End of time.The End of Time by Damian Thompson Sinclair Stevenson [pounds sterling]16.99 Some say it will happen in 1999, some say 2012. A whole church in South Korea confidently expected it in 1992. Some couldn't wait and anticipated it by taking their own (and others') lives. The end of the world has often been predicted over the course of the last 2,000 years and presumably pre·sum·a·ble adj. That can be presumed or taken for granted; reasonable as a supposition: presumable causes of the disaster. will happen sometime. But when? Damian Thompson's well-researched and highly readable book takes a tour of the main apocalyptic movements since first century Christian expectations of an early Second Coming subsided. St Augustine and other church fathers did their best to discourage speculation. But when the Protestant Reformation and the rapid spread of printing opened the Bible to everyone, there was a rash of extreme end-time movements. In 1535 the siege of Munster, like that of Waco in 1993, ended in mass slaughter. In this century, Thompson points out, the advent of the atom bomb and Green predictions of environmental catastrophe have lent credence to forecasts of Armageddon. For others, the return of the Jews to Israel `confirmed the suspicion that God's prophetic clock... was beginning to tick again'. There is no doubting the potential seriousness of the phenomenon--as testified, just in the 1990s, by the death of the Branch Davidians Branch Davidians Religious sect that believes in the imminent return of Jesus Christ. It was founded in 1935 near Waco, Texas, by Victor Houteff as a breakaway group from the Seventh-Day Adventists. at Waco, mass suicides in Switzerland and Canada, and the sarin sarin (zärēn`), volatile liquid used as a nerve gas. It boils at 147°C; but evaporates quickly at room temperature; its vapor is colorless and odorless. gas underground attack in Tokyo. Millions of fundamentalist Christians in the US, Latin America Latin America, the Spanish-speaking, Portuguese-speaking, and French-speaking countries (except Canada) of North America, South America, Central America, and the West Indies. and South Korea believe that the 2,000 years of the `Gospel Age' are running out; while countless New Age adherents believe that the Age of Aquarius Age of Aquarius n. An astrological era held to have brought to the world increased spirituality and harmony among people. is about to bring dramatic changes. This combustible com·bus·ti·ble adj. Capable of igniting and burning. n. A substance that ignites and burns readily. mood has been described as one of `pre-millennial tension'. Even for the majority of us not obsessed ob·sess v. ob·sessed, ob·sess·ing, ob·sess·es v.tr. To preoccupy the mind of excessively. v.intr. with end-time speculation, the approaching Millennium remains a powerful landmark. Something deep in our human make-up needs to mark the passage of time. The prospect of a new thousand-year era can heighten our sense of perspective and encourage us to `think big'. Will the approach of the year 2000 work some magic in us all? Could it stir individuals and whole societies to make changes--long needed but hitherto tied up by inertia? It is an opportunity which will not recur for some time! |
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