1. Robert R. Wilson, Prophecy and Society in Ancient Israel (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1980), 15-16.
2. This examination of groups and societies for later comparison with the biblical material will not be limited to groups and societies that presently exist. Andrew D. H. Mayes refers to both Max Weber's and Emile Durkheim's work as justification for associating sociology and history and for using sociology in trying to understand ancient Israel (The Old Testament in  Sociological Perspective [London: Marshall Pickering, 1989], 1). Authors such as Sylvia L. Thrupp also argue for the validity of comparing the results of both field and historical studies ("Millennial Dreams in Action: A Report on the Conference Discussion," in Millennial Dreams in Action: Essays in Comparative Study, ed. S. Thrupp [The Hague: Mouton, 1962], 13).
3. See the list in Thrupp, "Millenial Dreams in Action: A Report," 13.
4. Norman Gottwald, "Problems and Promises in the Comparative Analysis of Religious Phenomena," Semeia 21 (1981): 111.
5. The thesis that deprivation theory cannot account for many millennial groups will be impossible to demonstrate if we begin by defining a millennial group as one that arises out of a causal matrix of deprivation. Further, there are good empirical
warrants against defining millennial groups in terms of one type of social arena. Groups with a millennial worldview are found in many social contexts, and this will be made clear below. Thus Kenelm Burridge writes, "Unless an apocalyptic message is defined by the conditions which supposedly produced them, apocalyptic events [i.e., occurrences of apocalyptic messages or group activities] also occur in quite different conditions" ("Reflections on Prophecy and Prophetic Groups," Semeia 21 [1981]: 99-100). Therefore, attempts at definition of the sociology of millennial groups that presuppose a causality will be avoided here. Weston La Barre tries to avoid a similar problem in choosing between terms for millennial groups such as adjustment movements, revitalization movements, and messianic movements ("Materials for a History of Studies of Crisis Cults: A Bibliographic Essay," Current
Anthropology 12 [1971]: 11). Unfortunately, even the term crisis cult, which La Barre chooses, presupposes too much.
6. See T. Stern's comments in the "Responses" to La Barre, "Materials for a History," Current Anthropology 12 (1971): 34.
7. Because even the term eschatology is understood differently by different authors, its meaning should also be examined. Thus, Stanley B. Frost's terminology differs from that used here in that for him, the pre-apocalyptic envisioning of a telos within history is not true eschatology ("Apocalyptic and History," in The Bible in Modern Scholarship, ed. J. P Hyatt [Nashville: Abingdon, 1965], 105). The term eschatology, from the Greek eschatos meaning "the furthest, the last" is used by biblical scholars to refer to views or positions about a coming time of fulfillment, or a coming consummation of the present course of events. Eschatology as expressed in apocalyptic literature refers to God's decisive or final visit - not within the course of history, but as a radical disjunction with history (see 2 Esd. 11:44;
Dan. 7:26-27). Frost states that "the eschaton interrupts the history, it is not anything which the history prepares for or in any way causes to occur" ("Apocalyptic and History," 112). Often, complete irrationality and absolute chaos separate this age from the next (e.g., Rev. 4:1-19:21).
8. For discussion of this imprecision and of the ongoing lack of a generally accepted description of apocalypticism, see Bruce Vawter, C. M., "Apocalyptic: Its Relation to Prophecy," CBQ 22 (1960): 33-34; Hartmut Gese, "Anfang and Ende der Apokalyptik, dargestellt am Sacharjabuch," ZTK 70 (1973): 20; Klaus Seybold, Bilder zum Tempelbau: Die Visionen des Propheten Sacharja, SB 70 (Stuttgart: Verlag Katholisches Bibelwerk, 1974), 105; Michael E. Stone, "Lists of Revealed Things in the Apocalyptic Literature," in Magnalia Dei: The Mighty Acts of God, ed. F. M. Cross, W. Lemke, and P. D. Miller, Jr. (Garden City, N.J.: Doubleday, 1976), 439-43; Peter R. Ackroyd, "Apocalyptic in Its Social Setting Int 30 (1976): 412; Wayne A. Meeks, The First Urban Christians: The Social World of the Apostle Paul (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1953), 172; and Willem S. Prinsloo, The Theology of the Book of Joel (New York: Walter de Gruyter, 1955), 86. Disagreement is especially great over what constitutes proto-apocalyptic literature. Thus, Baruch Halpern refers to proto-apocalyptic as a "crepuscular realm" ("The Ritual Background of Zechariah's Temple Song," CBQ 40 [1975]: 167). This latter term is discussed below.
9. Paul Hanson, "Apocalypticism," IDBSup, 29-30; Klaus Koch, The Rediscovery of Apocalyptic (Naperville, Ill.: Allenson, 1972); and John J. Collins, Daniel with an
Introduction to Apocalyptic Literature, FOTL 20 (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1954), 2-5.
10. For example, Hanson ("Apocalypticism") does not explain why he singles out apocalyptic eschatology, rather than, e .g., apocalyptic dualism. Further, the relationship between Hanson's categories is unclear. Thus,he fails to explain his view that apocalypticism grows out of apocalyptic eschatology. For discussion, see Robert R. Wilson, "From Prophecy to Apocalyptic: Reflections on the Shape of Israelite Religion," Semeia 21 (1951): 83. For evidence that the definition of apocalypticism remains unstable, see the references cited in n. 8 above.
11. Burridge, "Reflections," 102.
12. For such an argument, which refers to apocalyptic's ideal nature, see Paul Hanson, The Dawn of Apocalyptic (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1979), 6-7. In contrast, Wittgenstein found a concept of "family resemblance" helpful in his argument that a word or expression cannot be clarified by trying to state its ultimate essence. Some words do not have a universal definition but are used for a number of referents, which may not have any one feature in common. For example, suppose that A, B, C, D, and E are five features or elements. The combinations ABCD, ABCE, ABDE, ACDE, and BCDE may all be called by the same name, even though they have no one of these ingredients in common. They are not classified together based on any statable essence but based on complicated but objective overlappings and differences. See Ludwig Wittgenstein, Philosophical Investigations, 3rd ed., trans. G. Anscombe (New York: Macmillan, 1955), 32.
