Dreams of glory
Subtitle: the source of apocalyptic terror
By: Richard K. Fenn.
Publisher: Ashgate Pub. Ltd.
Published: 2005
Place of publication: Aldershot, Hants, England; Burlington, VT
Language: eng
Number of pages: 157
Subjects: Apocalyptic literature -- History and criticism; End of the world -- Comparative studies; Terrorism -- Religious aspects; Civilization, Modern -- 21st century
Genres: Comparative studies.
Description: Apocalypticism is a religious luxury that modern civilizations can no longer afford. Many would agree that the propagandists of the Christian Right have raised apocalyptic tensions to a dangerous level since 9/11, but in this book Richard Fenn takes on the mainline church leaders for their role in promoting an apocalyptic view of history. Those who keep apocalyptic beliefs in a respectable place in religious faith and practice must bear their share of responsibility for global terror. It is not only tragic but ironic that the churches have given apocalyptic literature such a respectable place in their sacred texts, because the apocalyptic imagination itself has its sources in non-Biblical literature: the Hellenistic prophesies that gave comfort and courage to the victims of war in the near and middle east from the time of Alexander the Great and Darius. Fenn goes on to hold apocalyptic enthusiasts in the mainline churches, as well as on the Right, responsible for keeping old grievances alive in their demands for a day of final reckoning, and he demonstrates that totalitarian and imperial regimes have made effective use of apocalyptic literature to justify their own violence and to terrify their subjects and enemies --
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents: title: The apocalyptic vision as bad seed; title: Radical preachers and Mullahs; title: Terror and the apocalyptic imagination; title: Apocalyptic visions as reaction to disaster; title: The apocalyptic attack on the self; title: Apocalyptic visions as ideology; title: The test of time; title: The theater and the courtroom; title: Free association.