Messianic Revolution: Radical Religious Politics to the End of the Second Millennium

by David S. Katz, Richard H. Popkin

From Renaissance Messianism to the Aryan Nation, Apocalyptic Political Movements--Their Attractions and Dangers. On April 19, 1993, at least seventy-four people lost their lives near Waco, Texas; it has been clear to most Americans that the followers of David Koresh and the federal agents outside his compound inhabited two different conceptual worlds. Neither journalists nor law-enforcement experts nor the public seemed aware of the rich tradition of messianic, revolutionary politics behind groups like Koresh' this is the history, stretching back to the Middle Ages, that is the subject of Messianic Revolution. David S. Katz and Richard H. Popkin show how the beliefs of many fringe, distressed, and disenfranchised Christians have been transmitted across a millennium. They offer lucid explanations of why and how this apocalyptic strain found especially fertile ground in the New World, and throw new light on the many strands of Jewish and Christian biblical interpretation woven into this complex, fascinating history.

Genres: History

352 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1999

About the author

David S. Katz FRHistS (born 1953) is Director of the History of Ideas Program and a member of the Department of History at Brandeis University and Professor Emeritus of early modern European history at Tel Aviv University in Israel, where he taught from 1978 until retiring in 2019.

Reviews

[Shelley Alongi · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a nice overview of ideas about messianic movement’s from the renaissance to today. The authors ably cover the philosophies that surround a timeline enveloping thought about when the world was created and when it wil end. They discuss new scientific ideas about God and creation to modern movements like the Christian aryan nation. The closer we get to the modern era the ideas about the end of the world and how it will happen become more linked with racial superiority and inferiority theories. Central to the end of the world is the role the Jews take in bringing about the second appearance of Jesus Christ who puts all things right. They discuss the origins of these ideas. The book begins with the thirteenth century and continues to the twentieth, encompassing movements as far spread from each other as Isaac Nuton, the Fifth Monarchy, the French Revolution, and American fundamentalism, Pat Robertson and Jerry Fallwell, the cults of Jim Jones, the violent clashes between law enforcement and the shootings on Ruby Ridge, and the bombing of the Oklahoma City federal building in 1995. Each of these movements and events has, according to the authors, some tie to a Messaianic theme. The authors try to show, sometimes unconvincingly that each of these movements incorporate some idea about end time prophecy and the role they share in the end of the world. If this subject interests you, this book can start you on a path of discovery. You pick your direction from here.

[Roger Green · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fox Mulder would like this book. I liked it too.