13. Collins defines apocalypse as "a genre of revelatory literature with a narrative framework, in which a revelation is mediated by an otherworldly being to a human recipient, disclosing a transcendent reality which is both temporal, insofar as it envisages eschatological salvation, and spatial, insofar as it involves another, supernatural world" (John J. Collins, "The Jewish Apocalypses," Semeia 14 [ 1979] : 22).
14. On the idea that genres can be defined both broadly and specifically; see Gene M. Tucker, Form Criticism of the Old Testament, Old Testament Guides to Biblical Scholarhip (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1971), 3.
15. It might be objected that this is a return to the approach of D. S. Russell (The Method and Message of Jewish Apocalyptic [Philadelphia: Westminster, 1964]; and Apocalyptic: Ancient and Modern [Philadelphia: Fortress, 1978], 22). (Cf. Koch, who lists both formal/literary characteristics and typical moods and ideas of apocalyptic literature [Rediscovery, 23-33].) Hanson criticizes Russell's approach, arguing that "long lists of random features" fail to describe apocalyptic literature adequately. For Hanson, such lists are confusing and also misleading in that no apocalyptic work incorporates all the features included in such lists (Dawn, 6-7). The Wittgensteinian approach taken here, however, is not vulnerable to such an objection. Those texts within the apocalyptic "family" are not argued to share all their features in common. What they share is a "family resemblance." See n. 12 above.
16. The cosmological and mystical tendencies of apocalyptic literature result in its having a different view of heaven and earth than that typically found in ancient Near Eastern literature (e.g., 1 Kcings 22, Kirta, and Aqhat). In contrast to Near Eastern texts in general, apocalyptic literature ontologically differentiates heaven and earth and views them as planes of existence that mirror each other. Thus, in apocalyptic literature, terrestrial happenings have a supernatural backdrop. As a result, the earth's problems can be dealt with by actions (such as celestial battles) in the heavenly plane. (See John J. Collins, The Apocalyptic Imagination: An Introduction the Jewish Matrix of Christianity [New York: Crossroad, 1984], 8, 32, 82.) Further, celestial archetypes exist in heaven that provide the patterns for what is to come on earth. (See Gerhard von Rad, Old Testament Theology, trans. D. Stalker [New York: Harper & Row, 1965], 2:288.)
17. See Collins, Apocalyptic Imagination, 37, 129.
18. For examples of the tendency of apocalyptic tests to speculate about secret wisdom, see Stone, "Revealed Things," 414-39.
19. Many sociologists explain what is meant by a worldview. For example, see Anthony F. C. Wallace, "Revitalization Movements," American Anthropologist 58 (1956): 266-67; La Barre, "Materials for a History," 27; and Mayes, Old Testament, 132-33. John Lofland describes a worldview as "an order of things taken for granted about the attributes of objects, events, and human nature . . . [a view of] the real, the possible, and the moral" (Doomsday Cult [Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1966], 1).
20. Thus, Meeks assumes that the frequent use of end-time language in a document implies that this language was "intelligible and important" to its readers (Urban Christians, 171).
21. Discussion of form criticism of apocalyptic literature is resumed below.
22. Thus, Kenelm Burridge argues (against La Barre) that symbols are not "adaptive man-made artifacts," but come into being unbidden. See his comments in the "Responses" to La Barre, " Materials for a History," Current Anthropology 12 (1971): 28. Graham Allan also stresses that worldviews are not created from a void by individuals but are social phenomena ("A Theory of Millennialism: The Irvingite Movement as an Illustration," British journal of Sociology 25 [1974]:298).
23. Thus, Mayes writes, "It may be said that the individual's perception of reality depends upon the ongoing support of the social group to which he belongs . . . . This means that the individual cannot maintain a particular view or understanding of reality in complete isolation; without supporting structures, coming to expressionin meeting, conversation, ritual and so on, beliefs lose their quality of objective reality and so also their claim on the individual" (Old Testament, 133). See also Allan, "A Theory;" 299.
24. The question of the exact relationship between a millennial worldview and a given viewpoint on eschatology remains problematic. There may be a trajectory from certain eschatological positions to an apocalyptic symbolic universe. Alternatively, a position on eschatology and the worldview may evolve together. (For Hanson's view, see his "Apocalypticism," 30.)
25. For discussion or descriptions that picture a Last Judgment belief as part of a millennial worldview, see Vittorio Lanternari, The Religions of the Oppressed, trans. L. Sergio (New York: Knopf, 1963), 204; Justus van der Kroef, "Messianic Movements in the Celebes, Sumatra, and Borneo;" in Millennial Dreams, 102; and Norman Cohn, The Pursuit of the Millennium (New York: Oxford University Press,
1970), 212. By way of contrast, there was little emphasis on a Last Judgment in the Taiping Rebellion, even though this movement had other millennial aspects (see Eugene P. Boardman, "Millenary Aspects of the Taiping Rebellion [1851-64)," in Millennial Dreams, 70).
26. See Bryan R. Wilson, Magic and the Millennium (New York: Harper & Row,
1973), 279, 334. For discussion and more descriptions that picture this belief as
part of millennial worldviews, see ibid., 234, 300; Weston La Barre, The Ghost
Dance: Origins of Religion (Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1970), 310; Mircea Eliade
 "`Cargo Cults' and Cosmic Regeneration," in Millennial Dreams, 139-40; and Lanternari, Religions of the Oppressed, 132.
