Apocalypses: Prophecies, Cults, and Millennial Beliefs through the Ages

by Eugen Weber

Apocalyptic visions and prophecies from Zarathustra to yesterday form the luxuriant panorama in Eugen Weber's profound and elegant book. Beginning with the ancients of the West and the Orient and, especially, with those from whom we received our religions, the Jews and earliest Christians, Weber finds that an absolute belief in the end of time, when good would do final battle with evil, was omnipresent. Within centuries, apocalyptic beliefs inspired Crusades, scientific discoveries, works of art, voyages such as those of Columbus, rebellions and reforms. In the new world, American abolitionists, who were so critical to the movement to end slavery, believed in a final reckoning. The nineteenth and twentieth centuries' apocalyptic movements veered toward a lunatic fringe, and Weber rescues them from obloquy. From this more than two millennia history, he redresses the historical and religious amnesia that has consigned the study of apocalypses and millennial thought to the ash heap of thought and belief.

Weber, a master storyteller, turns detective in this latest book as he finds these alternative rationalities in the West, Asia, Africa, and South America. He writes with profound respect for the millennial pulse in history while never losing his urbane and witty style of writing. As we approach our second millennium beset by a host of apocalyptic predictions and cults, this book offers a map of understanding of the creeds we ignore at our peril.

Genres: History, Religion, Nonfiction, Christianity, Theology

302 pages, Paperback

First published May 4, 2000

About the author

Historian, fought in World War II

Reviews

[Brian Griffith · Rating 3 out of 5]

Weber put this book together in 1999 as a reflection on all millennial prophesies past. He presents a grand parade of the Western world’s apocalyptic movements, showing plausible evidence that the book of Revelation has influenced popular Christianity more than the gospels. Modern rationalist Christians may have argued that “God was progress, … compassion and mercy would save mankind without supernatural intervention.” But the popular dream of a cosmological conflagration to end all evils rolled on like a river, inspiring moral crusades of every description, including “ungodly” revolutions to eliminate greed and inequality.

Weber cautions intellectual snobs against dismissing the power and appeal of apocalyptic beliefs, especially for those who feel oppressed. But in recounting the many details of predicted catastrophes, satanic conspiracies, and utopian kingdoms, he can’t help but show a chuckle of enjoyment at the spectacle. He urges respect for humanity’s dreams, but wants to investigate the “disquieting border area of theology and psychopathology.”

[David · Rating 2 out of 5]

After reading Tom Holland's Forge of Christendom and Barbara Tuchman's The Distant Mirror, both of which dealt with times when many Christians thought the end of the world was near, I was interested in reading a book that summarized the various people through history who have thought such. I was happy to stumble upon this book at the local library. Overall, it does provide the information I was interested in, showing many examples of people throughout history (mostly Christian) who believed the end was coming very soon. I mostly give it two stars because the author seemed kind of all over the place, there was little overall progression. So it is a helpful read, but not particularly enjoyable.

[Liam Ostermann · Rating 4 out of 5]

Professor Weber is historian I admire greatly and I delighted that he has brought the keen eye he brought to enlightening us on millennium currents in earlier times to the 20th century and the advent of the 21st. Considering the way people became obsessed with apocalypticism around the time this book was being put together never mind later scares - does anyone remember the acres of print poured out over the so-called Mayan doomsday calender which set the apocolypse in 2012? - well if you do, and even more if you don't, then you need to read this book.

Although prepared for the 2000 millennium this book is based on knowledge and insights that are timeless. Well worth reading it is just a pity that those who should read it never will.

[Michael Walker]

Dr. Weber was a historian and Dean of UCLA's College of Letters and Sciences.

[Mz · Rating 3 out of 5]

https://antifono.gr/%cf%80%cf%81%ce%b...

[Benjamin Thompson · Rating 3 out of 5]

death cult death cult death cult

research for wolf y cub project

useful survey, both expansive in historical patterns yet very very limited breadth; aggressively euro centric with little interrogation of colonialism/capitalism subjecting many peoples to very real end times...

so thanks for reading those old books bozo

[Adelaide · Rating 2 out of 5]

DNF pg.119, 39%; Maybe I’m just stupid, but the blurb gave me the impression we’d be covering the apocalyptic beliefs of multiple peoples… and what I got was just a bunch of Christians throughout history repeating over and over again that Revelation was at hand when it wasn’t. I mean, I am a Christian, but I can only take so much of one subject before it gets boring. If I wanted to read Christian panic, I’d just go on some off-the-wall forums where people are posting about the end of times *right now* and have a field day. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[Giovanni García-Fenech · Rating 2 out of 5]

I tried to read this a couple of times but just couldn't get past the first third. There's simply much too much information crammed into such a short book that it leaves no room for interpretation or for a coherent narrative to emerge. It might serve scholars as a timeline of apocalyptic-inspired events, but it's just a trudge to a lay reader like me.

[Mitchell Stern · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book’s great strength is its breadth of content. Numerous apocalyptic visions from ancient times to the 20th century are outlined. The primary flaw this books suffers is that, in its effort to mention everything, it can only provide the briefest summary of anything. I think it would have been improved by focusing on some key examples in each era rather than trying to get all of them.

[Yesenia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this for class back in undergrad, found it okay. Then we entered a global pandemic and I reread everything I owned, and this book hit completely different.

[Kate · Rating 1 out of 5]

Every sentence of this book theoretically made sense, and yet the sentences in concert with one another made literally no sense at all. Like, bizarrely so.

