Wessinger, Catherine. How the Millennium Comes Violently: from Jonestown to Heaven's Gate (New York: Seven Bridges Press, 2000).
Catherine Wessinger begins her book with an introduction to New Religious Movements where she stresses their status as religions instead of the pejorative term ‘cults.’ Here she also discusses several challenges faced many NRMs including internal conflict, negative responses from law enforcement, and theologies that promote violence. Wessinger also dismisses ‘brainwashing’ because of the lack of attention paid to “mainstream social and religious institutions” that “also indoctrinate and socialize people” (6). The Peoples Temple, Branch Davidians, and Heaven’s Gate are expected inclusions, but Wessinger also examines the Montana Freeman, an NRM not often present in discussions of violent American ‘cults.’ She argues that the peace PT was denied, the overlooked autonomy of BD members, and the …show more content…
Published in 1999, Hall and Schuyler argue that the (at the time) current focus on millenarianism led to little focus on “tensions between…social order and countercultural religious movements” (3). Apocalypse Observed demonstrates that these groups offer insight into the “societal transformations, social conflicts, and cultural dilemmas” that allow NRMs to exert so much influence over their members (3). These ‘cultural dilemmas’ include the millennium and anticipated apocalypse. Hall, Schuyler, and Trinh show that PT, BD, and HG functioned on apocalyptic ideas and isolated themselves to create their own paradise, defend themselves in the post-apocalyptic world, or escape to a higher extra-terrestrial level. In an idea that echoes Wessinger, Apocalypse Observed suggest that the violence exhibited by these groups was in response to the pressures of modern law, media, and social
Catherine Wessinger begins her book with an introduction to New Religious Movements where she stresses their status as religions instead of the pejorative term ‘cults.’ Here she also discusses several challenges faced many NRMs including internal conflict, negative responses from law enforcement, and theologies that promote violence. Wessinger also dismisses ‘brainwashing’ because of the lack of attention paid to “mainstream social and religious institutions” that “also indoctrinate and socialize people” (6). The Peoples Temple, Branch Davidians, and Heaven’s Gate are expected inclusions, but Wessinger also examines the Montana Freeman, an NRM not often present in discussions of violent American ‘cults.’ She argues that the peace PT was denied, the overlooked autonomy of BD members, and the …show more content…
Published in 1999, Hall and Schuyler argue that the (at the time) current focus on millenarianism led to little focus on “tensions between…social order and countercultural religious movements” (3). Apocalypse Observed demonstrates that these groups offer insight into the “societal transformations, social conflicts, and cultural dilemmas” that allow NRMs to exert so much influence over their members (3). These ‘cultural dilemmas’ include the millennium and anticipated apocalypse. Hall, Schuyler, and Trinh show that PT, BD, and HG functioned on apocalyptic ideas and isolated themselves to create their own paradise, defend themselves in the post-apocalyptic world, or escape to a higher extra-terrestrial level. In an idea that echoes Wessinger, Apocalypse Observed suggest that the violence exhibited by these groups was in response to the pressures of modern law, media, and social