Apocalyptic Trajectories: Millenarianism and Violence in the Contemporary World

This book aims to examine several religious groups holding millenarian or apocalyptic ideologies that have been involved in violent incidents over the last twenty-five years: Peoples Temple, The Branch Davidians, The Order of the Solar Temple, Heaven's Gate, Aum Shinrikyo, and the Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments of God. The work focuses particularly on their respective 'apocalyptic trajectories' - the key recurring issues and social processes that fostered the progressive acceptance of violence within each group's ideology, and ultimately helped to precipitate the use of force against the group's own members or against outsiders.

The Author: John Walliss is a lecturer in Sociology at Liverpool Hope University College. His research interests are situated broadly at the intersection of social theory and the sociology of religion. He has published works on several topics, including millenarianism within the Hindu New Religious Movement, the Brahma Kumaris; ’fringe archaeology’; relationships between the living and the dead within contemporary Spiritualism; and the secularisation of weddings in the UK.