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

While at times reading like a summation of facts and statements, the author conveyed the meta-physical reality of the end of times to the human zeitgeist across various ages

[Joseph · Rating 5 out of 5]

Eschatology-a branch of theology concerning the end times of the history of man. Does this sound interesting to you? Does it sound boring? If this were written with an agenda in mind I could see it being very boring but as usual Eugen brings a very fresh, energetic, committed dialogue to what could be a very bland topic. My grade 11 Social Studies teacher told me there was no such thing as a Zionist movement. This book introduces us to William Eugene Blackstone, considered the father of Zionism.(I always knew they were lying to us) "The Travels of Sir John Mandeville" I found extremely interesting and I want to know more about it. Eugen writes about Napolean and the calling of the Sanhedrin, Napoleon as antichrist and saviour, and the link between pre-Marxist communism and Christianity. He speaks of the protestant reformation and goes deep into it's character and how it influenced every millennialist-nutcase in America who believed he, and in one case she, were the second coming of Christ. You've all heard of these self-proclaimed prophets in the news, now you can learn a bit of history about their movement, and yes it is a movement, that has been going on since people having been thinking about the second coming of Christ. I got a tiny bit more insight into Mormons and how their religion survived while the social-reform movement of Robert Owen died out. The German Amana colonies and the appliances that bare their name to this day had me pause for thought. I've always wondered how Christian missionaries and soldiers who believed in Jesus Christ and his teaching could play such a brutal role in the decimation of the indigenous people of the land Columbus called San Salvador. This book sheds light on that. Millenarianism and it's influence of the Ronald Reagan and how that in turn influenced his parties politics. I never got it before but I have a little better understanding of it now. Such an amazing read and I highly recommend it to those interested in the subject of the Millennium.

[Scriptor Ignotus · Rating 4 out of 5]

I rented this book from the library on a total whim, but i'm glad I did. It is a literary, conversational treatment of Apocalyptic expectation throughout history, mainly in a western Christian and secular context. The advent of Christianity, which itself began as an apocalyptic movement, taught the western mind to imagine history with an endpoint, and time itself as a living entity which grows old, tires, and must periodically die and be reborn to restore its youthful vigor.

The middle ages are well-known for their proliferation of apocalyptic predictions and messianic movements, and Weber discusses them in the dozens, while reminding us of thousands more who saw Biblical prophecy in contemporary events and prepared for the end of the world. But lest we remain on our high horse, Weber points out that even the so-called Age of Reason was driven by eschatological expectation of a sort, even among the literati, while end-of-days fervor persisted among "common" people in a manner that would be familiar to the medieval imagination. Upon abolishing the monarchy, the French Revolutionaries declared 1793 to be Year One of the Age of Reason, attempting to reorder time and bring about a new age, just as the Gregorian Calendar had reordered time from the supposed year of the birth of Christ.

Weber's discussion runs right through the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, up to Waco and the Y2K buzz. Weber seamlessly integrates medieval apocalypticism with its modern manifestations.

[James Henderson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Eugen Weber appropriately begins his book on apocalypses with a discussion of chronologies and the fin de siecle for, as he discusses, time is a social construct and the nature of fin de siecles is dependent upon this. The differing perspectives of time and the way we view historical events is the jumping off point for his discussion of the views and beliefs of people over the years regarding the end times. It is the book of Revelation and the "dark and bloody" apocaplypse that is described there that captured my imagination and was a starting point for a tour through history of the varying adpatations and expectations of humans regarding Apocalypses over the centuries. These views continue into our own violent and bloody century (both current and immediately preceding) where there are groups like the "Millenium Watch Institute" that keeps "an eye out for signs of the Coming" (p 209). Whether considered as "a growth industry" or a phenomenon of one of many belief systems, Armageddon has been a concept that has captured the imagination of humans for ages. Eugen Weber shares some insights on the history of this and other apocalyptic ideas in this fascinating and informative book.

[Ryan Viergutz]

It felt really good to get thoroughly immersed and devoured into a nonfiction book for once since it's been a while. I pretty much instantly grabbed this book upon the title and description, and it was incredibly fascinating to see all of the different interpretations and obsessions relating to the Book of Revelation. I wish more nutjobs who believe the End of the World is imminent would read this, since it gives an amazing perspective in that the more times become anxious and frightening (really, aren't they always?) the more people become apocalyptic and spout about doom and destruction.

The writer has a great sense of humor about his gloomy and disturbing subject, you can almost see him rolling his eyes at the exaggeration. He knows his subject incredibly well, too, quoting Old Testament prophets and the Book of Revelation all the time.

[Nick Mather]

A well written book that traces the history of apocalyptic thought throughout civilization, though the emphasis is clearly on Christian apocalypticism. So the next time someone tells you that a current outbreak of cholera or a rash of meteorites are signs of the end times, just know that people have been interpreting current events through the apocalyptic books of the Bible for well over 2,000 years and so far their track record is pretty abysmal. I wonder what the Bible has to say about 2012?

[Michelle Hoogterp · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fabulous work, quite interesting. Though this was published on the eve of the millennium and makes some references to it, the book is still fascinating and the mentions don't detract from the overall experience. Weber does have a bit of snarky sense of humour which comes out on occasion, and while that's fine it can be distracting when he is talking about hundreds of dead from a mass cult suicide.

[Christa · Rating 1 out of 5]

Here is my review: Don't bother with this book. It is a rambling mess with no real point. The conclusion of the book didn't conclude anything. The author just rambled on for another 20 pages before stopping. Did I learn anything? Nope. Could I tell you the overarching theme? Definitely not. I had hopes for it but it bored me to tears and I'm still shocked that I made it all the way through.

[Kate]

So dry and rambling I could neither follow nor finish it. It is evident that he knows the subject, but the arrangement of the book was too tedious for me. Maybe I will pick it up again sometime much later.

[Josh · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting subject, but very dry.

[Mike · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating

[Ami]

Gave up on it. Too dry for my tastes. I really wanted to like it, and I love me apocalypses, prophecies and cults, but I just couldn't get into it.