The last quarter of the twentieth century witnessed several incidents of collectiveviolence involving millenarian/apocalyptic New Religious Movements. This articlereviews the academic literature that has emerged over the last few decades onmillenarian violence, focusing on the key recurring characteristics and dynamicsthat have been highlighted by commentators as playing a significant role in bothpredisposing millenarian groups to volatility/violence, and also in precipitating theseincidents of collective violence.
The study of millenarian1 violence is a relatively new area of academic studythat developed in response to several incidents of collective violenceinvolving members of millenarian religious movements in the last quarter– particularly the closing decade – of the twentieth century. In 1978, forexample, over 900 members of Peoples Temple, a new religious movementbased in California, died in an act of collective ‘revolutionary suicide’ attheir mission station in Jonestown, Guyana. Almost 15 years later, 74members of the Branch Davidians, a Seventh-day Adventist sect, met a fierydeath at the end of a 51-day standoff with US authorities. Between 1994and March 1997, around a similar number of members of a secretiveneo-Templar group based in Europe and Quebec, the Order of the SolarTemple, died in a series of ritualised murder-suicides in Switzerland, Quebecand France. Between 1990 and 1995, the Japanese New Religious MovementAum ShinrikyO embarked on a campaign of murder that culminated in anabortive attack on the Tokyo underground using the nerve gas Sarin, anattack which could easily have resulted in thousands of fatalities. In 1997,39 members of a group calling itself ‘Heaven’s Gate’ committed collectivesuicide in the belief that the world was about to be ‘spaded under’ as theytermed it, and that they could escape this destruction by shedding theirbodies and transferring to a spaceship that they believed was hidingbehind the then-passing Hale-Bopp comet. Finally, in the spring of 2000,around 780 members of The Movement for the Restoration of the TenCommandments of God, a Ugandan Catholic splinter group based arounda series of Marian apparitions, died in a series of murder-suicides, the exact
details and motivations for which are still unclear. Indeed, such was theconcern among law-enforcement agencies that the calendarical Millennium(typically defined as the transition from 1999 to 2000) would herald a literalexplosion of outbursts of violence that several, most notably the FederalBureau of Investigation (1999) and the Canadian Security Intelligence Service(1999), produced reports for their agents on the phenomena.
Broad Contours of the Debate
The study of millenarian violence is a truly interdisciplinary endeavourinvolving specialists from the social sciences, religious studies, socialmovements scholars and political scientists. It also draws on Biblical studiesand has obvious connections with the study of other forms of religiousviolence, and forms of religiously motivated terror. In its broadest sense thedebate among scholars in this field hinges on two inter-related questions.First, what are the factors which predispose millenarian groups to volatility/violence.What is it, in other words, about millenarian groups generally that, all thingsbeing equal, make them liable to become volatile or violent. Second, bearingin mind that most millenarian groups, do not become either volatile orviolent – most in fact typically adopt a passive position, believing that it isGod’s role, and not theirs, to deploy millenarian violence – what factors leadmillenarian groups such as those highlighted in the introduction to become volatile orviolent.
PREDISPOSING FACTORS
Among writers on millenarian violence there is a clear reluctance – arguablystemming from the ‘cult wars’ of the 1970s and 1980s (see Bromley & Shupe1980, 1981; Shupe & Bromley 1984) – to claim that millenarian groups arethemselves solely to blame for the violent incidents in which they becomeembroiled, or that the incidents may be explained with reference to thenotion ‘brainwashing’. While both of these tendencies are often found withinboth media and ‘anti-cult movement’ discussions of these incidents, scholarsof New Religious Movements (millenarian or otherwise) invariably rejectsuch explanations.2 Rather, the generally accepted view among commentatorsis that while several factors inherent within millenarian groups themselvesmay predispose them to become volatile/violent, these, while necessary arenot sufficient causes in and of themselves.