27. For sample illustrations, see Norman Cohn, "Medieval Millenarism: Its Bearing on the Comparative Study of Millenarian Movements," in Millennial Dreams, 31; Rene Ribeiro, "Brazilian Messianic Movements," in Millennial Dreams, 56; and B. Wilson, Magic, 213.
28. For sample illustrations, see John L. Phelan, The Millennial Kingdom of the Franciscans in the New World, 2nd ed. (Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1970), 99; Theodore Olson, Millennialism, Utopianism, and Progress (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1982), 15; van der Kroef, "Messianic Movements," 111; Eliade, "Cargo Cults," 143; and Cohn, Pursuit, 136, 212. Illustrations of groups believing in immincnt catastrophes heralding doomsday are also found in Kenelm Burridge, New Heaven, New Earth: A Study of Millenarian Activities (New York: Schocken, 1969), 78; Lanternari, Religions of the Oppressed, 132; and Thomas W. Overholt, Prophecy in Cross-Cultural Perspective: A Sourcebook for Biblical Researchers (Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1986), 130.
29. For example, a nineteenth-century millennial cult among the Xhosa in South Africa held that two suns in the sky, a great darkness, and a violent gale would precede the end (B. Wilson, Magic, 239). The radical disjuncture between this age and the next may even be marked by the world being turned upside down (see Burridge, New Heaven, 50).
30. See Peter Worsley, The Trumpet Shall Sound: A Study of "Cargo"Cults in Melanesia, 2nd ed. (New York: Schocken, 1968), 127, 131-36; B. Wilson, Magic, 202. For other examples and discussion, see George Shepperson, "Nyasaland and the Millennium," in Millennial Dreams, 146; van der Kroef "Messianic Movements," 110; Cohn, Pursuit, 111, 136, 142; and Lanternari, Religions of the Oppressed, 135.
31. See Bernard Barber, "Acculturation and Messianic Movements," American Sociological Review 6 (1941): 663. For discussion or sample illustrations, sec Cohn, "Medieval Millenarism," 31; Ribeiro, "Brazilian Messianic Movements," 65; Olson, Millennialism, Utopianism, 112; and B. Wilson, Magic, 286, 344.
32. For discussion or examples, see van der Kroef, "Messianic Movements," 110; Barber, "Acculturation," 664; Shepperson, "Nyasaland," 146; Burridge, New Heaven, 23; and Lanternari, Religions of the Oppressed, 205.
33. Quoted in Overholt, Prophecy in Cross-Cultural Perspective, 125. For more sample descriptions and discussion of this belief as part of millennial worldviews, see Barber, "Acculturation," 663; Thrupp, "Millennial Dreams in Action: A Report," 12; Eliade, "Cargo Cults," 139, 141; Cohn, Pursuit, 108, 213; and B. Wilson, Magic, 332.
34. For examples, see Eliade, "Cargo Cults," 142; B. Wilson, Magic, 205; and Burridge, New Heaven, 50. For illustrations of how millennial groups often recall the old myths or traditions of their culture, see Peter Lawrence, "The Fugitive Years: Cosmic Space and Time in Melanesian Cargoism and Mediaeval European Chiliasm," in Millennialism and Charisma, ed. R. Wallis (Belfast, Northern Ireland: Queen's University, 1982), 291; Ribeiro, "Brazilian Messianic Movements," 57; Eliade, "Cargo Cults," 143; Cohn, Pursuit, 145; B. Wilson, Magic, 209, 300; and Lanternari, Religions of the Oppressed, 170, 173, 220, 231, 242, 261.
35. Quoted in Overholt, Prophecy in Cross-Cultural Perspective, 125, cf. 128. For further sample illustrations and discussion, see Barber, "Acculturation;" 663; van der Kroef, "Messianic Movements," 110; Eliade, "Cargo Cults," 140; B. Wilson, Magic, 239, 279, 300; Burridge, New Heaven, 79; Lanternari, Religions of the Oppressed, 207; and Worsley, Trumpet, 95, 102.
36. Burridge, New Heaven, 147. See also Cohn, Pursuit, 83, 86, 173.
37. See Cohn, "Medieval Millenarism," 38; Cohn, Pursuit, 60, 85; and van der Kroef, "Messianic Movements," 111.
38. See Thomas W. Overholt, Channels of Prophecy: The Social Dynamics of Prophetic Activity (Minneapolis: Fortress, 1989), 40. The remnant belief is also seen in the descriptions of millennial worldviews in Cohn, Pursuit, 223; B. Wilson, Magic, 286; Lanternari, Religious of the Oppressed, 132; Overholt, Prophecy in Cross-Cultural Perspective, 125; Worsley, Trumpet, 135-36; and La Barre, Ghost Dance, 212.
39. For discussion or examples, see van der Kroef, "Messianic Movements,"
120; Shepperson, "Nyasaland," 145; B. Wilson, Magic, 300; and George Simpson, "The Ras Tafari Movement in Jamaica in Its Millennial Aspect," in Millennial Dreams, 161.
40. For one good attempt to keep this distinction clear, see Olson, Millennialism, Utopianism, 15. Philip R. Davies makes a good argument for confining the term apocalyptic to a literary category and using the term millenarian or millennial, a recognizable social-scientific category; for the associated social construct. See his "The Social World of Apocalyptic Writings," in The World of Ancient Israel, ed. R. E. Clements (Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, 1989), 253.
41. See n. 5 above.
42. See the discussion on p. 46 below.
43. R. Wilson, "From Prophecy to Apocalyptic," 84-87.
44. Ibid., 84. Cf. Olson's comment, "Millennialism's characteristic form is as an organized force within its society, a movement rather than a literary effort undertaken by individuals" (Millennialism, Utopianism, 15). That millennialism is a group phenomenon is not surprising given the uniqueness of the inillennial worldview and the above argument that such views are not the product of individuals in isolation (see n. 23 above). Further, it can often be inferred from millennial beliefs themselves that they are the product of a group. For example, millennial worldviews expect the coming salvation to be collective, encompassing all the faithful. See Cohn, "Medieval Millenarism," 32; and Boardman, "Taiping Rebellion," 70.
