ABSTRACT
Extreme religious intensity develops in monotheistic faiths and in those that have been notably infl uenced by them. Even militant nativistic religious movements ironically tend to “borrow” basic theological principles and ideas from Judeo-Christianity, against which they have originally emerged. e Pueblo Revolt’s ideology, for example, contained themes such as belief in the resurrection of the dead (compare to Kings II :–; John :–; Acts :–), the nullifi cation of marriages (Ezra –), ritual cleansing in water (Matthew :, ),1 and the destruction of enemy temples and ritual objects (see Kings I, :; Kings II, :, :, :–). e Catholic Spaniards themselves may have been the unwitting instructors in the latter case, considering the annihilation of the temples and artifacts of New World religions by the earlier conquistadores (Todorov : –, –). e readaptation of Judeo-Christian doctrinal themes is especially common in nativistic millenarianism, as seen in the North American Ghost Dances (La Barre : ; , Hittman : –; Coleman : –), the Cargo Cults of Melanesia and the Pacifi c (Brewster : –; Crocombe ; Williams : , ; Steinbauer : ) and the millenarian movements of South Africa (see chapter ).