Within the literature, the work of Thomas Robbins and Dick Anthony(1995; see also Robbins & Palmer 1997, Robbins 2002) has done the mostto illuminate the role of these intragroup – or, as they term them –endogenous – predisposing factors. Indeed, it would not be too much of anexaggeration to state that most, if not all, analyses of millenarian violencehave their work as the starting point. In their work, Robbins and Anthonyhighlight the role of three broad, interlinked sets of predisposing factors; the
inherent violence and antinomianism of millenarian ideologies, the precariousnature of charismatic leadership, and, finally, the role of such groups as ‘totalistic’organisations in resocialising their members.
Turning first to millenarian ideologies, Robbins and Anthony and othershave noted that not only are such ideologies inherently violent – drawingas they do on the overt violence described in apocalyptic texts such as thebook of Revelation – but they are also potentially antinomian (Talmon1966). If one believes, for example, that one is living in the ‘endtimes’ andthat shortly the (often perceived to be evil) established social order will beannihilated in an act of divine wrath, then it is understandable why it mightfollow from this that the laws of that social order can or even should berejected. Indeed, following this logic, it can be seen how in some cases,some individuals may wish to take matters into their own hands and tryand bring about the final endtime battle by, for example, provoking aconfrontation with their perceived enemies and/or law-enforcementagencies. In particular, Robbins and Anthony have drawn attention to therole of what they term ‘exemplary dualism’ within groups holding millenarianideologies. Such a worldview, they argue, is volatile because it conferseschatological significance on the group and its opponents; the latterpotentially coming to be seen as not just parties who hold different views,but as being inherently evil and potentially as actors on the side of the forcesof evil.
Similarly, while rejecting the claim often put forward within the ‘anti-cult’literature that incidents of violence involving marginal religious movementsare caused almost exclusively by their, typically insane, ‘charismatic leaders’(see, for example, Singer 1995). Robbins and Anthony and others have alsohighlighted the role that charismatic authority may play in producingvolatility and violence within such groups. Crucially, they have argued thatit is not charismatic leadership per se that is to blame, but rather where suchleadership breaks down; volatility is thus not the outcome of charismaticleadership functioning ‘normally’, but, rather, the outcome of where itbecomes unstuck. In particular, drawing on the work of Max Weber(1947, 1978, 1991), a number of commentators have focused on the‘precarious’ nature of charismatic authority (see, for example,Wallis 1982,1983, 1986).3 According to this view, ‘charisma’ is not inherent withinparticular individuals, but is instead the outcome of social processes wherebysome individuals are able to convince others that they are ‘charismatic’.‘Charismatic authority’ is thus inherently concerned with, to use Goffman’s(1974) term, ‘the presentation of the self ’. The ‘charismatic leader’ mustconstantly undertake ‘legitimation work’ (Dawson 2002), whereby theyconstantly manifest and demonstrate their ‘charisma’. Where they are unableto do this and when such ‘performances’ or attempts at legitimation breakdown, they may thus be said to have experienced a ‘crisis of charismaticauthority’ (Walliss 2005a,b). In such cases, it is argued, the potential forvolatility or violence ensues, particularly when the leader attempts to shore
up their position through internal purges or by lashing out at their perceivedenemies in the outside world.
Finally, Robbins and Anthony have argued that the ‘totalistic nature ofmany apocalyptic groups may also play a role in predisposing them tovolatility/violence.’ Historically many millenarian groups have practiced aform of geographical and/or psychological separation in an attempt toseparate themselves away from the rest of society. This in turn requires thatthey resocialise their members into the beliefs, values and practices of thecollective (Kanter 1968, 1972; Lebra 1972; Galanter 1989). Members may,for example, be required to take on a new name, or new identity and/orpractice new living arrangements, such as following a particular dietaryregime or practicing celibacy. The further they are socialised into thesenorms and values, however, the more likely it is that they may come toexhibit what Mills (1982) has referred to as ‘supercommitment’; a situationwhere individual autonomy is replaced by a form of unquestioningobedience, even to the point of taking part in violence. This, Mills argues,is particularly likely to occur when members have no access to contrastingnorms and values from the outside world.
