Millenarianism

Millenarianism 

From the Latin millenaries and meaning “one who believes in the coming of the (Christian) millennium” the word millenarian dates back to the 1550’s.  Its root word ‘mille’ means one thousand and is in reference to the thousand year reign of Christ on Earth after the ultimate conflict between good and evil at Armageddon as written in Revelation to John.  The belief of the coming of a ‘new world’ is shared by many including Jews, Christians, Muslims, and Buddhists.  Millenarianism is now more broadly defined as a cross-cultural ideology, wherein expectation of the impending and final confrontation will result in believers exulting in a perfected temporal world rather than in the afterlife.  Most see radical upheaval and revolt against sociopolitical authority as a means to achieve Heaven upon Earth.

Historical Significance

Millenarianism was the most accepted eschatological (the area of theology that pertains to death, judgement, and the final fate of the soul and humanity) thinking in the mid-1600’s in England.  Debate and dialogue around millenarian views continued well into the 18^th century with its spread to Continental Europe and North America.  At this same time philosophers of the Age of Enlightenment were looking towards science and reason and away from autocratic politic policies and religious doctrine as the ideals for an improved and progressive society.  This questioning of traditional values and beliefs was an impetus for political revolution and disorder. Historians have applied the theological principles of millenarianism to support revolutionary principles.  The incitement of chaotic upheaval could thus be validated by divine mandate and situated within an apocalyptic timeline.  Millenarian and apocalyptic concepts are seen to be synonymous with revolution.  Contemporary scholars, acknowledging the connection historians have identified between millenarianism and democratic thought, look to millenarian principles in their attempt to better understand the ensuing social tensions that result when oppressed peoples, in their attempt to defend and regenerate their social identity, raise opposition, at times violent, towards their oppressors.  Millenarianism based research has two separate lines of thinking.  The first centres on millenarianism as a socially effective process while the second maintains it is a social pathology with central themes of dissident movements effecting social change through violence or war.

Key Historical Proponents

In the New Testament of the Bible, the Book of Revelations (Apocalypse of John) 20:1-10 tells of the first resurrection of the blessed who will reign with Christ for a thousand year and the Judgement of Satan.  This is the original source on which millenarian scholars base their philosophies.  In 1627 Johann Heinrich Aslted (1588-1638) published Diatribe de mille annos in Germany.  In England, that same year, Joseph Mede (1586-1638) completed his book Clavis Apocalyptica.  While Aslted went on to become one of the most prominent encyclopedists it was Mede’s thoughts on millenarianism that became most influential.  His philosophies were supported by enlightened thinkers such as John Milton (1608-1674), Henry More (1614-1687), and Isaac Newton (1642-1726).  Mede’s writings, premised on apocalyptic themes in the Bible, founded the original ideas as to the manifestation of millenarianism in English apocalyptic thinking.  English philosopher David Hartley (1705-1757), an admirer of Newton and Locke, in particular Locke’s theory on the association of ideas, published Observations on Man, His Frame, His Duties, and His Expectations in 1749.  Based on the theory of proto-psychology, Hartley explored the idea that the brain and the soul are one and the same and he believed that the final destiny of the immortal soul was directly connected with the nature of the brain.  Both Mede and Hartley, in the true spirit of Enlightenment thinking, explored millenarianism beyond its theological limitations.  Pankaj Mishra explores millenarianism in his book Age of Anger.  He notes the concept of Heaven on Earth was created by the philosophers of the Enlightenment.  The French Revolution has often being studied in terms of a Second Coming and Mishra looks to Saint-Just (1767-1794), a zealous French Revolutionary, who passionately believed ‘“the idea of happiness was new to Europe”’ and Tocqueville (1805-1859) who compared it to “Islam in that it ‘flooded the earth with it soldiers, apostles, and martyrs’” as examples (Mishra 156).   In true Mishra style he lists Herzen, Voltaire and Marx, Russian revolutionaries Belinsky and Bakunin, Chernyshevsky, Dobroliubov and Stalin, Italian revolutionaries Mazzini and Papini, and Islamist ideologues Al-e-Ahmad, Shariati, and Qutb, and India’s Savarkar as proponents of millenarian philosophies.  Moving beyond the French Revolution many conflicts and ideologies have been researched within the apocalyptic timeline: Marxism, the Russian Revolution (1917), Islamic radicalism, Hindu nationalism, the Iranian revolution (1978-1979), the demolition of the Babri Masjid (1992), the Branch Davidian tragedy in Waco, Texas (1993), the Oklahoma City bombing (1995), among others.

