If you would like additional information about the lecture series, please contact:
Gary Gilbert
Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies
Claremont McKenna College
Claremont, CA 91711
gary_gilbert@mckenna.edu
| Messiahs
and the Millennium
Sponsored by The Family of Benjamin Z. Gould Center for Humanistic Studies |
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| Over the course of history, various individuals and movements have offered visions of the end of history and the final, definitive intervention of the divine into human affairs. The complex network of ideas and images describes society as the stage or battleground on which the final confrontation between the forces of good and evil will ultimately be enacted. Such movements often make dire predictions concerning "the end" even as they promote a powerful counter-narrative about the future in which the promised cataclysm will inaugurate a new era of justice and peace. With the advent of the year 2000, the new Christian millennium, and fears of an impending technological crisis, these apocalyptic visions have received new attention and importance. This fall, the Family of Benjamin Z. Gould Center for Humanistic Studies at Claremont McKenna College will sponsor four lectures examining the origins and development of apocalyptic thought. Four prominent scholars will analyze the formation of millenarian ideas and communities and the contributions they have made to western culture, and situate current concerns over the year 2000 in historical and comparative perspectives. |
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