This is a particularly interesting idea and does have a degree of intuitivelogic to it. Everyday life involves balancing different moral demands (suchas balancing the demand not to be honest with people with the desire notto upset them), and it would appear fairly obvious that if one belonged toa group where only its moral demands were privileged, how this couldpotentially lead to a situation where one might feel few qualms about actingin a way that violated the moral demands of the outside world. However,this is in many ways the weakest link in their argument, appearing as it doesvery close to an ‘anti-cult’ brainwashing position, and is an area of theliterature that needs to be developed somewhat.
From the Theoretical to the Empirical
When discussing all these factors, commentators are keen to assert that, whilethey would appear to play a role in predisposing millenarian groups tovolatility and/or violence, this is not to say that their very presence is enoughto produce such incidents. If this were the case then, at the very least,students of millenarian violence would have significantly more case studiesto draw on than is currently so. Indeed, perhaps one of the most interestingaspects of the study of millenarian violence is the question of why, out thehundreds or even thousands of groups that share the same predisposingfactors, only a handful in recent years have ever become violent.
Consequently, the majority of the literature on millenarian violencehas, while drawing on Robbins and Anthony’s model implicitly, soughtto shift the level of analysis from the general to the specific by addressingthe question of why the particular groups outlined in the introductionbecame violent. This analysis has preceded in two, overlapping directions;
in-depth case studies of particular groups, and comparative analyses of the range ofcase studies.
Each of the incidents of millenarian violence that occurred over the lastquarter of the twentieth century has developed its own independentliterature, although some of this is more developed than others (seebibliography for details). There is, for example, a great deal of literatureavailable – both primary and secondary – on the Branch Davidians, butcomparatively little on Heaven’s Gate, and almost nothing published,for a variety of reasons, on the Movement for the Restoration of the TenCommandments of God.4 Aum ShinrikyO has, as would perhaps be expectedas the first non-state actor to deploy chemical weapons, generated a hugeamount of literature. This, however, has predominantly been produced byJapanese scholars and unfortunately the majority of this has not as yet beentranslated into English,The same is true for the French-language popularand scholarly accounts of the Order of the Solar Temple.5
Over the last 6 years or so, a number of comparative analyses of the recentincidents of millenarian violence have also been published in book formand in journals. This has led to a degree of debate among commentators onboth the types of recurring factors or issues that precipitated violence acrossthe cases, as well as the significant differences between them. John Hall andhis colleagues (2000; see also Hall & Schuyler 1998) and David Bromley(2002), for example, in their comparative analyses have drawn attention tothe role of what Hall terms ‘cultural opposition’ in each of the cases.According to Hall and Bromley, while millenarian groups may be predisposedto volatility, they only become so when they reach a juncture where theybelieve their continued existence is at stake as a consequence of the actionsof external opponents, such as the media, apostates, or the state (or, whenconversely, the state believes that the group represents a significant threatto the social order). Millenarian violence is thus, they would argue, largely,if not exclusively reactionary in nature; a reaction to real or perceivedopposition.
This notion of perceived opposition has been further explored by Robbins(1997) and Michael Barkun (1997) in their work on what the formerterms the ‘interpretive approach’ to millenarian violence (see also Anthonyet al. 2002; Richardson 2001). Drawing on ideas found within symbolicinteractionism (see Blumer 1986), this approach highlights the manner inwhich millenarian groups and their cultural opponents often act on the basisof the meanings that they ascribe to the other, these in turn being based ontheir beliefs about the other. Thus, Barkun has drawn on the model ofdeviance amplification (see Wilkins 1964; Wallis 1976; Cohen 1972) toexamine the way in which the actions of both the group and perceivedopponents may seemingly confirm the view that each holds of the otherand, in doing so, thereby justify their continued posture vis-à-vis the other.So, for example, if a group feels itself to be persecuted by the outside world,it may come to see actions undertaken by outside parties which in themselves
are not hostile (e.g. demands that the group comply with planningregulations) as further proof of this. This may in turn heighten the group’sreluctance to deal with their perceived opponents, which may then in turnmake them more likely to be perceived as dangerous and in need ofintervention by, for example, law-enforcement agencies. In this way, thepath to violence develops through a spiral of both sides misperceiving theactions of the other and, through their actions, seemingly confirmingthe view that each holds of the other.
