"Apocalyptic Anxiety traces the sources of American culture's obsession with predicting and preparing for the apocalypse. Author Anthony Aveni explores why Americans take millennial claims seriously, where and how end-of-the-world predictions emerge, how they develop within a broader historical framework, and what we can learn from doomsday predictions of the past. The book begins with the Millerites, the nineteenth-century religious sect of Pastor William Miller, who used biblical calculations to predict October 22, 1844 as the date for the Second Advent of Christ. Aveni also examines several other religious and philosophical movements that have centered on apocalyptic themes--Christian millennialism, the New Age movement and the Age of Aquarius, and various other nineteenth- and early twentieth-century religious sects, concluding with a focus on the Maya mystery of 2012 and the contemporary prophets who connected the end of the world as we know it with the overturning of the Maya calendar. Apocalyptic Anxiety places these seemingly never-ending stories of the world's end in the context of American history. This fascinating exploration of the deep historical and cultural roots of America's voracious appetite for apocalypse will appeal to students of American history and the histories of religion and science, as well as lay readers interested in American culture and doomsday prophecies."--Provided by publisher

lgli/R:\Project-Muse\md5_rep\D5F9E01AC7BB7D3DAFEA52AD198549CB.pdf

edited by Tony Becks and Will Shakes

Project MUSE (https://muse.jhu.edu/)

Aveni, Anthony

Erscheinungsort nicht ermittelbar, 2016

United States, United States of America

1, 2016-05-02

1, US, 2016

producers:
Muse-DL/1.1.2

Cover 1
Half title, Title page, Copyright, Dedication 3
Contents 5
List of Figures 9
Preface 13
Acknowledgments 23
Introduction: December 21, 2012—It Didn’t Happen 25
Part I: Episode 1, October 22, 1844 47
1. Millerites and the Biblical End of the World 73
2. A Brief History of Apocalyptic Thinking in the West 75
Part II: American Apocalypse 91
3. From Columbus to the Great Awakenings 105
4. Fin de Siècle Secular Perfectionism 121
5. Spiritualism and the Veiled Synthesis of Science and Religion 123
Part III: New Age Religion and Science 137
6. The Age of Aquarius 151
7. Techno-Angels of the Alien Advent 161
9. Astronomical World Age Theories Resurrected 175
Part IV: Episode 2, December 21, 2012 187
10. The Fathers of Y12 Prophecy 197
11. 2012 and the Perennial Philosophy 217
12. Ancient Galactic Wisdom and 2012 Mayanism 227
Conclusion: Contrasting the Signs of the Times 249
Notes 251
About the Author 263
Index 265
Publisher:University Press of Colorado,Published:2016,ISBN:9781607324713,Related ISBN:9781607324706,Language:English,OCLC:949639702
NA

8. Resurgent Christian Dispensationalism and the End of Time in Popular Media -- 9. Astronomical World Age Theories Resurrected -- Part IV: Episode 2, December 21, 2012 -- 10. The Fathers of Y12 Prophecy -- 11. 2012 and the Perennial Philosophy -- 12. Ancient Galactic Wisdom and 2012 Mayanism -- Conclusion: Contrasting the Signs of the Times -- Notes -- About the Author -- Index

"Aveni traces the sources of American culture's obsession with predicting the apocalypse. He explores why Americans take millennial claims seriously, where and how end-of-the-world predictions emerge, how they develop with reference to a broader historical trajectory, and what we can learn from doomsday predictions of the past"-- Provided by publisher

2022-03-08