Lecture 9 Millenarianism and the Apocalypse

1
Lecture 9Millenarianism and the Apocalypse

• Reading Downloadable Notes Diamond Collapse
  Beck
• Topics
• Revelation and the Apocalypse
• The Roots of Millenariansim
• The Collapse of Civilizations
• The Global Risk Society

2
The Book of Revelation

• Reading Downloadable Notes
• 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 (202)
• 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. (204-6)

3
Revelation and Apocalypse

• 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
• Apocalyptic beliefs predate Christianity, appear
  in other religions including Islam
• 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.

4
Millenarianism

• 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.

5
Important Millenarians

• There is no single source for millenariansim
• Some argue that it is based on the Jewish
  apocalyptic tradition.
• Joseph Priestley (1733-1804)and Richard Price
• Priestley credited with discovering oxygen
• Like Price, a leading religious dissenter and on
  American side in War of Independence
• Millenariarians in History
• Shakers, Jehovahs Witnesses
• Modern Examples of Cults
• Aum Shinri Kyo in Japan Euro-Canadian Order of
  the Solar Temple

6
The Utopian World

• Notion was Coined by Sir Thomas More (1478-1535)
  -- later Saint Thomas More
• Humanist scholar, Lord Chancellor (1529-1532)
• Refused to accept Henry VIIIs claim to be the
  supreme head of the Church of England
• Led to his execution as a traitor.
• Utopia (1516) an ideal, imaginary island nation
  where there is no private property and nearly
  complete religious toleration
• Derived from Platos 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

7
Evolution of Utopian Notions

• Sir Francis Bacon (1561-1626)
• Remembered as defender of the scientific
  revolution
• 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
• New Atlantis (1624)
• Improvement of society through science
• Has room for greed

8
More recent History of Utopian Views

• Economic Utopias (often Utopian socialists)
• Egalitarian distribution of goods, abolition of
  money, citizens only do enjoyable work for the
  common good, and the cultivation of the arts and
  sciences
• 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
• James Hilton (1900-1954), Lost Horizon (1933)
  source of Shangri La

9
Who is ?

• Ulrich Beck (1944- )
• German sociologist
• Studies modernization, ecological problems and
  globalization
• Jared Diamond (1933- )
• American evolutionary biologist, biogeographer
  and author
• Won Pulitzer for Guns, Germs and Steel (1997)