Another influential theory of millenarian violence has been developedby Catherine Wessinger (1997, 2000a,b). Central to Wessinger’s (2000a,p. 15; emphasis in original) work is her claim that millenarian groups, likeall religious groups, possess an ‘ultimate concern’; ‘a concern which is moreimportant than anything else for the person [or group] involved’. When thisis threatened in some way, she argues, a millenarian group that is alreadyideologically primed may become volatile or violent in an attempt to eitherpreserve or fulfil it. On this basis, she distinguishes between three broadtypes of millenarian groups involved in violence; assaulted millenarian groups,who, as discussed above, commit reactive acts violence when they are, orbelieve themselves to be, under attack from outside forces; revolutionarycatastrophic movements, who engage in pre-emptive, offensive violence in anattempt to bring about their millennial goal; and, finally, fragile millenariangroups, where violence stems from a combination of internal pressures andthe perception or experience of external opposition.
Finally, in my own work on millenarian violence I have sought to explorethis notion of ‘fragility’ in relation to the case studies (see Walliss 2004,2005a,b, 2006). In particular, I have sought to examine the respective‘apocalyptic trajectories’ found in each of the cases; the key recurring internaland external and external issues and social processes that fostered theprogressive acceptance of violence within each group’s ideology, andultimately, helped to precipitate the use violence against the group’s ownmembers and/or outsiders. In doing so, my analysis of the case studies, hasled me to argue that, with the possible exception of the Branch Davidians,external opposition was neither a necessary nor sufficient factor inprecipitating violence in each of the cases. Rather, where opposition didplay a role, it served instead to exacerbate existing internal tensions, andthereby heighten each group’s respective fragility. Consequently, whilerejecting the anticult position, I have sought to shift scholarly attention backtowards the internal dynamics of millenarian groups, and, in particular, tothe role of what I term ‘crises of charismatic authority’ in precipitatingincidents of millenarian violence. While the cases suggest that, as withexternal opposition, such crises are rarely sufficient in themselves, I haveargued that they would appear to play an important role as catalysts to theinternal crises which, when coupled with real or perceived externalopposition, may make millenarian groups ‘fragile’ and thereby more proneto volatility or violence.
In many ways, the study of millenarian violence has been eclipsed in recentyears by the study of other forms of religious violence (see, for example,Juergensmeyer 2001; Selengut 2003; Nelson-Pallmeyer 2005), most notablyIslamist terrorism. However, the work I have outlined in this article may,I would argue, contribute to our understanding of this phenomenon inseveral ways. First, as a number of commentators have noted (see, forexample, McLaren 2002; Urban 2006), the manner in which the ‘war onterror’ has been framed as almost a cosmic battle between good and evilclearly draws and deploys, consciously or unconsciously, apocalyptic ideas,language and imagery. Millenarians traditionally have believed themselves,as protagonists on the side of good, to be locked into a struggle betweenthe forces of evil, which will ultimately have its denouement, typically in afinal bloody battle. Second, the work of Robbins and Barkun on the wayin which groups misperceive the actions of the other, often attributing hostilemotives to actions where there is arguably no hostile intent, is instructivefor, if nothing else, highlighting how societies should be aware of how theiractions may be perceived differently than they would perhaps wish them tobe. How, for example, the ‘war on terror’ may be arguably misperceived asa Judeo–Christian and/or Western ‘crusade’ against Islam. Finally, perhapsmost importantly, the study of millenarian violence reminds us of religion’sdarker side, that, as well as being a force for good in the world, religiousmotives and mandates can lead individuals to do horrific things to themselvesand others, even to the point of taking their own life or the life of others.For these reasons, it has important lessons to offer those of us who are tryingto make sense of the contemporary religio-political climate.
