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Academic Year 2004/2005

The End of the World: The Millennium and the End Times in American Thought
RELI 287 SP

Eschatology: [Gk eschatos last, farthest] 1. A branch of theology concerned with the final events in the history of the world or of mankind.

This course examines how some religious groups in the U.S. herald the hastening of the End Times, when a Messiah will appear to cleanse the earth of all unrighteousness. This course examines various American eschatologies and the religious communities that imagine them. Included are Puritans, Messianic Jews, Christian evangelicals and fundamentalists, Branch Davidians, Rastafari, the Nation of Islam and Christian Identity, in genres of representation including fiction, film and popular music. Among the themes we will discuss will be Americanism, or the ways groups imagine the United States to be favored by God, religious politics, and the ways that American eschatologies are gendered and racialized.

MAJOR READINGS

EXAMINATIONS AND ASSIGNMENTS

ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS and/or COMMENTS

COURSE FORMAT: Seminar

REGISTRATION INFORMATION

Level: UGRD    Credit: 1    Gen Ed Area Dept: SBS RELI    Grading Mode: Graded   

Prerequisites: NONE Links to Web Resources For This Course.

Last Updated on MAR-21-2005

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