45. For examples of initiation rituals as part of the sociology of some different millennial groups, see Howard Kaminsky, "The Free Spirit in the Hussite Revolution," in Millennial Dreams, 167; Worsley, Trumpet, 106; Cohn, Pursuit, 143; Burridge, New Heaven, 27, 65; Ribeiro, "Brazilian Mcssianic Movements," 66; Boardman, "Taiping Rebellion," 78; van der Kroef, "Messianic Movements," 103; and Shepperson, "Nyasaland," 149.
46. For sample illustrations, see Kaminsky, "Free Spirit," 170; and Cohn, Pursuit, 157, 212.
47. See Wallace, "Revitalization Movements," 273; and the references in n. 134 below.
48. See R. Wilson, "From Prophecy to Apocalyptic," 85.
49. For discussion or examples, see Ralph Linton, "Nativistic Movements," American Anthropologist 45 (1943): 230-31; Eliade, "Cargo Cults," 142; B. Wilson, Magic, 306; and Ribeiro, "Brazilian Messianic Movements," 57.
50. Worsley, Trumpet, 44.
51. Overholt, Prophecy in Cross-Cultural Perspective, 128; Burridge, New Heaven, 79. For further examples of the group vision, chronological schema, or apocalyptic instruction of millennial groups in several different cultures, see Olson, Millennialism, Utopianism, 15, 111, 120; Cohn, Pursuit, 108; and van der Kroef, "Messianic Movements," 111.
52. R. Wilson, "From Prophecy to Apocalyptic," 86. For examples and discussion, see Donald Weinstein, "Millenarianism in a Civic Setting: The Savonarola Movement in Florence," in Millennial Dreams, 199; Cohn, Pursuit, 136; Olson, Millennialism, Utopianism, 16; B. Wilson, Magic, 19; and Gary W. Trompf, "The Cargo and the Millennium on Both Sides of the Pacific" in Cargo Cults and Millenarian Movements: Transoceanic Comparisons of New Religious Movements, ed. G. W Trompf (Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter, 1990), 74-75.
53. See B. Wilson, Magic, 312; and Worsley, Trumpet, 115, 151, 178, 247.
54. For discussion and examples, see Barber, "Acculturation," 663; Ribeiro, "Brazilian Messianic Movements," 57, 64-65; van der Kroef, "Messianic Movements," 111; Burridge, New Heaven, 79; Lanternari, Religions of the Oppressed, 132, 153; Overholt, Prophecy in Cross-Cultural Perspective, 129; Cohn, Pursuit, 133; and B. Wilson, Magic 248, 284, 288, 319. Not all millennial groups center on rituals and rites, however, and not all of these groups can be labeled cults. For an illustration, see Karlene Faith, "One Love-One Heart-One Destiny: A Report on the Ras Tafarian Movement in Jamaica," in Cargo Cults and Millenarian Movements, 329-30.
55. For sample illustrations, see B. Wilson, Magic, 319; Worsley, Trumpet, 84; Burridge, New Heaven, 17; and Lanternari, Religions ofthe Oppressed, 254.
56. Overholt, Prophecy in Cross-Cultural Perspective, 123.
57. See van der Kroef, "Messianic Movements," 102-3, 116; B. Wilson, Magic, 203, 249; and Jean Guiart, "The Millenarian Aspect of Conversion to Christianity in the South Pacific," in Millennial Dreams, 124.
58. For examples of millennial groups that built shelters or rafts, see Worsley, Trumpet, 101, 102, 139. For discussion or examples of millennial groups that do not physically separate themselves, see Simpson, "Ras Tafari Movement," 161; and Cohn, Pursuit, 160-61.
59. See van der Kroef, "Messianic Movements," 89; Simpson, "Ras Tafari Movement," 162; Kaminsky, "Free Spirit;" 170, 171; Cohn, Pursuit, 212, 216; Burridge, New Heaven, 23; B. Wilson, Magic, 334; and David F. Aberle, "A Note on Relative Deprivation Theory as Applied to Millenarian and Other Cult Movements," n Millennial Dreams, 214.
60. Worsley, Trumpet, 51-53; cf. 69, 111. For discussion and further examples of giving up work or consumption of savings, see Eliade, "Cargo Cults;" 142; Simpson, "Ras Tafari Movement," 162; Cohn, Pursuit, 217; B. Wilson, Magic, 201, 239, 316, 332; Burridge, New Heaven, 23; Lanternari, Religions of the Oppressed, 172-73, 246; and La Barre, Ghost Dance, 213, 306.
61. See B. Wilson, Magic, 196, 275, 285-86, 311; Faith, "One Love," 329; and Worsley, Trumpet, 232.
62. For millennial group programs involving preparation for a battle, see Boardman, "Taiping Rebellion"; Simpson, "Ras Tafari Movement," 162; Cohn, Pursuit, 75, 139; B. Wilson, Magic, 221-71; and Lanternari, Religions of the Oppressed, 241, 254-55, 260.
63. See Ribeiro, "Brazilian :Messianic Movements," 66; and Gary W. Trompf, "Introduction," in Cargo Cults and Millenarian Movements, 7.
64. Overholt, Prophecy in Cross-Cultural Perspective, 132 n. 7.
65. See van der Kroef, "Messianic Movements," 111; Eliade, "Cargo Cults," 142; B. Wilson, Magic, 334; Burridge, New Heaven, 65, 112; and Cohn, Pursuit, 217.