Short Biography
Dr. John Walliss is Senior Lecturer in the Sociology of Religion in theDepartment of Theology and Religious Studies, and Director of the Centrefor Millennialism Studies, at Liverpool Hope University, UK. He isthe author of several books on aspects of contemporary millennialism/millenarianism [Responding to Late Modernity: The Brahma Kumaris as a‘Reflexive Tradition’ (Ashgate, 2002); Apocalyptic Trajectories: Millenarianismand Violence in the Contemporary World (Peter Lang, 2004)], and is currentlyco-editing a collection of essays on the use of apocalyptic texts within popularculture. He has also written on the secularisation of weddings within theUK, relationships between the living and the dead within contemporaryspiritualism, and the relationship between social theory and the study ofreligion (Theorising Religion: Classical and Contemporary Debates, co-editedwith James A. Beckford – Ashgate, 2006). His current research interests areon the use of apocalyptic ideas within film and an edited collection on TheMovement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments of God, aUgandan millenarian group who were involved in a series of murder/suicides
in early 2000. He holds a BA (Hons) in Applied Social Science fromHumberside University, and a PhD in Sociology from the University ofSheffield. He is also visiting lecturer at Lock Haven University, Pennsylvaniaand in the Department of Theology and Religious Studies, University ofChester.
Notes
* Correspondence address: Department of Theology and Religious Studies, Liverpool HopeUniversity, Hope Park, Liverpool, L16 9JD, UK. Email: [email protected].
1 Within the literature a number of interchangeable terms are used to denote the phenomena inquestion; for example, millennialism, apocalypticism, chiliasm. For the purpose of this review Iwill use the term ‘millenarianism’ as defined by Norman Cohn in The Pursuit of the Millennium.For Cohn (1993, p.13; emphasis added; see also Talmon 1966), millenarian groups hold to a viewof salvation, that is:
collective, in the sense that it is to be enjoyed by the faithful as a collectivity;terrestrial, in the sense that it is to be realised on this earth and not in some other worldly heaven;imminent, in the sense that it is to come both soon and suddenly;total, in the sense that it is utterly to transform life on earth, so that the new dispensation willbe no mere improvement on the present but perfection itself; andmiraculous, in the sense that it is to be accomplished by, or with the help of, supernatural agencies.
2 The brainwashing debate was, and in some cases continues to be, one of the most controversialdebates within the sociology of religion. Broadly defined, the brainwashing position holds thatindividuals are both recruited to and remain members of marginal new religions (or ‘cults’ as theyare termed) as a consequence of some form of psychological coercion or manipulation, typicallyby a powerful ‘charismatic leader’. Going further, it is claimed that when members commit actsof violence, they are doing so because they are no longer thinking ‘rationally’, but have beenpsychologically manipulated/coerced in order to do so (and believe that doing so is acceptable).For an excellent series of articles on the topic, see http://www.cesnur.org/testi/se_brainwash.htm(particularly the articles by Richardson, Introvigne, and Melton).3 The concept of charisma is a notoriously slippery one and, indeed, a thorough discussion of theway it is understood across academic disciplines would merit a review article of its own. For amore detailed discussion, see Dawson (2002) and Walliss (2005a,b).4 I am hoping to address this lacunae in the literature with edited collection, that is, currentlyunder consideration with Ashgate.5 In addition, in both cases the primary texts produced by both groups are also not available inEnglish.
Bibliography of Key Material Organised by Topic
GENERAL DISCUSSIONS AND OVERVIEWS
Anthony, D, Robbins, T, & Barrie-Anthony, S, 2002, ‘Cult and Anticult Totalism: ReciprocalEscalation and Violence’, Terrorism and Political Violence, vol. 14, no. 1, pp. 211–39.
Barkun, M, 1995, ‘Introduction: Understanding Millennialism’, Terrorism and Political Violence,vol. 7, no. 3, pp. 1–9.
——, 2000, ‘Millennial Violence in Contemporary America’, in C.Wessinger (ed.), Millennialism,Persecution and Violence: Historical Cases, pp. 352–63, Syracuse University Press, Syracuse, NY.
