Transcript Lecture 9 Millenarianism and the Apocalypse Revelation The Roots of Millenariansim

Lecture 9
Millenarianism and the Apocalypse
Reading: Downloadable Notes; Diamond Collapse; Beck
Topics
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Revelation and the Apocalypse
The Roots of Millenariansim
The Collapse of Civilizations
The Global Risk Society
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The Book of Revelation
Reading: Downloadable Notes
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Book of Revelation
 “And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the
Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years, and cast him
into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him,
that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand
years should be fulfilled” (20:2)
 “they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. But the rest
of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished.
This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is he that hath part
in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power,
but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with
him a thousand years.” (20:4-6)
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Revelation and Apocalypse
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Apocalypse in the terminology of early Jewish and
Christian literature: a revelation of hidden things given by
God to a chosen prophet;
 Often used to describe the written account of such a
revelation.
Apocalyptic literature
 Concerned with resurrection of the dead, judgment
day, heaven and hell
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Apocalyptic beliefs predate Christianity, appear in other
religions including Islam
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Apocalypse technically refers to the unveiling of God, not to all of the
destruction of the world which will accompany God's Revelation of
Himself to Humankind.
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Millenarianism
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Millenarians generally hold the beliefs:
 The struggle between the forces of good
and evil will come to a climax (usually in
the near future), and good will triumph and
institute a reign of righteousness
 During
the reign of righteousness historical
wrongs will be rectified, injustice and
oppression will cease, and those who profit
from injustice and oppression will get what's
coming to them.
 Righteous believers will play a crucial role,
either by helping to defeat the forces of evil, or
by sharing in the millennial reign, or both.
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Important Millenarians
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There is no single source for millenariansim
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Some argue that it is based on the Jewish apocalyptic
tradition.
Joseph Priestley (1733-1804)and Richard Price
 Priestley credited with discovering oxygen
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Like Price, a leading religious dissenter and on American side
in War of Independence
Millenariarians in History
 Shakers, Jehovah’s Witnesses
 Modern Examples of Cults
 Aum Shinri Kyo in Japan; Euro-Canadian Order of the
Solar Temple
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The Utopian World
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Notion was Coined by Sir Thomas More (1478-1535)
-- later Saint Thomas More
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Humanist scholar, Lord Chancellor (1529-1532)
 Refused to accept Henry VIII’s claim to be the supreme
head of the Church of England
• Led to his execution as a traitor.
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Utopia (1516): an ideal, imaginary island nation where there
is no private property and nearly complete religious toleration
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Derived from Plato’s Republic
No place for athesim: man must fear some God, else he shall act evilly and
their society will weaken
Absence of private property led to connection to socialism
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Evolution of Utopian Notions
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Sir Francis Bacon (1561-1626)
 Remembered as defender of the scientific
revolution
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Popularized inductive methodology for scientific
inquiry– the Baconian method
• Knowledge of the natural world obtained through
experimentation, observation and testing of
hypotheses
• “Knowledge is power”
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New Atlantis (1624)
 Improvement of society through science
 Has room for greed
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More recent History of Utopian Views
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Economic Utopias (often Utopian socialists)
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Egalitarian distribution of goods, abolition of money,
citizens only do enjoyable work for the common good,
and the cultivation of the arts and sciences
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Edward Bellamy (1850-1898), Looking Backward (1888)
William Morris (1834-1896), News from Nowhere (1890) – an
early ecologist/environmentalist
Other Types of Utopia
 Political, Religious, Technological
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James Hilton (1900-1954), Lost Horizon (1933); source of
Shangri La
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Who is … ?
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Ulrich Beck (1944- )
 German
sociologist
 Studies
modernization, ecological problems and
globalization
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Jared Diamond (1933- )
 American
evolutionary biologist, biogeographer
and author
 Won
Pulitzer for Guns, Germs and Steel (1997)
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