Claire Kirkby

 

Bibliography

Barr, Kara. “‘An Indissoluble Union’: Mechanism, Mortalism, and Millenarianism in the Eschatology of David Hartley’s Observations on Man.” History of Religions, vol. 55, no. 3, Feb. 2016, pp. 239-268. EBSCOhost, libaccess.mcmaster.ca/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=rfh&AN=ATLAn3848246&site=ehost-live&scope=site.  Accessed 8-15 October 2017.

Cole, Juan. “Iranian Millenarianism and Democratic Thought in the 19th Century.” International Journal of Middle East Studies, vol. 24, no. 1, 1992, pp. 1–26. JSTOR, JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/163759.  Accessed 8-15 October 2017.

Jue, Jeffrey. “Heaven Upon Earth: Joseph Mede (1586-1638) and the Legacy of Millenarianism”  International Archives of the History of Ideas, vol. 194, 2006, pp. 1-7 and 19-33. Springer and Dordrecht.  https://doi.org/10.1007/1-4020-4293-0_4.  Accessed 8-15 October 2017.

Lee, Martha, and Herbert Simms. “American Millenarianism and Violence: Origins and Expression.” Journal for the Study of Radicalism, vol. 1, no. 2, 2007, pp. 107–127. JSTOR, JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/41887580.  Accessed 8-15 October 2017.

Mishra, Pankaj.  The Age of Anger: A History of the Present.  New York: Farrar, Strauss and Giroux.  2017.  Print.

White Supremacism

Identification

White supremacists are a group of people with the belief that the white race is superior to any other race and that they should be given the rights to rule over their society. These supremacists have a large impact on the equality within America and around the world. The Ku Klux Klan has been a very influential supremacist group throughout history in the United States. They KKK was founded in 1865 and publicly reemerged in 1915. However, discrimination and racism has been around forever. This ‘Klan’ and all that they stand for continue to reappear as time goes on. White supremacy can be most dominantly seen in the United States, Germany, South Africa and Russia.

Historical Significance

The notion of white supremacy is important to be discussed because the people of a society need to become more aware of other’s belief systems, as well as how society itself has developed throughout history in ultimately encouraging racism within the country. This can be most predominately seen in the United States. The idea of white people being superior to other races and the ideology behind the Ku Klux Klan has been present for an extremely long time, although it may have been more dormant at different times. Recently, however, white supremacy has resurfaced in a more powerful way than imagined. Racism can be deeply rooted in American history and these previous events can still be present within any type of discrimination happening currently. The Ku Klux Klan historically express the growth of the United States as a powerful ‘white nation’ created by white people themselves. Some of these beliefs made, more notably by the Ku Klux Klan don’t believe that they are being racist. They think that black people should not complain about previous events in history that have happened and that their white race is being discriminated against in the same way that black people have and are currently suffering.

Key Historical Proposals

Throughout history, there has been many key characters who have spoken about, been a part of or tried to deter white supremacy. The most significant movement which supported the notion of white supremacy, is Nazism. This ideology, lead by Adolf Hitler, believed that the Aryan race was to be more powerful and superior to any other. Through this movement came the Holocaust, which attempted to destroy an entire race. This can be contradictory to Abraham Lincoln’s outlook on equality. This President was in charge of one of the most important civil rights movements in the United States. He is considered one of the most influential presidents due to the fact that he emancipated slavery and tried to establish and ensure a discriminatory free country. If you fast forward 152 years through American Presidencies, you can easily make comparisons to the 2017 President, Donald Trump. Throughout his time as President he has come across many displays of discrimination and white supremacy. As a result, President Trump has done nothing to deter these types of actions. There are many politicians or leaders, that have had their encounters with the notion of white supremacy. However, it is clear, the problems of the past are still present today.

Emily Srebot

 

Bibliography

McLemore, Dale. Racial and Ethnic Relations in America. Allyn and Bacon, 1991. Novick, Michael. White Lies White Power. Common Courage Press, 1995.

Pannell, William. The Coming Race Wars? A Cry for Reconciliation. Zondervan Publishing House, 1993.

Religious Extremism

Identification 

Throughout the 20^th and 21^st century, there has been a noticeable surge in identification with religion. As this surge progresses, the number of religious extremist groups naturally rises. The term extremist often includes those who advocate for aggressive and violent actions to enforce their group’s ideologies upon others. Religious extremists are radicals who tend to follow their scriptures in a literal manner and are intolerant of other interpretations either within the same religion or of other religions. They are often willing to reinforce these in a violent and oppressive manner denying gender equality, access to liberal education, access to certain medical treatments, and forced conversions of members of other religions. Examples of current popular religious extremist groups are ISIS, and the West Bureau Baptist Church.

