Centre Publications

The End All Around Us: The Apocalypse and Popular Culture

John Walliss & Kenneth G.C. Newport
Equinox 2009
ISBN: 184553262

For centuries the apocalypse has been a recurrent theme within art, literature, music, and more recently cinema. Within the context of contemporary popular culture its influence may be felt in areas as diverse as extreme metal music, disaster movies, anime and manga, Science Fiction dystopianism and the Left Behind series of novels. The aim of this collection of essays is to examine the influence of apocalyptic texts on popular cultural products, focusing on the timelessness and malleability of their themes to audiences. Chapters will focus on the influence of such texts within the areas of film, music, literature, and the internet.

Expecting the End - Millennialism in Social and Historical Context

Kenneth G.C. Newport & Crawford Gribben
Baylor University Press (2006)
ISBN: 1-932792-38-4

Jesus' promise that "the end" draws near has spawned an expectation of that grand event across various religious groups. This volume examines the abiding social issues that surround the continued presence of apocalyptic anticipation by setting them in historical, present-day, and future manifestations. Approaching this fervent expectation from a broad perspective, Gribben and Newport explore the contemporary movements with insightful analysis that provokes discussion and even self-reflection.

The Branch Davidians of Waco: The History and Beliefs of an Apocalyptic Sect

Kenneth G.C. Newport
Oxford University Press (2006)
ISBN: 0199245746

What were the beliefs of the Branch Davidians? This is the first full scholarly account of their history. Kenneth G. C. Newport argues that, far from being an act of unfathomable religious insanity, the calamitous fire at Waco in 1993 was the culmination of a long theological and historical tradition that goes back many decades. The Branch Davidians under David Koresh were an eschatologically confident community that had long expected that the American government, whom they identified as the Lamb-like Beast of the book of Revelation, would one day arrive to seek to destroy God's remnant people. The end result, the fire, must be seen in this context.

Apocalyptic Trajectories: Millenarianism and Violence in the Contemporary World

John Walliss Peter Lang (2005)
ISBN: 3-03910-290-7

The last quarter of a century has witnessed several violent incidents perpetrated by religious groups holding millennial ideologies: Peoples Temple, The Branch Davidians, The Order of the Solar Temple, Heaven's Gate, Aum Shinrikyo, and the Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments of God. The aim of this book is to examine each of these groups, focusing particularly on their respective apocalyptic trajectories - the key recurring issues and social processes that fostered the progressive acceptance of violence within each group's ideology, and ultimately helped to precipitate the use of force against the group's own members or against outsiders.

The Brahma Kumaris as a Reflexive Tradition: Responding to Late Modernity

John Walliss
Ashgate (2002)
ISBN: 0 7546 0951 0 

Drawing on primary research on the Brahma Kumaris World Spiritual University, a millenarian New Religious Movement of Indian origin, this book examines the both development of millenarian ideologies within the movement over the last century and the ways in which it is manifested and negotiated in the contemporary world at both the institutional level and at the level of individual members.

Apocalypse and Millennium: Studies in Biblical Eisegesis

Kenneth G.C. Newport
Cambridge University Press (2000)
ISBN: 0521773342 

This book is about the various ways in which the Book of Revelation (the Apocalypse) has been interpreted over the last 300 years. It examines in detail Methodist, Baptist, English Anglican, and Roman Catholic uses of Revelation from 1600 to 1800, and then American Millerism and Seventh-day Adventist uses from 1800 on. The book argues that, far from being a random sequence of bizarre statements, millennial schemes (including the setting of dates for the second coming of Christ) are more often characterised by complex and internally consistent interpretations of scripture. As an example, the work of David Koresh is examined at length. Koresh, styled by some the ‘Wacko from Waco’, clearly had views which some would find odd. However, his interpretation of scripture did not lack system or context, and to see him in that light is to begin to understand why his message had appeal.