this interdisciplinary volume integrates the perspectives of ethicists, historians, anthropologists, and ethnographers to generate new conversations. Taken together, the chapters in this book challenge scholarship on Christian growth that has not accounted for violence while analyzing persecution narratives that can wield data toward partisan ends. This allows Global Visions of Violence to push urgent conversations forward, giving voice to projects that illuminate wide and often hidden landscapes that have been shaped by global visions of violence, and seeking solutions that end violence and turn toward the pursuit of justice, peace, and human rights among suffering Christians.

How the Millennium Comes Violently

How the Millennium Comes Violently
Author: Catherine Wessinger
Publisher:
Total Pages: 324
Release: 2000
Genre: Religion
ISBN:

This is a survey of cult religious violence as associated with Jonestown, the Branch Davidians, Aum Shinriko, Montana Freemen, Solar Temple, Heaven's Gate and Chen Tao. The book presents case studies of contemporary millennial religions that either became violent, or had the potential for becoming violent. It sets out to reveal how outside pressures and internal forces affect the decision to use violence by new religious movements.

Millennialism and Violence

Millennialism and Violence
Author: Michael Barkun
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 189
Release: 2012-12-06
Genre: History
ISBN: 1136308415

As the world approaches the year 2000, many societies are experiencing an unprecedented growth in millenarian movements that anticipate an imminent and total transformation of the world. Many of these movements have been associated with violence, either as a means for producing change or as a response to confrontations with state authority. This book draws together research on this topic from political science, psychology, sociology and history in an attempt to understand the relationship between millenarian movements and episodes of violence.

The Oxford Handbook of Millennialism

The Oxford Handbook of Millennialism
Author: Catherine Wessinger
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 764
Release: 2016-07
Genre: History
ISBN: 0190611944

Seventh-Day Adventists, Melanesian cargo cults, David Koresh's Branch Davidians, and the Raelian UFO religion would seem to have little in common. What these groups share, however, is a millennial orientation-the audacious human hope for a collective salvation, which may be either heavenly or earthly. The Oxford Handbook of Millennialism offers readers an in-depth look at both the theoretical underpinnings of the study of millennialism and its many manifestations across history and cultures.

Millennial Violence

Millennial Violence
Author: Jeffrey Kaplan
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 333
Release: 2013-09-13
Genre: History
ISBN: 1135316260

This volume encompasses an array of material exploring the millennium phenomenon and the violent excitement it provokes. Consisting of three core parts, the book combines pertinent documents with insightful commentary and discussion.

The Cambridge Companion to New Religious Movements

The Cambridge Companion to New Religious Movements
Author: Olav Hammer
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 347
Release: 2012-08-30
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1107493552

New religions emerge as distinct entities in the religious landscape when innovations are introduced by a charismatic leader or a schismatic group leaves its parent organization. New religious movements (NRMs) often present novel doctrines and advocate unfamiliar modes of behavior, and have therefore often been perceived as controversial. NRMs have, however, in recent years come to be treated in the same way as established religions, that is, as complex cultural phenomena involving myths, rituals and canonical texts. This Companion discusses key features of NRMs from a systematic, comparative perspective, summarizing results of forty years of research. The volume addresses NRMs that have caught media attention, including movements such as Scientology, New Age, the Neopagans, the Sai Baba movement and Jihadist movements active in a post-9/11 context. An essential resource for students of religious studies, the history of religion, sociology, anthropology and the psychology of religion.

The Darkest Sides of Politics, II

The Darkest Sides of Politics, II
Author: Jeffrey M. Bale
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 414
Release: 2017-10-04
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1317659430

This book examines a wide array of phenomena that arguably constitute the most noxious, extreme, terrifying, murderous, secretive, authoritarian, and/or anti-democratic aspects of national and international politics. Scholars should not ignore these "dark sides" of politics, however unpleasant they may be, since they influence the world in a multitude of harmful ways. The second volume in this two-volume collection focuses primarily on assorted religious extremists, including apocalyptic millenarian cults, Islamists, and jihadist terrorist networks, as well as CBRN (chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear) terrorism and the supposedly new "nexus" between organized criminal and extremist groups employing terrorist operational techniques. A range of global case studies are included, most of which focus on the lesser known activities of certain religious extremist milieus. This collection should prove to be essential reading for students and researchers interested in understanding seemingly arcane but nonetheless important dimensions of recent historical and contemporary politics.

Religious Violence Today [2 volumes]

Religious Violence Today [2 volumes]
Author: Michael Jerryson
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
Total Pages: 630
Release: 2020-07-15
Genre: Religion
ISBN:

Through sections containing overview essays and reference entries related to particular religions, this resource explores the rise of religious violence, hate crime, and persecution around the world. Religious violence and persecution have been growing steadily both within the United States and around the world. Drawing on the expertise of a wide range of scholars, this current and comprehensive reference helps readers understand the persecution of members of particular faiths as well as violence committed by members of those faiths. In doing so, it promotes a greater understanding of the role of religion in global politics, domestic and international terrorism, and religious bigotry. The book contains sections on particular religious traditions from around the world. Each section begins with an overview essay surveying violence related to that particular religion, whether committed by or against members of that faith. Reference entries in each section then provide objective, fundamental information about particular topics related to violence and the religion discussed. The entries provide cross-references and suggestions for further reading, and the work closes with a bibliography of resources for further study.

Martyrdom, Self-Sacrifice, and Self-Immolation

Martyrdom, Self-Sacrifice, and Self-Immolation
Author: Margo Kitts
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 361
Release: 2018-05-01
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0190656506

Suicide in the forms of martyrdom, self-sacrifice, or self-immolation is perennially controversial: Should it rightly be termed suicide? Does religion sanction it? Should it be celebrated or anathematized? At least some idealization of such self-chosen deaths is found in every religious tradition treated in this volume, from ascetic heroes who conquer their passions to save others by dying, to righteous warriors who suffer and die valiantly while challenging the status quo. At the same time, there are persistent disputes about the concepts used to justify these deaths, such as altruism, heroism, and religion itself. In this volume, renowned scholars bring their literary and historical expertise to bear on the contested issue of religiously sanctioned suicide. Three examine contemporary movements with disputed classical roots, while eleven look at classical religious literatures which variously laud and disparage figures who invite self-harm to the point of death. Overall, the volume offers an important scholarly corrective to the axiom that religious traditions simply and always embrace life at any cost.