Historical significance 

Modern religious extremism doesn’t illuminate on past actions, beliefs or motivations. While historical religious conflicts were prevalent globally, they were led by whole countries and governments.  However, after The Era of Enlightenment, secularist ideologies spread throughout the modernising world, and religion began to separate from state. Religious conflicts became more personal rather than national, ultimately causing the formation of religious groups to occur.

Throughout the last few decades, religious extremism has been a prevalent problem. The beliefs and acts of radical groups have threatened the “rights to liberty and security of a person” (United Nations). Religious extremists have a narrow view of how individuals must conduct their lives, often based on factors such as gender and sexuality. They have attempted to exert their beliefs through extreme acts of violence, such as the ISIS terrorist attacks throughout Europe, North America, and the Middle East. These attacks have instilled fear in individuals throughout the world which lead to military reaction from countries like France and the United States.

Key historical proponents 

Al- Qaeda was notably one of the most active and horrific Islamic extremist groups in recent history. Their actions such as the Madrid and London bombings of 2004 and 2005, and the 9/11 attacks on the Twin Towers, led North America and European Nations to enhance law enforcement to combat Islamist terrorism. Examples of these include, increased airport security, and criminalising the glorification of terrorism. However, many governments encountered several difficulties when trying to counter terrorism without corroding civil liberties.

The media tends to associate religious terrorism with the Islamic religion, leading to Islamophobia. Extremists exist unfortunately worldwide, whether referring to religion or secular ideologies (Kristin Archick). For example, Kahane Chai, West Bureau Baptist Church, Army of God, and so on.

The West Bureau Baptist Church is not violent like many of its counterparts, however, they proudly protest, disrupt peace, and forcefully advocate their beliefs upon others. For instance, after the Orlando, Florida shooting at a gay nightclub, they disrupted the funerals of the victims, claiming that “the shooter was sent from god”. They protest contraceptive measures, such as birth-control, and abortion. Ultimately, they deny people their rights to liberty and security.

Gassia Tatikian 

 

Bibliography

Alrassi, Abulrahman. “Fighthing Against Religious Extremism and Islamophobia – The Pillar for a Sstainable Harmony Between West and Islam.” Practical Application of Science (2014): 9.

Aslan, Reza. Beyond Fundamentalism . Random House, 2010.

Kristin Archick, Paul Belkin, Christopher M. Blanchard, Carl Ek, and Derek E. Mix. “Muslims in Europe: Promoting Integration and Countering Extremism.” Current Politics and Economics of Europe (2011): 68.

Nations, United. “Universal Decleration of Human Rights.” n.d. http://www.UN.org.

Identification 

There isn’t one singular definition of terrorism that is universally accepted, but the most common definition is “the deliberate use of violence and intimidation directed at a large audience to coerce a community into conceding politically or ideologically motivated demands”. There are two types of terrorism, domestic or transnational. There are many hypotheses as to why terrorism exists such as economic deprivation, global order, institutional order, political transformation, and identity conflict. Some people believe that transnational terrorism comes from resentment towards wealthier countries.

Historical significance 

Terrorism is important because it has become an even bigger issue today than it was before. Over the years, the number of terrorist attacks have increased significantly. Many of the recent terrorist attacks have been claimed to be done by the Islamic extremist group, ISIS. These recent events and the history of terrorism has caused some people to become prejudice towards people that they think are Muslim. Due to ignorance, many people assume that all people that look Middle Eastern could be terrorists. This -ism may help to explain some people’s beliefs on who they think are terrorists and what is a terrorist attack. It could also help to explain why people may show prejudice towards a certain group of people.

Key historical proponents 

Former president of the United States, George W. Bush, is typically associated with attacking terrorism. A series of attacks took place in the United States on September 11, 2001, where Islamic extremists hijacked four commercial airplanes to carry out suicide attacks. This terrorist attack happened only 8 months after George Bush became president. Following the terrorist attack, George Bush launched a war on terrorism. He referred to the attack as “evil acts” and asked for international cooperation to win the war against terrorism. Osama bin Laden was the founder of the Islamic extremist group, Al-Qaeda, and is typically associated with championing terrorism. Al-Qaeda was responsible for the series of attacks on September 11.

Christina Wu

 

Bibliography

Abadie, Alberto. “Poverty, Political Freedom, and the Roots of Terrorism.” The American Economic Review, vol. 96, no. 2, 2006, pp. 50–56. JSTOR, JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/30034613.

Cady, Linell E. “Religious Resonances in Bush’s ‘War on Terrorism.’” American Journal of Theology & Philosophy, vol. 29, no. 2, 2008, pp. 184–204. JSTOR, JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/27944441.

