For resources on Waco, David Koresh and the Branch Davidians click here.
See also the INFORM profiles for CenSAMM.
Imogen Woodberry, “The role of women in the development of apocalyptic thought in occult religiosity within Victorian and Edwardian Britain”, CenSAMM/Queen's University Belfast symposium, The Gender of Apocalypse (published 10 Feb. 2016)
“This paper will set out to explore the role of women in the development of apocalyptic thought in occult religiosity within Victorian and Edwardian Britain. The examination of end times was particularly important within the occultic sphere where it was frequently depicted in apocalyptic terms as a climatic struggle between the forces good and evil. Within this discourse women played a particularly prominent role. Occult organisations were noted for their frequent commitment to gender equality and many of its most vocal practitioners were women. This paper will focus on the work of the artist Isabelle de Steiger whose writings devote significant attention to the notion of a coming struggle, drawing mainly on the Book of Revelation. De Steiger is a figure of particular interest because of the range of her occult associations; after joining the British Theosophical Society in 1879 she entered the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn in 1888, founded the Alchemical Society in 1912 before finally turning to Rudolf Steiner and his Anthroposophical Society. Three primary areas will be addressed: first the way in which she negotiated her theology with her own struggles against gender inequality (her attempts to be recognised by the art establishment on an equal level with men) secondly, the significance of her apocalyptic thinking within her broader theological outlook and, thirdly, the influence and dissemination of her work among the occultic networks in which she operated.”
Gordon Allan, “Southcott and The Panacea Society”, CenSAMM/Queen's University Belfast symposium, The Gender of Apocalypse (published 10 Feb. 2016)
Panacea Society and Octavia/Mabel Barltrop reported in “Followers believed Edwardian widow was Daughter of God”, ITV News report (13 August 2014), featuring CenSAMM Academic Co-Director, Alastair Lockhart, available here
Garry Trompf, “Violence and Millenarian Cargo Cults”, 2017 CenSAMM conference, Violence and Millenarian Movements (published 8 May 2017)
“So-called cargo cults in the southwest Pacific region of Melanesia (from West Papua to western Fiji) are often classified as one form of millenarian movement. While debates about the extent of overlap aside, it is well known that collective indigenous energies yearning for and actively seeking European-style or internationally marketed goods ('the Cargo') can result in violent action. Desperation at being deprived of access to the new (and mysterious) wares, and outrage over reactive governments (mainly colonial ones) that try to put down group ritual attempts to bring on 'the Coming of the Cargo,' can incur physically violent outbursts. Accounting for the region's extraordinary cultural complexity, this paper discusses the various projections of the Cargo's arrival as commonly millenarian in character, and argues that the spilling over into violence of such movements of high expectation is very contextual, depending on the degrees of 'pacification,' on cargo cult leaders' assessments as to whether violence will produce anything beneficial, and on the raising of hopes that an activist group might be able to get around difficulties posed by superior government fire-power. The paper will discuss a spectrum of violent acts, from those more ritualized (but nonetheless formidable) to the formation of some kind of army ready to fight (albeit unrealistically and with expectations of harnessing extraordinary spiritual power). Any simple correlation between a greater extravagance of dreams and the high readiness to prepare for violent uprising will be questioned. The extent of the influence of 'Christian mission talk' is an important variable in Melanesian cargo (cult) movements, because hopes for a drastic eschatological-looking change involving the Return of Christ, the Second Coming or the last Judgement may demand that seriously irruptive solutions be left to God, not to armed men.”
Joseph Webster, “Violent Endings”, CenSAMM conference on Violence and Millenarian Movements (published 27 April 2017)
“This paper examines dispensationalist imaginings of ‘the last of the last days’, with a particular focus on their acutely violent character. For the Brethren and for Jehovah’s Witnesses, the most convincing ‘signs’ of the imminent apocalypse are violent ones. By drawing on a mixture of biblical and extra-biblical tropes and images – flames, horns, bullets, missiles – dispensationalism creates a semiotic landscape filled with natural, supernatural, and ‘man-made’ disaster. By analysing different images of ‘violent endings’ in circulation among the Brethren and the Witnesses, this paper asks two questions, namely, what are the effects of such violent imaginings, and what imaginings exists on the other side of such violence, after its perpetration? Drawing inspiration from Rodney Needham’s work on dual symbolic classification, this paper argues that dispensationalist violence demands its own partial disappearance by setting itself against its symbolic opposite of millennial healing, only to then reappear in a final act of dichotomising violence through a ‘renovation of the earth by fire.’”