——, 2002, ‘Project Megiddo, the FBI and the Academic Community’,Terrorism and Political Violence,vol. 14, no. 1, pp. 97–108.
Bromley, DG, 2002, ‘Dramatic Denouements’, in D. G. Bromley and J. G. Melton (eds.), Cults,Religion and Violence, pp. 1–10, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK.
Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS), 1999 [2002],Doomsday Religious Movements,Terrorismand Political Violence, vol. 14, no. 1, pp. 53–60.
Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), 1999 [2002], ‘Project Megiddo’, Terrorism and PoliticalViolence, vol. 14, no. 1, pp. 25–52.
Hall, JR, Schuyler, PD, & Trinh, S, 2000, Apocalypse Observed: Religious Movements and Violencein North America, Europe, and Japan, Routledge, London.
Mayer, J-F, 2001a, ‘Cults,Violence and Religious Terrorism: An International Perspective’, Studiesin Conflict and Terrorism, vol. 24, pp. 361–76.
Richardson, JT, 2001, ‘Minority Religions and the Context of Violence: A Conflict/InteractionistPerspective’, Terrorism and Political Violence, vol. 13, no. 1, pp. 103–33.
Robbins,T, 1997, ‘Religious Movements and Violence: A Friendly Critique of the InterpretiveApproach’, Nova Religio, vol. 1, no. 1, pp. 13–29.
——, 2002, ‘Sources of Volatility in Religious Movements’, in D. G. Bromley and J. G. Melton(eds.), Cults, Religion and Violence, pp. 57–79, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK.
Robbins,T, & Anthony, D, 1995, ‘Sects and Violence: Factors Enhancing the Volatility of MarginalReligious Movements’, in S. A. Wright (ed.), Armageddon at Waco: Critical Perspectives on theBranch Davidian Conflict, pp. 236–59, University of Chicago Press, Chicago, IL.
Robbins,T, & Palmer, SJ, 1997, ‘Patterns of Contemporary Apocalypticism in North America’,in T. Robbins and S. J. Palmer (eds.), Millennium, Messiahs and Mayhem: Contemporary ApocalypticMovements, Routledge, London, pp. 1–27.
Walliss, J, 2004, Apocalyptic Trajectories: Millenarianism and Violence in the Contemporary World, PeterLang, Bloomington, IN.
Wessinger, C, 1997, ‘Millennialism With and Without the Mayhem’, in T. Robbins & S. J. Palmer(eds.),Millennium,Messiahs and Mayhem: Contemporary Apocalyptic Movements, Routledge, London,pp. 47–59.
——, 2000a, How the Millennium Comes Violently: From Jonestown to Heaven’s Gate, Seven BridgesPress, London.
——, (ed.), 2000b, Millennialism, Persecution and Violence: Historical Cases, Syracuse University Press,London.
DISCUSSIONS OF SPECIFIC FACTORS
Barkun, M, 1997, ‘Millenarianism and Violence: The Case of the Christian Identity Movement’,in T. Robbins & S. J. Palmer (eds.), Millennium, Messiahs and Mayhem: Contemporary ApocalypticMovements, Routledge, London, pp. 247–60.
Dawson, LL, 2002, ‘Crises of Charismatic Legitimacy and Violent Behaviour’, in D. G. Bromley& J. G. Melton (eds.), Cults, Religion and Violence, pp. 80–101. Cambridge University Press,Cambridge, UK.
Galanter, M, 1989, Cults: Faith, Healing, and Coercion, 2nd edn, Oxford University Press, Oxford,UK.
Hall, JR, & Schuyler, P, 1998, ‘Apostasy, Apocalypse, and Religious Violence: An ExploratoryComparison of Peoples Temple, the Branch Davidians and the Solar Temple’, in D. G. Bromley(ed.), The Politics of Religious Apostasy: The Role of Apostates in the Transformation of ReligiousMovements, pp. 141–69, Praeger, Westport, CT.
