Publisher's Synopsis
From the time of the earliest tribal religions, high priests, self-proclaimed prophets, and purveyors of doom have been predicting the end of time. This encyclopaedic survey of end-time predictions looks at the history of these prophets and the religious sects that forecast the exact dates that civilisation would take its final bow. James R. Lewis eloquently remarks that all of these doomsday fear - mongers have one thing in common: they have all been wrong. As the year 2000 ushered in a new millennium, widespread interest in the end of the world, judgement day, and the "return" of a "saviour" were predicted by many old and new groups, and spread like wildfire across the planet. Encompassing the truly bizarre, the suicidal, the homicidal, and the almost believable, "Doomsday Prophecies" touches on apocalyptic strains in each religion, revealing that end-time predictions reach all the way back to Old Testament writings. They have thrived for centuries, and today they find new life with New Age religions and televangelists.
