The turn of the 21st century and the advent of the third Christian millennium is a moment of symbolic relevance for many societies, even those with different calendars and time reckonings. Landes is professor of history at Boston University, where he directs the Center for Millennial Studies.
All lectures are free and open to the public.
He has written numerous articles on the history of apocalypticism and organized several conferences on millennialism. Sawyer Seminars, named in honor of John E. Sawyer, the Mellon Foundation's third president, provide opportunities for inquiry into the historical and cultural origins of significant contemporary developments. This seminar is open to faculty and graduate students at Yale. Abbas Amanat, professor of Middle Eastern history and chair of the Council on Middle East Studies at the Yale Center for International and Area Studies, is director of the seminar and lecture series. Graduate student Magnus Bernhardsson is coordinator.