cover image Messianic Revolution: Radical Religious Politics to the End of the Second Millennium

Messianic Revolution: Radical Religious Politics to the End of the Second Millennium

David S. Katz, Richard H. Popkin. Hill & Wang, $26 (352pp) ISBN 978-0-8090-6885-2

Katz, Professor of History at the University of Tel Aviv, and Popkin, Professor Emeritus of the History and Philosophy of Religion at UCLA, teamed to trace the history of radical millennial religious movements from the Renaissance to the present. Approximately half of the text deals with the European background of such movements and the other half with subsequent American developments. Their history brings together a potpourri of interesting people who have been fascinated by the interpretation of biblical prophecy, including Pico, Paracelsus, Sir Isaac Newton, Swedenborg, William Miller, Pat Robertson and David Koresh. The distinctive position of each successive prophetic interpreter is clearly identified in relation to those who came before and those who followed. The authors carefully note the political effects of such biblical prophecy. Katz and Popkin maintain that millennialism has been an important breeding ground for radical political ideologies on both the left and the right. They argue persuasively that political movements rooted in millennial ideas have influenced both past and present political behavior and that an understanding of how this ideology operates is important to an appreciation of the contemporary situation. The authors suggest, furthermore, that an understanding of millennialism is essential to getting a grasp on much of the current American religious right and the militia movements. Katz and Popkin have produced a book that is clear, concise and comprehensive. (Apr.)