Hoffman, Bruce. “The Myth of Grass-Roots Terrorism: Why Osama Bin Laden Still Matters.” Foreign Affairs, vol. 87, no. 3, 2008, pp. 133–138. JSTOR, JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/20032656.

Kaplan, Jeffrey. “History and Terrorism.” The Journal of American History, vol. 98, no. 1, 2011, pp. 101–105. JSTOR, JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/41509052.

Krieger, Tim, and Daniel Meierrieks. “What Causes Terrorism?” Public Choice, vol. 147, no. 1/2, 2011, pp. 3–27. JSTOR, JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/41483643.

Sageman, Marc. Turning to political violence: the emergence of terrorism. University of Pennsylvania Press, 2017.

Wieviorka, Michel. The making of terrorism. University of Chicago Press, 2004.

Terrorism

Identification: The term “terrorism” has many different and broad meanings, with one definition being the usage of violence by a person or group against civilians and use their fear in order to achieve a political or ideological gain. Another way to define terrorism is the deliberate killing of innocent people to spread fear through a whole population and force political leaders to go against them. Terrorism has been used by groups such as Al-Qaida, Taliban, ISIS, and the Tamil Tigers, and it has been used in most places around the world. The first recorded use of terrorism was around 1 A.D, and was said to be committed by the Sicarii (a group of Jewish zealots) against the Romans, with their objective being to becoming independent from the Roman Empire.

Significance: Terrorism has had a significant impact on modern history. For example, after the September 11^th attacks, America underwent a dramatic social and political change. There has been more government intrusion into our lives (from air travel regulations to internet surveillance), and there has been negative social consequences for anyone who is Arab or appears to be one (such as physical and verbal abuse just for having a different skin tone). You must also remember that the main reason terrorism is important is because it is used to achieve some sort of ideological purpose. For example, groups with secular ideologies and beliefs will often attempt acts of violence with little to no causalities, and this is done to avoid damaging the group’s reputation and make it look like they have legitimate grievances, so that the public will sympathize with them and support their cause. Their targets are highly symbolic of authority (e.g. government offices, banks, corporations) and will usually only conduct attacks on people who they believe to be representative of social injustices. Another example you can use is religious terrorism. Religious terrorism is the exact opposite of secular terrorism, with the primary goal being to kill as many people and cause as much mayhem and destruction as they possibly can. The reasoning behind this is that they believe that they will reap the benefits of the afterlife.

Key Historical Proponents: Whenever someone talks about terrorism, most people would instantly think about Islam and the growth of many Islamic terrorist groups from the late 1960s to the 1990s. Islamic terrorism came to prominence during the late 1960’s, when Palestinian organizations (e.g. PFLP, Black September) began a campaign against Israel through a campaign of hijackings, kidnappings, bombings, and shootings. This culminated in the 1972 Munich Massacre, which was the kidnapping and deaths of most of the members of the Israeli Olympic team at the 1972 Munich Olympic games. Soon after, the Soviet Union would invade Afghanistan and stimulated the rise and expansion of terrorist groups since there were many volunteers from various parts of the middle east that fought in Afghanistan. Also happening around this time was the rise of Hezbollah, an Iranian and Syrian backed terrorist group that were known for their anti-West and anti-Israel views. They became infamous for launching a suicide bombing at the U.S embassy and barracks in Beirut, which claimed the lives of over 300 people. After the withdrawal of Soviet forces in 1989, the lack of governance in Afghanistan helped make it become an ideal location for jihadist groups. One of the groups that came to prominence after the war was the Taliban, which became the de-facto ruler of Afghanistan in 1996 after they took over a large majority of the country until the U.S invaded Afghanistan in 2001 after the 9/11 terror attacks.

Baljinder Minhas

 

Bibliography

Warraq, Ibn. The Islam in Islamic terrorism: the importance of beliefs, ideas, and ideology. Nashville, TN: New English Review Press, 2017.

Cohn, Marjorie. “UNDERSTANDING, RESPONDING TO, AND PREVENTING TERRORISM.” Arab Studies Quarterly 24, no. 2/3 (2002): 25-59. http://www.jstor.org/stable/41858411.

Fereidoun, Amir. “Terrorism: Radical Islamic Terrorism.” Harvard International Review 7, no. 6 (1985): 45-46. http://www.jstor.org/stable/42765357.

D’alessio, Stewart J., and Lisa Stolzenberg. 1990. “Sicarii and the Rise of Terrorism.” Terrorism 13, no. 4/5: 329. Complementary Index, EBSCOhost (accessed October 13, 2017).