66. Burridge, New Heaven, 166.
67. See B. Wilson, Magic 226, 232, 307, 332; Burridge, New Heaven, 79; Lanternari, Religions of the Oppressed, 152; Overholt, Prophecy in Cross-Cultural Perspective, 128, 130-31; Ribeiro, "Brazilian Messianic Movements," 66; and van der Kroef, "Messianic Movements," 103. New Testament apocalyptic tests that stress ethical behavior include 1 Thess. 4:6; 5:1-8; and Rom. 14:10.
68. As Collins writes, "By evoking a sense of awe and instilliug conviction in its revelation of the transcendent world and the coming judgment, the apocalypse . . . creates the preconditions for righteous action" (Apocalyptic Imagination, 46, cf. 5, 7).
69. Meeks, Urban Christians, 175.
70. Hanson, Dawn, 27; "Apocalypticism," 32; Old Testament Apocalyptic (Nashville: Abingdon, 1987), 33.
71. See chapter 1 for discussion of the problems of viewing prophetism as the mother of apocalypticism.
72. E.g., Dan. 12:2 and 1 Enoch 90:31-36 (see Collins, Apocalyptic Imagination, 20). Such differences are due in part to Hellenistic influence. Collins writes, "It is important that several of the most prominent aspects of the [full-blown] apocalypses involve modifications of biblical tradition that are in accord with widespread ideas of the Hellenistic age" (Apocalyptic Imagination, 28).
73. See Seybold, Bilder zum Tempelbau, 105; Robert North, "Prophecy to Apocalyptic via Zechariah," VTSup 22 (1972): 70-71; and Samuel Amsler, "Zacharie et l'origine de l'apocalyptique," VTSup 22 (1972): 229.
74. See Collins, "Jewish Apocalypses," 29.
75. In 1941, Bernard Barber defined deprivation as "the despair caused by inability to obtain what the culture has defined as the ordinary satisfactions of life" ("Acculturation;' 664).
76. Worsley, Trumpet, xl.
77. Cohn, Pursuit, 159.
78. Cohn, "Medieval Millenarism," 37. Even though these women were from the upper class, some will argue that their gender placed them among the deprived. Often, deprivation approaches interpret millennialism among women as their means of compensating for their lack of power in a male-dominated culture. As Hillel Schwartz writes, "Deprivation theories maintain that women, an injured group, use religion as a means to power otherwise denied them by patriarchies" ("Millenarianism, An Overview," in The Encyclopedia of Religion [New York: Macmillan, 1957], 9:528). In Schwartz's view, however, this judgment represents an injustice in that it reduces females' religion in general to something merely reactive and compensatory. One could counter deprivation approaches here by pointing out that several female millennial catalyst figures have exercised an active and creative religion (e.g., Guglichma of Milan, Donna Beatrice, Joanna Southcott, Ellen Gould White, Jacobina Maurer, and Kitamura Sayo).
79. Cohn, Pursuit, 233.
80. Donald Weinstein writes: "Florentines of every class and occupation - former friends of Lorenzo and Piero de'Medici, . . . patricians as well as popolani - were among those who ardently believed that Savonarola spoke with divine authority and that his prophecy of world renewal radiating from Florence was soon to be fulfilled, indeed within the lifetime of many who heard him" (Savonarola and Florence: Prophecy and Patriotism in the Renaissance [New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1970], 30).
81. Weinstein, "Civic Setting," 187, cf. 203.
82. Olson, Millennialism, Utopianism, 119.
83. The assumption of many deprivation approaches that poverty always involves discontent and resentment is open to criticism. Sometimes, as in Joachimism, the rich believe it is blessed to be poor. The Kshatriyas' conversion to Jainism involved a similar dissatisfaction with wealth (see the discussion on pp. 51-52 below). Of course, discontent is not always the reason why people abandon wealth. Thus, the belief that wealth will be unnecessary in the imminent new world often motivates millennial groups to abandon money and possessions (sec the references cited in n. 60 above). Note that such abandonment of wealth by those joining a millennial group secures their group commitment (sec n. 46 above).
84. Cohn, "Medieval Millenarism," 35.
85. Phelan, Franciscans, 54.
86. Ibid., 61, 97.
87. La Barre, Ghost Dance, 256.
88. Cohn, "Medieval Millenarism," 40. Cf. Gal. 3:28.
89. The basic source for understanding this movement is Gershom Scholem, Sabbatai Sevi: The Mystical Messiah 1626-1676 (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1973).
90. Ibid., 391-92. Yonina Talmon continents, "We find among the adherents members of all strata of society; ranging from wealthy merchants, who offered to donate their entire fortune to the Messiah, to the poorest of the poor" ("Millenarism" [sic], in The International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences [New York: Macmillan Company and Free Press, 196S], 10:355).
91. The view that the persecution and massacres of Polish Jewry were instrumental in causing the Sabbatai Sevi movement is found in Cohn, " Medieval Millenarism," 32-33.
92. Scholem, Sabbatai, 461.
93. Sec George Shepperson, "The Comparative Study of Mellenarian Movements," in Millennial Dreams, 49. For discussion of the Irvingite movement as contradicting the usual assumptions made about millennialism, see Allan, "A Theory,," 296-311. For a thorough description of the Irvingites, see P. E. Shaw, The Catholic Apostolic Church Sometimes Called Irvingite: A Historical Study (Morningside Heights, N.Y.: King's Crown, 1946).
94. Shaw, Catholic Apostolic Church, 231.
95. Ibid., 82, 72. Cardale's father, William Cardale, was a solicitor who possessed considerable property.
96. Ibid., 73-74, 83. Originally a wealthy commoner, Drummond married Lady Henrietta Hay, eldest daughter of the ninth earl of Kinnoull. Further, Drummond's grandfather was Lord Melville, and his son-in-law was Lord Lovaine, Duke of Northumberland.
