HSY2600

Cults and the End of Time: a history of millenarian discourse ( 6 points, SCA Band 1, 0.125 EFTSL)

Leader: Peter Howard

Offered:
Not offered in 2006.

Synopsis: This unit explores the fascination of the belief that the end of the world is at hand and that in its wake will appear the inexhaustively fertile world of the Golden Age. The unit will investigate the origins of such millenarian thought in the first-century Eastern Mediterranean world and the Apocalypse of John, before surveying how and why the images therein evoked caught not only the medieval imagination but also that of moderns and representations in media and film. Special attention will be given to charting the complex relationship of apocalyptic traditions to religious, social and political change, and therefore to dissent and revolution.

Objectives: Upon successful completion of this unit students will have: 1. Acquainted themselves with and evaluated the considerable body of knowledge that has built up on the subject of millenarianism in recent years. 2. Reflected on the complex relationship of apocalyptic traditions to religious, social and political change, and therefore to dissent and revolution, between 100 and 2000 CE. 3. Thought about questions of millenarian concepts of time, history and numerology, as well as the contextual and conceptual nuances of millenarian, apocalyptic, eschatological and utopian designations. 4. Thought comparatively and applied their developing understanding to analyses of specific situations and contexts, examples of which they will have engaged during the course. 5. Continued the acquisition of the critical and analytical skills, and the ability to communicate them verbally and in writing. These skills include, with specific reference to this course: (i) developing the habit of thinking and reading critically; (ii) displaying both precision and imagination in presenting an historical argument; (iii) being able to develop an historical topic of one's own for investigation; and (iv) being able to think self-consciously about history as a form of knowledge, and being willing to entertain a multi-disciplinary approach to its study.

Assessment: Group project presentation and individual essay (1000 words): 20% + Oral presentation and essay (2000 words): 35% + Two in-class tests (equalling 90 minutes): 45%

Contact Hours: 2 hours (1 lecture and 1 tutorial) per week

Prerequisites: a first-year sequence in History or permission

Prohibitions: HSY3600, RLT2600, RLT3600