Note to self, study eucalyptic religions and their techniques, learn to mimic same (except for the marrying 14 year old crap) so as to better fit the mold of an official cult, rather than a pseudo, wannabe cult.
William Miller & the long road to Apocalyps...
by expatbrit 20 Replies latest jw friends
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AlanF
A number of good books have been written about Millerism and its offshoots. I've found these useful:
The Disappointed: Millerism and Millenarianism in the Nineteenth Century, edited by Ronald L. Numbers and Jonathon M. Butler, University of Tennessee Press, 1993
'Come Out of Babylon': A Study of Millerite Separatism and Denominationalism, 1840-1865, David T. Arthur, University of Rochester Ph.D. thesis, 1970
Echoes of the Midnight Cry: The Millerite Heritage in the Apologetics of the Advent Christian Denomination, 1860-1960, David A Dean, Westminster Theological Seminary Th.D. thesis, 1976
The above two theses are available via print on demand from UMI Dissertation Information Service (aka University Microfilms International), Ann Arbor, Michigan
Another useful book is When Prophecy Fails: A social and psychological study of a modern group that predicted the destruction of the world, Leon Festinger, University of Minnesota, 1956 and Harper Torchbooks, 1964. The book contains a lot of material useful in dealing with Jehovah's Witnesses.
AlanF
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refiners fire
AlanF
You got "when Prophecy fails"?
Thats a hard book to lay hold of. Im impressed.
I had to drive to the national Library in Canberra and spend 30 bucks on the photocopy machine to get that one.
"The Dissapointed" is a terrific book isnt it. Thats where i got the "crawler" information from.
If I might also make a couple of book recommendations?"Millenial Fever" by George Knight.
"1844 and the rise of Sabbatarian Adventism".
Both these are available thru 7th day advent bookshops.
"1844" is especially interesting as it is no more than a collection of historical reproductions. Vital reading for any Sevvie Apostate.I find the sevvie history relating to "come out of her my people" The Fitch sermon, especially interesting. If one reads the texts fully The sevvies came "out of Babylon" because "babylon" was Spiritualizing the return. Declaring it None Literal.
However, those who "came out of Babylon" Spiritualized the return themselves, a mere 3 YEARS after the "come out" cry.
I laughed and laughed at that one! -
dungbeetle
So maybe you guys can tell us:
What IS it with these apocolyptic religions that rose up within a few years of each other within a few miles of each other.
What the HE** was going ON back there and back then?
Has anyone ever addressed this issue? I know Barbara G Harrison touched on it slightly; and someone told me it was something to do with changeing from an agrarian society to an industrial society...
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dungbeetle
Radar:
thanks for the link to Mark Miller; a great read and a real keeper. I highly recommend it!!!
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refiners fire
dungbettle
There have been a couple of books on the subject that Ive read.
One is by Michael Barkun called "crucible of the Millenium"
It focuses on Adventism, Shakerism and The Noyes "Oneida" Community primarily.
No satisfactory explanation of WHY this happened in upstate New York in the 1820s is really offered.
Perhaps it is one of those things that will never be known.
The book merely deals with the details of what occured. -
singsongboi
radar - thanx for link to mark miller story--
reminded me of how many really nice guys were in the org. but now are not!!!!
great story - just spent an hour reading it...
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greven
interesting reading material.
THANX!!!
greven.
"Fear is strange soil. Mainly it grows obedience like corn, which grows in rows and makes weeding easy. But sometimes it grows the potatoes of defiance, which flourish underground."
-from "Small Gods" by Terry Pratchett- -
AlanF
Hi RF,
Yeah, I have When Prophecy Fails. Picked up a trade paper copy at a used book store some years ago. You can find a number of copies for sale via www.bookfinder.com for reasonable prices. Thanks for the other refs!
Crucible of the Millennium is certainly an interesting read. I don't know of anyone who has tackled the question of why that particular part of New York was such a hotbed of looney millennium predictions. However, from roughly 1800 through 1880 there was almost a fever of millennial predictions coming from Britain and America. I think the community just fed on itself. The ferment resulted in all sorts of predictions of "the end" by literally hundreds of writers, all of whom were obviously wrong. It also resulted in today's Fundamentalist sects, ranging from the Seventh-Day Adventists and Jehovah's Witnesses, to "mainstream" Evangelicals to the wilder Pentecostal type sects. A good read, if you can find it, is Ernest Sandeen's 1970(?) book The Roots of Fundamentalism.
As for Mark Miller, he's a nice guy in a certain sense, but given his propensity for whacko religious views, he's even more goofy than William Miller was. He used to show up regularly on the old H2O and preach his message, but so many people pointed out the looniness that he finally gave up.
AlanF
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Bangalore
Great info.
Bangalore