Apocalypses: Varieties of Millennial Discourse
S06
Bradford Verter
For at least the past 2,000 years people have been patiently waiting for the world to end. What attracts people to millenarian theology? What is it like to live in anticipation of the imminent end of the world? What are the political and social consequences of apocalyptic belief? And how do people cope when the events they expect fail to occur?

After briefly surveying millennial beliefs in other temporal and geographical contexts (the ancient Near East, medieval Europe), we will examine developments in American apocalyptic discourse. Starting off with the Spanish missionaries of the 16th century, we will tour the eschatological world of colonial Puritanism; consider apocalyptic interpretations of American conflicts (the Revolutionary War, the Civil War, the Cold War); observe millenarian movements such as the Millerites, the Ghost Dance, the Rastafarians, and the Nation of Islam; and survey the range of contemporary apocalyptic activity—from Hal Lindsay to Marilyn Manson, from the Y2K virus to the recent rash of alien abductions.