97. Ibid., 78, 80. Note that Perceval was the eldest son of the British prime minister (1809-1812) of the same name. The prime minister, who was the son of the second earl of Egmont, was shot May 11, 1812.
98. Trompf, "Cargo and the Millennium," 35-57.
99. Burridge, "Reflections," 102.
100. Yehezkel Landau, "The President and the Prophets'' Sojourners 13/6 (June/July 1984): 24-25; and Danny  Collum, "Armageddon Theology as a Threat to Peace," Faith and Mission 4/ 1 (1986 ) : 61-62.
101. G. Clark Chapman, Jr., "Falling in Rapture Before the Bomb," The Reformed Journal 37/6 (June 1987): 13.
102. Quoted in Landau, "The President," 24.
103. David F. Aberle, "The Prophet Dance and Reactions to White Contact," Southwestern Journal of Anthropology 15 (1959): 74-83; Aberle, "A Note on Relative Deprivation Theory."
104. Aberle, "A Note on Relative Deprivation Theory," 209; see also Aberle, "Prophet Dance," 79.
105. Already in 1941 Barber admitted there was no "one-to-one relation" between deprivation and millennialism ("Acculturation," 667). See also Burridge, New Heaven, 74; H. Silvert (contributor), "Current Anthropology Book Review: The Religions of the Oppressed: A Study of Modern Messianic Cults by Vittorio Lanternari," Current Anthropology 6 (1965): 456; Thrupp, "Millennial Dreams in Action: A Report," 26-27; Michael Adas, Prophets of Rebellion: Millenarian Protest Movements against the European Colonial Order (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1979), 92-93; and Vir'ginia H. Hine, "The Deprivation and Disorganizatlon Theories of Social Movements," in Religious Movements in Contemporary America, ed. I. Zaretsky and M. Leone (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1974), 653. Aberle recognizes this problem with relative deprivation theory: "The fact of deprivation is clearly an insufficient basis for predicting whether remedial efforts will occur, and, if they occur, whether they will have as aims changing the world, transcending it, or withdrawing from it" ("A Note on Relative Deprivation Theory," 211).
106. See the discussions of an article by W. A. Lessa in La Barre, "Materials for a History," 22; and Ghost Dance, 281.
107. Ribeiro, "Brazilian Messianic Movements," 64.
108. Talmon, "Millenarism," 358; Scholem, Sabbatai, 461.
109. Oil the problem of lack of correlation, see Hine, "Deprivation," 653. Critics of Aberle have suggested other possible precipitating factors for millennialism
besides deprivation and distress. Leslie Spier, Wayne Suttees, and Melville J. Herskovits query, "Is there no other possibility [than relative deprivation]? Aberle
admits such a possibility but it would seem that he holds it merely theoretical. But
there is no reason why, without deprivation, a cult may not originate and flourish
for the sake of realizing the desire for the return of the beloved dead or for the
return of an earlier day" ("Comment on Aberle's Thesis of Deprivation," Southwest Journal of Anthropology 15 [ 19591: 86).
110. This problem becomes clear from Bryan Wilson's discussion of what he sees as a difficulty! in applying relative deprivation theory. He writes, "The external
and objective indices of deprivation stand in uncertain relationship to the sense of
deprivation which individuals experience. The only evidence for such `felt' deprivation, in [some cases may, be] . . . the behavior that follows" (Magic, 289). But there is a great danger of circular argument if group behavior is used as the evidence of a preceding feeling of deprivation, and the latter is then evoked to explain the former.
111. Burridge makes the same point when he describes the difficulty in suggesting
conditions in which a millennial movement might seem unnecessary. Burridge writes, "In short, since the central issue is the ennoblement of the nature of man, there are no known conditions which would render millenarian activities unnecessary" (New Heaven, 117). Thus some authors even stretch the elastic "deprivation" category to include the person "who becomes satiated with the economic and social rewards of life" (see the discussion in Hine, "Deprivation," 654).
112. Thrupp, "Millennial Dreams in Action: A Report," 26. An illustration of the problem of elasticity and circularity can be taken from the anthropological debate over millennialism (here, the Plateau Prophet Dance) among Coast Salish tribes living near Vancouver Island. As part of this debate, Aberle defended his
deprivation interpretation by appealing to the possibility of indirect as well as direct contacts with Western culture ("Prophet Dance," S2). In a response to Aberle's defense, Spier, Suttles, and Herskovits argued that there was no positive evidence backing up Aberle's suggestion of the possibility of deprivation due to contact with whites. Neither epidemics nor acculturation were present in the data base as obvious sources of a feeling of relative deprivation. Thus, Aberle's critics argued that his position amounted merely to an argument that whites at a remote distance way have had some "ill-defined" effect on the native tribes (Spies, Suttles, and Herskovits, "Comment," 85). In other words, Aberle was applying a principle of interpretation, teasing out the possibility of deprivation. Aberle's critics agreed that, of course, the Coast Salish may well have had unfulfilled dreams and wishes. They held, however, that the only way to argue that these latter types of feelings constituted "deprivations" would be to extend the meaning of deprivation "so as to make it nearly synonymous with any kind of frustration" ("Comment," 87). 113. The naturalistic presupposition of many scholars can be illustrated by the statement of Bryan Wilson that " Magic does not work; the millennium will not cone" (Magic, 500). Given this presupposition, scholars such as Aberle, Cohn, and Lanternari tend to explain millennial beliefs as some sort of delusion or compensation mechanism (see Olson, Millennialism, Utopianism, 84 n. 2). Hillel Schwartz has stressed that this problematic presupposition is rampant in millennial studies. Schwartz counters, "One can no longer type apocalyptic feelings as pre-modern or dysfunctional" ("The End of the Beginning: Millenariam Studies, 1969-1975," RelSRev 2/3 [1976]: 6). For an attempt to get beyond naturalism and positivism in the use of sociology in biblical studies in general, see Mayes, Old Testament, 120-28.