Kanter, RM, 1968, ‘Commitment and Social Organisation: A Study of Commitment Mechanismsin Utopian Communities’, American Sociological Review, vol. 33, no. 4, pp. 499–517.
Kanter, RM, 1972, ‘Commitment and the Internal Organisation of Millennial Movements’,American Behavioural Scientist, vol. 16, no. 2, pp. 219–43.
Lebra,TS, 1972, ‘Millenarian Movements and Resocialisation’, American Behavioural Scientist, vol.16, no. 2, pp. 195–217.
Mills, EW, 1998 [1982], ‘Cult Extremism: The Reduction of Normative Dissonance’, in L. L.Dawson (ed.), Cults in Context: Readings in the Study of New Religious Movements, pp. 385–96,Transaction Publishers, London.
Wallis, R, 1982, ‘Charisma, Commitment and Control in a New Religious Movement’, inR. Wallis (ed.), Millennialism and Charisma, pp. 73–140, Queen’s University, Belfast, UK.
——, 1983, ‘Sex, Violence, and Religion’, Update: A Quarterly Journal of Religious Movements,vol. 7, no. 4, pp. 3–11.
Wallis, R, & Bruce, S, 1986, ‘Sex,Violence, and Religion, in R. Wallis and S. Bruce, SociologicalTheory, Religion and Collective Action, pp. 115–27, Queens University, Belfast, UK.
Walliss, J, 2005a, ‘Charisma,Volatility and Violence: Assessing the Role of Crises of CharismaticAuthority in Precipitating Incidents of Millenarian Violence’, presented to the EASR Conference,Turku, Finland, 17th August 2005.
——, 2006, ‘Charisma, Volatility and Violence: Assessing the Role of Crises of CharismaticAuthority in Precipitating Incidents of Millenarian Violence’, in M. Leppäkari & J. Peste (eds.),Hotbilder: våld, agression och religion, Åbo Akademi, Turku, Finland, pp. 177–94.
BY CASE STUDY
Peoples Temple (1978)Alternative Considerations of Jonestown and Peoples Temple, available at http://
jonestown.sdsu.edu/Chidester, D, 1988, Salvation and Suicide: An Interpretation of Jim Jones, the Peoples Temple, and
Jonestown, Indiana University Press, Bloomington, IN.Hall, JR, 1989, Gone from the Promised Land: Jonestown in American Cultural History, Transaction
Publishers, London.Maaga, MM, 1998, Hearing the Voices of Jonestown: Putting a Human Face on an American Tragedy,
Syracuse University Press, Syracuse, NY.Moore, R, 1985, A Sympathetic History of Jonestown: The Moore Family Involvement in Peoples Temple,
The Edwin Mellen Press, New York.——, 2000, ‘“American as Cherry Pie”: Peoples Temple and Violence in America’, in C.Wessinger
(ed.), Millennialism, Persecution and Violence: Historical Cases, pp. 121–37, Syracuse UniversityPress, Syracuse, NY.
——, 2001, ‘Is the Canon on Jonestown Closed?’ Nova Religio, vol. 4, no. 1, pp. 7–27.Moore, R, & McGehee, FM, III, (eds.), 1989, The Need for a Second Look at Jonestown,The Edwin
Mellen Press, New York.Moore, R, Pinn, AB, & Sawyer, MR (eds.), 2004, Peoples Temple and Black Religion in America,
Indiana University Press, Bloomington, IN.Richardson, JT, 1980, ‘People’s Temple and Jonestown: A Corrective Comparison and Critique’,
Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, vol. 19, no. 3, pp. 239–55.Smith, JA, 1982, Imagining Religion: From Babylon to Jonestown, University of Chicago Press, Chicago
IL.Weightman, J, 1983, Making Sense of the Jonestown Suicides, Edwin Mellen Press, New York, NY.
The Branch Davidians (1993)Agne, RR, & Tracy, K, 2001, ‘ “Bible Babble”: Naming the Interactional Trouble at Waco’,
Discourse Studies, vol. 3, no. 3, pp. 269–94.Anthony, D, & Robbins, T, 1997, ‘Religious Totalism, Exemplary Dualism, and the Waco
Tragedy’, in T. Robbins and S. J. Palmer (eds.), Millennium, Messiahs and Mayhem: ContemporaryApocalyptic Movements, Routledge, London, pp. 261–84.