Joseph Webster, “The Glory of Godly Women? Brethren bodies and apostate bodies at the end of the world”, CenSAMM/Queen's University Belfast symposium, The Gender of Apocalypse (published 10 Feb. 2016)
“By reflecting upon long term ethnographic fieldwork among Brethren fisher families in Gamrie, Northeast Scotland, this paper seeks to examine how apocalyptic ‘signs’ are imagined to be inscribed differently upon the bodies of ‘saved’ and ‘unsaved’ persons. In the context of Brethren efforts to identify embodied ‘signs of the times’, why is it primarily the bodies of women – Brethren and non – which become key indexes of the soon to arrive eschaton? How, if at all, do the bodies of men become objects of millennial speculation, and what might this tell us about the gender of Brethren eschatology more generally?”
Andrew Wester interviews Sean Durbin, “How the Christian Zionist movement influences world leaders”, The Religion and Ethics Report ABC Radio
“When Israel’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu falls on hard times – be it corruption charges at home or diplomatic condemnation abroad – he depends on his most faithful followers. But they’re not all Jewish. His biggest bloc of support is the four million strong community in the United States called Christian Zionists. These largely evangelical and Pentecostal Christians have emboldened Netanyahu to fight the West’s nuclear deal with Iran or attempts to establish a Palestinian state. They’re led by mega church pastor John Hagee. Sean Durbin is the author of the new book, Righteous Gentiles: Religion, Identity and Myth in John Hagee’s Christians United for Israel.”
Podcast available here
Steve Hickey, “Hits like a Girl: Genesis 3:15 and the Demise of the Evil One”, CenSAMM/Queen's University Belfast symposium, The Gender of Apocalypse (published 9 Feb. 2016)
“This paper will examine strands of the more apocalyptic sectors of charismatic evangelical Protestantism with the aim of illuminating why it has generated significant performative resistance to oppressive gender structures. The paper will consider contemporary movements that draw upon texts like Psalm 68:11-12, “The Lord gives the command; the women who proclaim the good tidings are a great host: “Kings of armies flee… and she who remains at home will divide the spoils!” This position has developed out of a reading of scripture in which women are understood as being given a central role in the ultimate defeat and overthrow of the Evil One. It thus represents a modern exposition and application of the ancient prophecy in Genesis 3:15—that the latter day woman is ultimately the one who rises up at the end of the age to finally crush the serpents head—and which is used to draw out the prophetic unction and destiny that rested on various women throughout salvation history, including and especially Mary, the mother of Christ.”
Seb Rumsby, "The Changing Dynamics of Millenarian Movements in the Ethnic Politics of South East Asia", CenSAMM conference, Violence and Millenarian Movements (published 27 April 2017)
“Millenarianism in South East Asia has generally been regarded by academics as a native reaction to the enormous social disruptions caused by colonial intrusion, doomed to failure and at best a step on the way to more ‘modern’ forms of collective social resistance. However, contrary to predictions that it would die out with the advance of nationalism, millenarianism has both pre-dated and outlasted colonialism, and continues to feature prominently in ethnic politics to this day. An analysis of past and present Hmong millenarian movements shows how the progressions from pan-ethnic to mono-ethnic, and violent to peaceful, reflect historical trends of ethnicization and territorialisation in South East Asia. It is equally important to consider how and why millenarian activity is remembered and interpreted by different participants and onlookers, as highlighted by the varying portrayals of recent events in Northern Vietnam gathered from online reports and interviews. Millenarian movements have played an important role in voicing social discontent, challenging power structures and moulding ethnic relations in South East Asia and will continue to do so, but they need to be examined and understood in their new socio-political contexts.”
Massimo Introvigne, “Filming the Age of Kingdom: The End Times and the Movies of The Church of Almighty God”, CenSAMM conference, Apocalypse in Art: The Creative Unveiling (published 10 July 2018)
“Severely persecuted in China, The Church of Almighty God started opening in 2014 churches in several countries where its members escaped and were seeking refugee status. One unexpected consequence of the diaspora was a flourishing of artistic activities in South Korea, Spain, and elsewhere, as some of the members who had escaped from China had received an education in the arts there. In addition to painting, the production of movies and musicals flourished, and some of the Church’s productions won awards in international Christian festivals. The paper examines how the Church’s millenarian beliefs are represented in some of its movies and paintings.”