114. For cases where millennialism is viewed as unhealthy, irrational, or deluded, see Cohn, Pursuit, 88; B. Wilson, Magic, 317, 327, 337; and La Barre, Ghost Dance, 317. An example can again be taken from the remarks of B. Wilson: "Millennialism must be irrational, of course: the causal explanation of what is predicted makes leaps beyond the bounds of legitimate inference, and presents prospects which defy all previous experience )when objectively viewed and with full knowledge). The fantasies of fairy stories persist in western society, and now, demythologized, religious representations of man's past and future are tolerated: these are the repositories of millennial dreams in the western world" (Magic, 338). For discussion of the "irrationality" issue, see Worsley, Trumpet, lxvi; and Burridge, New Heaven, 123-24.
115. See Ribeiro, "Braziliam Messianic Movements," 68; Burridge, New Heaven, 122; Thrupp, "Millennial Dreams in Action: A Report," 17; and Schwartz, "Millennial Studies," 5.
116. See Overholt, Channels, 35 n. 23; and Worsley, Trumpet, lxvi, 266-72.
117. Burridge, "Reflections," 100.
118. H. Schwartz, "End of the Beginning" Cf: Olson's remark about relative deprivation theory: "The growth and renewal of millennialism in both ancient and modern times is far too complex to be dealt with adequately at this simple level of causation" (Millennialsim, Utopianism, 84 n. 2). Similarly, La Barre insists that "crisis cults" have complex causes (" Materials for a History," 26-27).
119. H. Schwartz, "End of the Beginning," 7. Also see the discussions in Mayes, Old Testament, 126, 129; and Vittorio Lanternari, "Nativistic and Socio-religious
Movements: A Reconsideration," Comparative Studies in Society and History 16 (1974): 497.
120. Scholem, Sabbatai, 392, 462-63. Savonarolan millennialism (see List 1, item 3) was also due more to "real faith" than to a social crisis, according to Weinstein (Savonarola, 59).
121. Ferdinand Deist, for example, can be criticized along these lines. See his "Prior to the Dawn of Apocalyptic," in The Exilic Period: Aspects of Apocalypticism,
OTWSA 25/26 (1982/1983), 14. The early form critics did not talk about the Sitz-im-Leben as a causative matrix. Indeed, Hermann Gunkel never resolved the issue of the exact relationship of form and setting. For example, it is not clear from his writings whether places always generate sagas or whether preexisting sagas sometimes only later get tied down to places. Similarly, though Hugh Gressmann held sagas to be place-bound, his work shows nuances in how various sagas are attached to given places. See Hermann Gunkel, "Fundamental Problems of Hebrew Literary History" in What Remains of the Old Testament (London: George, Allen & Unwin, 1938), 57-68; "Die Israelitische Literatur," in Die Kulture der Gegenwart, Teil I, Abteilung VII: Die Orientalischen Literaturen, ed. E Hinneberg (Berlin: Teubner,
1906), 51-102; Genesis, 5th ed. (Gottingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1922);
and Hugo Gressmann, Mose und seine Zeit (Gottingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht,
1913), 121ff:, 291ff:; "Sage und Geschichte in den Patriarchenerzahlungen," ZAW
30 (1910): 1-34.
122. Certain behaviors, speech, and literary genres do have conventional or stereotypical status within recurring situations. The conventions are not simply effects of their settings, however. Cross-cultural variation in conventions calls into question the existence of such a cause-and-effect relationship. For example, the mealtime situation does not "cause" the fork to be held in the right hand: in England, one holds the fork in the left hand while eating. Further, the fact that genres can migrate weakens the idea that they are causally linked to their settings. The setting of a form's language may be different from the setting where it is employed. Here, the new setting cannot be the cause of the stereotypical or generic aspects of the language employed. Finally, although settings help determine linguistic forms, linguistic forms also have a determining effect on their settings (sec Klaus Koch, The Growth of the Biblical Tradition: The Form-Critical Method, trans. S. M. Cupitt [New York: Macmillan, 1969], 27). Again, there is no simple cause-and-effect relationship here.
123. See Koch, Growth, 27; and Tucker, Form Criticism, xi.
124. For a cautious approach to using sociology to facilitate the form-critical task, see Robert R. Wilson, Sociological Approaches to the Old Testament, Old Testament Guides to Biblical Scholarship (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1984), 24, 82.
125. See Koch, Growth, 27; and Hermann Barth and Odil Hannes Steck, Exegese des Alten Testaments: Leitfaden der Methodik (Neukirchen-Vluyn: Neukirchener Verlag 1971), 56.
126. For discussion, see H. Schwartz, "Millenarianism," 9:528. Similarly, Hine writes, "In refining the concept of deprivation, both Aberle and Glock seem at times to be going out of their way to avoid the possibility of positive motivation!" (Deprivation," 654).
127. Cf. R. R. Wilson's related discussion of the social prerequisites of intermediation (Prophecy and Society, 28-32).
128. Linton's observation is correct: "A devout scoeity will turn to nativism . . . long before a skeptical one will" ("Nativistic Movements," 238).
129. See B. Wilson, Magic, 315.
130. Shaw, Catholic Apostolic Church, 26.
131. Ibid., 64.
132. Ibid., 65-67; Ernest R. Sandeen, "Millennialism," in The New Encyclopaedia Britannica, 15th ed. (Chicago: Benton, 1974), 12:203; and Allan, "A Theory;" 304. The French Revolution became, in fact, a European revolution that involved many national movements against royal authority. For example, Greece revolted against the Ottoman Empire, Hungary created a nationalistic government, and riots against Austrian imperial rule occurred in Vienna.
