Reply #13: Were the Nazi's a millenarian movement ?

[cali]

Well, according to Norman Cohn, the foremost expert on millenarianism, they shared elements of millenarianism. Cohn's criteria are:

Millenarian sects or movements always picture salvation as:

(a) collective, in the sense that it is to be enjoyed by the faithful as a collectivity.

(b) terrestial, in the sense that it is to be realized on this earth and no in some other worldly heaven

(c) imminent, in the sense that it is to come both soon and suddenly.

(d)total, in the sense that it is to utterly transform life on earth so that the new dispensation will be no mere improvement on the present, but perfection itself


(e) miraculous, in the sense that it is to be accomplished by, and or with, the help of supernatural agencies.

Do American millenarianists share the same elements? Some, but that does not mean American millenarianism = Nazis. American millenarians are heirs to a long tradition of American millenarianism going back to Increase Mather and Jonathan Edwards in the 17th and 18th centuries, and the Millerites of the 19th century.

The question Cohn and other scholars pose is: Were the Nazi's true believers, and the answer is a qualified no. The Nazis used strands of millenarian thought and created a unique philosophy that strayed in critical ways from traditional revolutionary millenarianism.

American millenarianists are almost all in the tradition of revolutionary millenarianism going back to the early middle ages and refined by such figures as Darby.

Comparing American Dominionists with Nazis is fine, as long as one knows that there are critical differences. Those differences lie chiefly in goals. The Nazis sought to create a millennium epoch brought about without relying on a supernatural force. Dominionists are wholly reliant on that element.

If you want to look at the future of American millenarianism, look to the past- but not so much the Nazi past, as revolutionary movements in medieval Europe.

The threat posed by apocalyptic thinking in our culture is undoubtedly real, but nowhere near as dire as say, the threat of global corporatization. And quite different from the Nazis.

But hey, you want to make the comparison, feel free.

Recommended reading:

The Pursuit of the Millennium: Norman Cohn
When Time Shall Be No More: Paul Boyer