Barkun, M, 1994, ‘Millenarian Groups and Law Enforcement Agencies: The Lessons of Waco’,Terrorism and Political Violence, vol. 6, no. 1, pp. 75–95.
Danforth, JC, 2000, Interim Report to the Deputy Attorney General Concerning the 1993Confrontation at the Mount Carmel Complex Waco, Texas, available at www.cesnur.org/testi/DanforthRpt.pdf
Docherty, JS, 1999a, ‘Bridging the Gap between Scholars of Religion and Law EnforcementAgencies’, Nova Religio, vol. 3, no. 1, pp. 8–26.
——, 1999b, ‘There is no Cookbook for Crisis Negotiation: A Response to Stuart Wright’,Terrorism and Political Violence, vol. 11, no. 2, pp. 74–82.
——, 2001a, Learning Lessons from Waco: When Parties bring their Gods to the Negotiating Table,Syracuse University Press, Syracuse, NY.
——, 2001b, ‘Why Waco Has Not Gone Away: Critical Incidents and Cultural Trauma’, NovaReligio, vol. 5, no. 1, pp. 186–202.
Gallagher, EV, 1999, ‘Negotiating Salvation’, Nova Reigio, vol. 3, no. 1, pp. 27–35.
——, 2000, ‘ “Theology is Life and Death”: David Koresh on Violence, Persecution and theMillennium’, in C. Wessinger (ed.), Millennialism, Persecution and Violence: Historical Cases, pp.82–100, Syracuse University Press, Syracuse, NY.
——, 2001, ‘“All I am is Religion”: David Koresh’s Christian Millenarianism’, in S. Hunt (ed.),Christian Millenarianism: From the Early Church to Waco, pp. 196–208, Indiana University Press,Bloomington, IN.
Lewis, JR, (ed.), From the Ashes: Making Sense of Waco, Rowman and Littlefield Publishers, Inc.,Maryland, MD.
Newport, KGC, 2006, The Branch Davidians of Waco: The History and Beliefs of an Apocalyptic Sect,Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK.
Stone, AA, 1993, ‘Report and Recommendations Concerning the Handling of Incidents SuchAs the Branch Davidian Standoff in Waco Texas’, available at http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/waco/stonerpt.html
Tabb Stewart, D, 2003, Waco: Ten Years After: 2003 Fleming Lectures in Religion, available atwww.southwestern.edu/academic/bwp/pdf/2003bwp-stewart_etal.pdf
Tabor, JD, & Gallagher, EV, 1995, Why Waco? Cults and the Battle for Religious Freedom in America,University of California Press, Berkeley, CA.
United States Congress, 1996, Activities of Federal Law Enforcement Agencies Towards the BranchDavidians, US Government Printing Office,Washington, DC.
United States Department of Justice, 1993a, Evaluation of the Handling of the Branch DavidianStand-Off in Waco Texas, February 28 to April 19 1993, US Government Printing Office,Washington, DC.
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USEFUL ONLINE RESOURCES
Unfortunately there is a real lack of quality academic material available online about millenariannew religious movements. Much of the available material is either sensationalistic or polemical intone, and often draws on the brainwashing paradigm to frame the discussion. Aside from the linkscited above, for updated, reputable scholarly information on millenarian and other new religionssee:
http://www.lse.ac.uk/collections/INFORM/ (Information Network Focus on ReligiousMovements)http://www.cesnur.org (Center for Studies on New Religions)http://religiousmovements.lib.virginia.edu/ (The Religious Movements Homepage Project)http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/apocalypse/ (PBS Frontline: Apocalypse)http://www.mille.org/ (Center for Millennial Studies at Boston University)http://www.hope.ac.uk/research/millennialism/index.htm (Centre for Millennialism Studies,Liverpool Hope University)