133. Saadia Gaon's Book of Beliefs and Opinions (written c. 935 C.E.) was an important source of the much later excitement. It was translated into Hebrew in 1186 and was influential until the eighteenth century. For discussion, See Scholem, Sabbatai, 8, 12; and Talmon, "Millenarism."
134. For discussion or examples of the millennial catalyst figure, see Linton, "Nativistic Movements," 232; Wallace, "Revitalization Movements," 270; Cohn,  "Medieval Millenarism," 38, 42; Ribeiro, "Brazilian Messianic Movements," 56; van der Kroef, "Messianic Movements;' 117-18; Adas, Prophets of Rebellion, 92-93; and B. Wilson, Magic, 201, 223, 327. Thomas W. Overholt writes, "While I acknowledge the complexity of this problem and would not want to be party to the kind of `reductionism' La Barre finds to be `rampant in crisis cult studies' . . . I find myself wondering whether the presence of a prophetic-type leader is not the critical element in the emergence of a crisis cult"' ("Model, Meaning, and Necessity," Semeia 21 [1981]: 129). Against Overholt, I prefer to speak not of a prophet or leader, but of a catalyst. A catalyst is not always necessary for a reaction to take place, but is an agent that hastens this result. Further, the catalyst is not always a person, nor do all millennial groups have an extraordinary leader at their center. On these latter points, see George W. E. Nickelsburg, "Social Aspects of Palestinian Jewish Apocalypticism," in Apocalypticism in the Mediterranean World and the Near East, ed. D. Hellholm (Tubingen: J. C. B. Mohr, 1983), 648; Roy Wallis, "Introduction," in Millennialism and Charisma, 2; and Faith, "One Love," 328-29.
135. See Meeks, Urban Christians, 17 3; Burridge, New Heaven, 29, 98, 111, 164; and Worsley, Trumpet, xiii, xvii. The problems with relative deprivation theory become even more apparent when it is realized that sometimes a millennial catalyst or recruiter himself creates the so-called feeling of deprivation in prospective group members through sharing and promoting a millennial view. For example, Howard Kaminsky has argued that in Taborite millennialism, stress and tension were created by the movement itself and were not causal factors that preceded it. (Kaminsky's claim was part of the conference discussion reported by Thrupp, "Millennial Dreams in Action: A Report," 21.) By the same token, observers have reported that recruitment in Sun Myung Moon's Unification Church often involves teasing out and amplifying any dissatisfactions with life that can be found in a prospective member. For example, see Wallis, "Introduction," 7. Hine similarly reports a study
showing that deprivation is an effect of millennial group dynamics and not a precondition that can explain millennialism ("Deprivation," 655).
136. Apocalyptic thinking projects the Urzeit into a future beyond history. Thus, since Gunkel's time, apocalyptic thinking has been described as eschatologized myth (see Frost, "Apocalyptic and History," 99). Frost accepts this view, seeing apocalyptic thought as caused by a blending of "historiological" thought and "mythological" thought (ibid., 105). Similarly, Talmon describes apocalyptic worldviews as created by "a merger between a historical and a non-historical conception of time" ("Millenarism," 10:351-52). Also see Collins, Apocalyptic Imagination, 40. It is important to distinguish this cognitive phenomenon from the use of mythic images in the pre-apocalyptic sections of Ezekiel and Isaiah 40-55. These sections still have faith in history.
137. See the discussion above in chapter 1, pp. 14-16.
138. See n. 22 above. Thus, the sociologist will find focusing on millennial worldviews helpful in linking apocalyptic beliefs and thinking to a millennial group's vision and plan of action. In the case of the Irvingites, it is easy for the researcher to see a logical sociological chain leading from their millennial worldview to their group vision and calculations about the end of time (see Shaw, Catholic Apostolic Church, 186) to their practical plans for living in the final days of the universe (see ibid., 234).
139. For example, B. Wilson notes that magical patterns of thought may persist among a society's elite stratum: "The belief in `money-doubling' among Cabinet ministers in Ghana was revealed in some of the political intrigues during the govrnment of Kwame Nkrumah" (Magic, 193 n. 42). The Cable News Network has reported that the president of Bolivia similarly holds a mythical perspective (news report, May 28, 1991). By the same token, astrology was found to have played a role in some of President Reagan's decision-making. See S. Roberts, "White House Confirms Reagans Follow Astrology, Up to a Point," New York Times, May 4, 1988, p. A. 1, Col. 5; and the editorial by N. Wade, "Your Stars for the 80's: The Age of Aquarius Isn't Over Yet," New York Times, May 5, 1988, p. A. 30, Col. 1.
140. Mayes, Old Testament, 16-17.
141. David Rockefeller, for example, has founded a private group known as the Trilateral Commission, which is trying to alter radically the world economic system. As originally conceived, the Trilateral Commission was bent on uniting East and West into a new world-system. It is now concentrating on the task of drawing the Japanese into a closer relationship with their American and European counterparts. Clearly, although the group members are an elite group of capitalists from upper-echelon international circles, they are trying to alter the present world-system For reports on some group meetings, see L. Silk, "Trilateralists' Confident Tone," New York Times, May 21, 1986, p. D. 2., col. 1; and "Global Appeal of Capitalism," New York Times, May 23, 1986, p. D. 2, cog. 1.
142. Burridge, New Heaven, 86-96.
143. Ibid., 93.
144. Ibid., 151.
145. Form criticism identifies the Sitz-im-Leben with what is common and typical among a group of comparable concrete situations, which at the same time may be various and indeed quite different. See Hans Werner Hoffmann, "Form -- Funktion -Intention," ZAW 82 (1970): 342; and Koch, Growth, 28. Koch gives the example of the mission sermon with its setting in early Christian missionary preaching. He notes that this setting never occurred in the abstract, but only in different communities under varying circumstances.
146. The schematization here was inspired by the somewhat different one in H. Hoffmann, "Form-Funktion," 343.
147. Ibid., 342.